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Telecom and Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2025-180

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Reference: 2025-180-1

Gatineau, 15 July 2025

Public record: 1011-NOC2025-0180

Call for comments – Improving the public alerting system

Deadline for submission of interventions: 14 October 2025

Deadline for submission of replies: 13 November 2025

Deadline for final written submissions: 3 December 2025

[Submit an intervention or view related documents]

A sign language interpretation of the Call for comments – Improving the public alerting system

ASL LSQ

Summary

The National Public Alerting System (NPAS) is a system that allows emergency management officials across Canada to warn the public about emergency situations. Federal, provincial, and territorial governments and agencies, as well as industry stakeholders, all play a role in the NPAS.

The Commission plays a supporting role within the NPAS by requiring cellphone service providers, cable and satellite television providers, as well as radio and television broadcasters, to distribute emergency alerts to the public. This helps to ensure that Canadians have access to public alerts in emergency situations through telecommunications and broadcasting systems.

Through this consultation and as part of its Consumer Protections Action Plan to help protect Canadians, the Commission is considering targeted improvements to support the NPAS within its mandate. The Commission is seeking comments on certain aspects of the NPAS, including barriers to accessibility, the languages in which alerts are provided, issues affecting its availability nationwide, and possible measures the Commission could implement to monitor the system’s status more effectively.

The deadline for the receipt of interventions is 14 October 2025. Only parties who file interventions may file a reply to matters raised in the interventions and/or a final submission.

Key information from this notice is available in American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ). The Commission will accept video interventions and replies in ASL and LSQ for this proceeding.

Background

  1. As the lead federal department for emergency management, Public Safety Canada represents the federal government in the governance of the National Public Alerting System (NPAS). The National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) System,Footnote 1 which is operated by Pelmorex Weather Networks (Television) Inc. (formerly Pelmorex Communications Inc.) [Pelmorex], and the NPAS are the core of the public alerting system in Canada.
  2. Telecommunications and broadcasting service providers relay emergency alerts to the public through the NPAS. The NPAS plays a crucial role in informing Canadians during emergency situations, and contributes to the achievement of telecommunications and broadcasting policy objectives. To this end, the Commission must help ensure that the public alerting system in Canada is kept up-to-date, including the role of telecommunications and broadcasting service providers.

What is the NPAS?

  1. The NPAS is a federal, provincial, and territorial system that allows emergency management officials (EMOs) across Canada to issue alerts to warn the public about emergency situations using telecommunications and broadcasting networks. The system is also used for AMBER Alerts and other urgent bulletins.
  2. These warnings are area-specific (i.e., geo-targeted). When an alert is issued by an authorized EMO, it is sent to cellphones that are connected to a long-term evolution (LTE) or newer (e.g., fifth-generation [5G]) wireless network, and broadcasted on television and radio.
  3. Federal, provincial, and territorial EMOs are responsible for creating and sending the alerts to the public through the NPAS. They decide when to send an alert, its content, and the geographic area where the alert is distributed. The Commission does not have authority over EMOs.

What is the Commission’s role in the NPAS?

  1. Federal, provincial, and territorial governments and agencies, as well as industry stakeholders, all have a role to play in the NPAS. The Commission’s role is to require cellphone service providers, cable and satellite television providers, as well as radio and television broadcasters, to distribute emergency alerts to the public.
  2. Through this supporting role, the Commission engages in regulatory activities that help enhance the safety of Canadians, including by helping ensure that Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting service providers distribute alerts to the public. In 2009, the Commission helped enable the creation of the NAAD System (the critical infrastructure at the center of the NPAS) by authorizing Pelmorex (the NAAD System operator) to act as a national aggregator and distributor of emergency alert messages. Under the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, the Commission has required most wireless service providers (WSPs), radio stations, over-the-air television stations, and television service providersFootnote 2 (collectively, last-mile distributors [LMDs]), to connect to the NAAD System and relay alerts sent by EMOs to the public.

