Question Period Note: National Public Alerting System (NPAS)

• Part of building safe and resilient communities is the implementation of measures to warn Canadians about threats to public safety.

• The National Public Alerting System, known as Alert Ready, provides emergency management organizations across the country with a standard alerting capability in both of Canada’s official languages.

• Public alerting is a shared responsibility among all orders of government. Our government is committed to collaborating with all public alerting stakeholders to improve the effectiveness and continued delivery of emergency alerting in Canada.

• Public Safety Canada will continue to work with other governments and industry partners to promote continuous improvement of the system.

The National Public Alerting System (NPAS), publicly known as “Alert Ready”, is a multi-channel Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) all-hazards initiative that provides emergency management organizations throughout Canada with a standard alerting capability to warn the public of imminent or unfolding hazards to life through such means as radio, cable television, satellite television and on compatible wireless devices. The NPAS complements existing public alerting systems and tools in a number of FPT jurisdictions (e.g. mobile apps).

The technical infrastructure for the NPAS is owned and operated by Pelmorex Corp, owner of The Weather Network / MétéoMedia television channels.

Each jurisdiction is responsible for issuing alerts through the NPAS. All 13 provinces and territories are connected to the NPAS. Provinces and territories (P/T), through their emergency management organizations or delegates (e.g., municipalities, local authorities), determine if and when the public needs to be warned of an imminent threat-to-life, and send these critical warnings to the public in the affected geographic regions. The only federal department currently connected to NPAS is Environment and Climate Change Canada – in order to issue severe threat-to-life weather alerts, such as for tornados.

The system is capable of carrying emergency alerts in English, French, or both languages, at the discretion and in respect of the legislation of the issuing government authority. FPT governments work with broadcasters, wireless service providers, and the CRTC to ensure that the visual and audible aspects of public alerts sent through the NPAS are readily recognizable by the Canadian public, and are presented in a consistent format.

The CRTC sets out accessibility standards, with the goal of ensuring that the information delivered through broadcasting and wireless systems, including emergency alerts, is available in as complete a form as possible for all Canadians, including those with auditory or visual impairments. Furthermore, the CRTC requires wireless service providers to make available for purchase to their subscribers at least one accessible phone that is compatible with the NPAS.

Regular testing helps to ensure that, in times of an emergency or disaster, governments are prepared to deliver urgent and lifesaving warnings to the public. P/T governments conduct public awareness tests of the system twice annually, in May during Emergency Preparedness week, and November. The next national test will occur on November 15, 2023. Canadians are encouraged to visit AlertReady.ca to find the test schedule for their P/T, as well as other useful information on wireless phone compatibility, and the types of emergency alerts sent through the system.

Phone compatibility is still a concern for some Canadians. As of April 2019, the CRTC required that 100% of new phones sold by Canada’s wireless carriers be compatible with the emergency alerting system.

In 2020, 2021, and 2022, 180, 175, and 824 emergency alert messages were issued respectively, with approximately 1,058 to date in 2023, the increase in alerting is attributed to extreme weather alerts and wildfires. These emergency alerts have been credited with saving lives.

On March 30, 2023, the final report of the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission was released, it included recommendations related to public alerting, including a recommendation that “FPT governments to undertake a fundamental review of public emergency alerting, to determine whether and how the Alert Ready system can be reformed.” It also included recommendations around training and public education about public warnings.

Public Safety Canada continues to advance collaborative work to strengthen the overall use, sustainability, and governance of the National Public Alerting System with federal, provincial and territorial partners. On June 28, 2023, Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for emergency management met to review the progress and to explore alternative funding models in collaboration with provinces and territories. FPT Ministers instructed their respective teams to continue this collaborative work, and to consider the recommendations of the Mass Casualty Commission report related to public alerting, including its call for an alerting framework.

The public alerting system is a priority. The Government of Canada remains committed to continued collaboration with all public alerting partners to improve the effectiveness of emergency alerting in Canada.

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