Across Canada, the National Public Alerting System enables alert messages to be sent by various government partners and broadcasters. This system is a Canada-wide initiative involving provincial and territorial emergency response organizations, federal ministries, and certain broadcasting and telecommunications companies.
In Québec, the system has been named "Québec Alert Ready" (Québec En Alerte) and the only broadcasters are the Ministère de la Sécurité publique (Gouvernement du Québec) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) (Government of Canada).
Alerts issued by the Ministère de la Sécurité publique are sent independently or at the request of authorized local responders such as municipalities and police forces. These alerts concern events that may threaten the life or safety of the population concerned.
Alerts sent by ECCC only concern sudden weather events.
Only authorized persons can send an emergency alert. Each alert message disseminated using the Québec Alert Ready system has a unique digital certificate guaranteeing its authenticity and must comply with Canadian display standards.
The CRTC is an independent public body responsible for regulating and supervising Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications.
Under the
Broadcasting and telecommunications companies are responsible for ensuring the connectivity of their networks and for effectively disseminating alert messages broadcast by the MSP and ECCC.