The current review

  1. The Commission is launching this notice of consultation to consider targeted improvements to public alerting within its role in the NPAS. Specifically, the Commission is seeking comments in the following areas to:
    • review the accessibility of the system for persons with disabilities;
    • facilitate the dissemination of alerts in both official languages;
    • explore expanding the system to include Indigenous and additional languages;
    • address potential wireless public alerting gaps across the country;
    • review the existing public alerting test schedule; and
    • determine improved methods by which the Commission can monitor and validate that LMDs are meeting their public alerting requirements.
  2. This public consultation is one step in the Commission’s ongoing work to help protect Canadians as part of its Consumer Protections Action Plan and to help improve the NPAS. The specific issues under consideration in this notice are set out further below.

Regulatory framework

  1. The Commission has regulated LMDs with respect to public alerting as authorized by the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act. Other federal legislation, notably the Official Languages Act and the Accessible Canada Act, can impact the Commission’s regulation in the area of alerting.
  2. The Commission will review the matters raised in this proceeding in light of the applicable legislation, including the policy objectives set out in the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, as well as the purposes and principles of the Accessible Canada Act, as appropriate, in addition to the relevant aspects of the applicable policy directions. In particular, this includes the objectives set out in paragraphs 2(c), 2(f), and 17(c) of the 2023 Policy DirectionFootnote 3 (issued under the Telecommunications Act), and section 7 and paragraph 8(e) of the 2023 Policy Direction (issued under the Broadcasting Act).Footnote 4

Call for comments

  1. The Commission invites submissions on several topics set out below that can contribute to targeted improvements to the NPAS. Interested persons are invited to answer those questions that are of interest to them and are not required to answer all questions.
  2. The Commission also welcomes comments through its online engagement platform, CRTC Conversations. This user-friendly online engagement platform provides a specific list of questions that participants can answer quickly online or through a mobile device and in multiple formats, including audio and video. All submissions received via CRTC Conversations will be placed on the public record of this proceeding but participants on CRTC Conversations will not be considered parties to the proceeding. Please refer to the Sharing your views on CRTC Conversations section for more information.

Distribution of alerts in both official languages

  1. EMOs are responsible for sending alerts to the public through the NPAS. EMOs are also responsible for choosing what the alerts say and what languages they are sent in. The Commission requires LMDs to connect to the NPAS and relay these alerts to the public. Neither the LMDs nor the Commission are responsible for choosing what the alerts say or what languages they are issued in.
  2. Recently, as a result of collaboration between federal, provincial, and territorial partners, Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management (SOREM) modified sections 8.2.6 and 8.2.7 of the Common Look and Feel (CLF) guidanceFootnote 5 document to provide additional direction to LMDs to relay alerts in both official languages when they are issued in both official languages, regardless of the intended location of the alert.
  3. The Commission is committed to helping advance the use of both English and French, and further supporting official language minority communities in Canada on telecommunications and broadcasting matters. It is therefore seeking comments on whether additional measures, within its regulatory authority in the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, as well as in light of the Official Languages Act, would be appropriate and warranted to help ensure LMDs uphold the guidelines provided in the CLF guidance document to disseminate alerts in both official languages.


    Q1. In light of the revised CLF guidelines on the dissemination of emergency alerts in both official languages, is it reasonable and appropriate for the Commission to take additional measures, within its regulatory authority in the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, to require LMDs to relay alerts in both English and French, when they are issued as such?

    (a) If so, what regulatory measures should the Commission consider under the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act? For instance, should the Commission consider imposing new conditions of service under the Telecommunications Act and imposing new conditions of service and amended conditions of exemption orders under the Broadcasting Act?

Availability of alerts in Indigenous and other languages

  1. To maximize the reach of emergency alerts, the Commission is seeking to understand whether, and how, the NPAS could technically or operationally support languages other than English and French, including Indigenous languages. The Commission also wishes to know whether EMOs can or already issue alerts in other languages and what challenges they have faced in doing so.
  2. In the preliminary public consultations for the ongoing Indigenous Broadcasting Policy (IBP) proceeding, one issue identified in the “What You Said” report: CRTC Early Engagement Sessions was a need in mainstream broadcasting for “important public alerts and warnings to be broadcast in Indigenous languages.” Following that, in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2024-67, the IBP consultation asked a question about the need for broadcasting alerts in Indigenous languages. As such, interveners to this proceeding may wish to refer directly to the submissions they may have made in the IBP proceeding when submitting comments on this topic.


