Ontario’s emergency text alert system is now active.
An emergency text amber alert regarding a missing 8-year-old boy was sent out in Ontario Monday morning on May 14th. A second message in French was sent out shortly after regarding the missing child.
This emergency alert system is great and very important. pic.twitter.com/M0cvLcAOEl
— Patrick O’Rourke (@Patrick_ORourke) May 14, 2018
Last week the new emergency alert system experienced significant difficulties, particularly in Ontario and Quebec. Alert Ready officials state that the glitches experiences in Quebec and Ontario have already been ironed out.
“Alert Ready ran the Ontario test alert across television, radio, and for the first time, compatible wireless devices. The intent of this test is to validate all components of the system before an actual emergency. We understand that some wireless users did not receive the test alert. All Alert Ready partners are working together to identify the cause. We thank everyone for their patience as we investigate and work through the test alert results,” reads a statement from Alert Ready last week.
We thank you all for your patience as the Emergency alert issue in Ontario is being investigated. Ensuring that we avoid these situations is exactly why these tests are performed. More details: https://t.co/4Q0wX1WWQp.
— Koodo (@koodo) May 7, 2018
As of April 6th all Canadian carriers are required to be able to support the CRTC-mandated wireless public alerting (WPA) system. The WPA allows Canadians to receive notifications of various emergency situations, including fires, flooding, tornadoes and Amber alerts.
The response to the first real emergency text alert being sent out in Canada has been mixed, with some Canadians praising the new Alert Ready system, while others feel it could quickly become a nuisance.
While it’s not possible to opt-out of the emergency wireless alert system, you can turn off the alerts on Android by navigating to ‘Settings,’ ‘Apps and Notifications’ and then ‘Emergency Alerts.’
Update 5/4/2018: A new emergency message cancelling the Amber Alert has been sent out.
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