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Wireless Public Alerting (WPA)

Alert Ready is a service designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving emergency alert messages to Canadians. 


The Alert Ready system was developed in partnership with federal, provincial, and territorial emergency management officials, Pelmorex Corp., the broadcast industry, and wireless service providers to ensure you receive emergency alerts immediately and know when to take action to keep you and your family safe. 


Beginning in April 2018, all wireless service providers will have the capability to distribute emergency alerts received from alerting authorities directly to consumers' WPA-compatible wireless devices using Cell Broadcast distribution. 

Any device purchased from Freedom Mobile from April 2018 onwards is WPA-compatible. For a list of other WPA-compatible devices that you may have purchased from Freedom Mobile before that, please see below.


Wireless service providers will only receive and relay messages that are issued for threat-to-life situations. 


Emergency alerts intended for wireless devices are issued to a defined geographic area, which can be as small as a few city blocks, so that only people in the defined area receive the emergency alerts. The defined area is selected by the alerting authorities. Compatible wireless devices in the targeted area will receive the emergency alerts within seconds of alert issuance, provided the phones are powered on and connected to the LTE cellular network. 


You cannot opt out of receiving threat-to-life emergency alerts. 


Emergency alerts begin with a distinct sound, known as the Canadian Alert Attention Signal. Emergency alerts sent to compatible wireless devices may also cause the phone to vibrate. 


On compatible wireless devices, the emergency alert will display an "EMERGENCY ALERT/ALERTE D'URGENCE" banner, followed by text that describes the situation and provides instructions on what actions to take and where to find more information. At the top of each emergency alert, the issuing government agency will be clearly indicated. 


If you are a person with a sight, or hearing disability: Alternate formats can be issued, but not every alerting authority or every device will have the capacity to produce alternate formats. For emergency alerts distributed via compatible wireless devices, emergency alerts may be read to the recipient if their device supports this accessibility feature. The vibration feature that accompanies emergency alerts sent to compatible wireless devices will help to make hearing impaired people aware of the alerts.


Visit the Alert Ready testing schedule for test dates and times.

WPA Compatible Wireless Devices