    Q2. Can and should the NPAS technically or operationally support the distribution of public alerts in languages other than English and French, including Indigenous languages? Specifically:

    (a) Have EMOs considered whether, and how, to distribute public alerts in languages other than English and French using the NPAS? If not, why not – what challenges were identified to doing so?

    (b) What is the feasibility, both technically and operationally, of the NPAS supporting additional languages? What technical barriers exist to supporting additional languages (e.g., language-specific character sets for alerting decoder devices, language-specific character sets for handsets, technical limitations of the NAAD System, Wireless Public Alerting [WPA] technical specifications, etc.)?

    Q3. What role can the Commission play in facilitating the distribution of alerts in languages other than English and French, including Indigenous languages? Should the Commission take additional regulatory measures to support the distribution of alerts in languages other than English and French, including Indigenous languages?

Accessibility of the NPAS

  1. Recent public opinion research contracted by the Commission showed that one reason for dissatisfaction with the NPAS is that WPA may not be accessible to persons with disabilities.Footnote 6
  2. In line with the principles of the Accessible Canada Act, the Commission is seeking comments to help identify or prevent barriers to the accessibility of the NPAS and solutions for eliminating these barriers, both in terms of distributing and receiving public alerts.Footnote 7


    Q4. Are there barriers to the accessibility of public alerts for persons with disabilities in Canada? If so, how can the NPAS be improved and how can the Commission contribute to reducing or removing these barriers?

Technology gaps in wireless public alerting availability in Canada

  1. In light of the coverage gaps for LTE (or newer) networks for wireless services precluding wireless public alerts, particularly in some rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, the Commission is seeking comments to identify potential solutions, technical or otherwise, to help address and close these gaps.
  2. While persons without access to WPA may still be able to receive public alerts through broadcasting undertakings or other means, the Commission is seeking comments on the possibilities for enabling Canadians to receive emergency alerts by other means of telecommunications.


    Q5. How can the Commission help improve the availability of public alerts? Specifically:

    (a) Where are the current gaps in accessing WPA in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities in Canada and how can such gaps be efficiently tracked?

    (b) What is the feasibility, technically or otherwise, of creating and operating a national mobile application available for download across Canada, as a possible solution for reducing gaps in WPA?

    (c) Should WSPs be required to provide alerting over 3G networks? What technical or economic challenges exist to doing so?

    (d) How can the Commission improve the current reach of WPA to rural, remote, and Indigenous communities in Canada through regulatory measures? What other means should the Commission consider to support the distribution of public alerts to Canadians that are not currently served by WPA?

Schedule for visible public test alerts

  1. Presently, the Commission requiresFootnote 8 LMDs to relay visible public test alerts issued by EMOs (i.e., test alerts received by the public on radio, television, and mobile phones) twice per year, in May and November. This schedule is coordinated across Canada but does not prevent EMOs from issuing out-of-schedule alerts.
  2. EMOs, LMDs, and the NAAD System operator have raised concerns about whether the Commission’s existing policy supports these out-of-schedule alerts. The Commission has handled such cases individually and encouraged LMDs’ participation in these tests.Footnote 9
  3. As part of this consultation, the Commission is considering whether the current test schedule for public alerts is effective or if more flexibility in scheduling is needed.


    Q6. Is the Commission’s existing visible public alert testing framework, including the timing and frequency of visible test alerts, appropriate? Specifically:

    (a) Is the biannual visible public alert test schedule still appropriate and in the public interest? Provide supporting rationale for why or why not and, if not, what changes are needed.

    (b) Do EMOs, LMDs, and the NAAD System operator require further flexibility with regards to the timing and frequency of visible NPAS testing? If so, what new or modified regulatory measures are appropriate to enable that flexibility?

