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Starting today, Canadians to get emergency alerts on their cellphones

Apr 6, 2018 | 2:15 AM

Starting today, Canadians won’t have to be near a television or radio to receive emergency alerts.

Life-threatening emergencies will now be broadcast on compatible mobile phones.

As of today, the National Public Alerting System — commonly called Alert Ready — will include wireless networks, in addition to traditional broadcast channels.

In the case of a life-threatening emergency, officials will send a localized alert that will compel compatible phones to emit an alarm and display a bilingual text warning.