Canada-wide emergency alert system to be tested Wednesday

A smartphone and a television receive visual and audio alerts to test Alert Ready, a national public alert system, in Montreal on Monday, May 7, 2018.(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

TORONTO -- If your cellphone receives an emergency alert text on Wednesday, don’t panic.

Canada’s national emergency alert system, Alert Ready, has scheduled a public test for later this week. Depending on where you live, the test will be sent in the late morning or early afternoon.

Test messages will be sent via compatible wireless devices, television and radio.

"Test alerts educate Canadians on what an emergency alert will look and sound like in the event of a life-threatening situation,” Martin Belanger, director of public alerting at Pelmorex, which operates Alert Ready’s technical infrastructure, said in a statement.

The tests haven’t always gone according to plan. Only 60 per cent of wireless users in Manitoba received an alert during the system’s first test in May 2018.

Similar issues arose across Canada during the second test in November 2018, which was considered “a significant improvement” from the first test but still not perfect.

The alert system is designed to send out rapid messages in the event of an imminent threat to public safety.

All phones sold in Canada since April 6, 2019 should be wireless public alerting compatible.

Here is when to expect a message, based on where you live: