Emergency alert test scheduled for Manitoba Wednesday

People across Canada can expect to see and hear an emergency alert test on their phone.

If you get an emergency alert on one of your electronic devices Wednesday, don’t be alarmed.

As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready, Canada’s national public alerting system, will be issuing a test alert to Canadians on their TVs, radio, and compatible devices on May 8.

The Alert Ready system is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians, such as tornadoes, flooding, fires, and Amber Alerts.

“The Alert Ready system is a critical service that helps keep Canadians safe," said Director of Public Alerting at Pelmorex, Martin Belanger in a release. "Testing provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the Alert Ready system and to validate that it works as intended in case of an actual emergency."

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires broadcasters and wireless service providers to conduct one test alert per year, either in May or November.

In Manitoba, the test is expected to happen at 1:55 p.m. CDT.

In 2023, the Alert Ready system distributed 1,086 emergency alerts across the nation.