Alert Ready test to be conducted on May 8

FREDERICTON (GNB) - Alert Ready, the National Public Alerting System, will be tested in New Brunswick on Wednesday, May 8, at 2:55 p.m.

The system is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts.

The test will take place on television, radio and wireless devices. Following an audible alarm, the following information will be presented by television on a red background or broadcast by radio, in French, then in English: "This is a test of the National Public Alerting System by the Government of Canada. No action is required. If this was an actual emergency, you would now have instructions for protecting yourself and your family. For more information please visit the Alert Ready website."

Compatible wireless devices will vibrate and the alert sound will play. The accompanying text in both official languages will state that it is only a test.

For the first time the Alert Ready message will be issued by the federal government. New Brunswick, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut have agreed to participate in this multi-jurisdictional test. People living along a border with Quebec may receive the message more than once due to the location of cell towers.

Alert Ready was developed in partnership with federal, provincial and territorial emergency management officials, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the broadcast industry to enhance emergency preparedness and response in times of crisis.

Media Contact(s)

Geoffrey Downey, communications, Department of Justice and Public Safety, [email protected].