Actively monitoring the status of the NPAS

  1. Identifying whether LMDs are connected to the NAAD System is an important element of the Commission’s active monitoring of the status of the NPAS. To distribute alerts, LMDs must establish a connection with the NAAD System. The NAAD System operator can automatically detect if a WSP is disconnected, but it cannot detect the connection of broadcasting undertakings. This means that there is currently no automated way for the Commission to know whether all LMDs are connected to the NAAD System and passing on alerts to Canadians.
  2. The Commission currently relies on the information it receives as part of the annual Telecommunications and Broadcasting Surveys to monitor the compliance of WSPs and broadcasting undertakings respectively with their alerting requirements.
  3. The Commission is seeking comments on ways to improve the identification of LMDs’ connection to the NAAD System. The Commission is seeking input on any automated or standardized methods of verifying LMD operational status, including their connection to the NAAD System, their ability to receive alerts from the NAAD System, and confirmation that these alerts were properly passed on to the public. The Commission is of the view that it would be beneficial to identify more effective and efficient ways to actively monitor the status of the NPAS in order to be more readily aware of and to respond more swiftly to issues with the alerting system.


    Q7. What are technical, regulatory, or other solutions that the Commission could implement to ensure that LMDs are connected to the NPAS and distribute alerts to the public? Specifically:

    (a) What technical or other solutions could the Commission, the NAAD System, or the telecommunications and broadcasting industries implement to automatically detect and validate LMD connection to the NPAS?

    (b) What tools (including regulatory measures) should the Commission use to streamline the verification and monitoring of LMDs’ NPAS requirements? For instance, what kinds of standardized forms or evidence should LMDs provide to the Commission to demonstrate that they have established and are maintaining a connection with the NAAD System and disseminating alerts to the public in accordance with any applicable requirements?

What you need to know to participate in this proceeding

Procedure

  1. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission [CRTC] Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure) apply to this proceeding. The Guidelines on the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure (Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-959) are meant to help members of the public understand the Rules of Procedure so that they can more effectively participate in Commission proceedings.

Submitting an intervention

  1. The Commission invites comments that address the issues and questions set out above. The Commission will accept comments that it receives no later than 14 October 2025.
  2. Interested persons who require assistance submitting comments can contact the Commission’s Hearings & Public Proceedings group at hearing@crtc.gc.ca.
  3. Interested persons who file an intervention automatically become a party to this proceeding. Only parties to the proceeding can participate in further stages of the proceeding. The deadline for the filing of replies is 13 November 2025. Replies must be limited to interveners responding to matters raised in the interventions. Final written submissions can be submitted by 3 December 2025.
  4. Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission using only one of the following means:
    • completing the intervention form;
    • sending a fax to 819-994-0218;
    • writing by mail to CRTC, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0N2; or
    • submitting an American Sign Language (ASL) or Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ) video using the intervention form.
  5. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. Submissions will be posted in the official language and format in which they are received.
  6. The deadline to submit an intervention to the Commission is 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Gatineau time). Parties are responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of their submissions and will not be notified if their submissions are received after the deadline. Late submissions will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public record.

Privacy notice

  1. Please note the following:
    • Documents will be posted on the Commission’s website exactly as received. This includes any personal information contained in them, such as full names, email addresses, postal/street addresses, and telephone and fax numbers.
    • All personal information parties provide as part of this public process, except information designated as confidential, will be posted on the Commission’s website and can be accessed by others.
    • However, the information parties provide can only be accessed from the web page of this particular public process. As a result, a general search of the Commission’s website using either its search engine or a third-party search engine will not provide access to the information that was provided as part of this public process.
    • The personal information that parties provide will be used and may be disclosed for the purpose for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission or for a use consistent with that purpose.

Confidentiality

  1. The Commission’s proceedings are designed to allow members of the public to provide input so that it can make better, more informed decisions. As a result, the general rule is that all information filed with the Commission is placed on the public record and can be reviewed by all parties and members of the public.
  2. However, the Commission also often needs detailed information from the companies it regulates and supervises to make an informed decision. This information can be commercially sensitive, especially as the environment in which the companies operate becomes more competitive. The Commission will therefore accept certain information designated as confidential.
  3. Parties can request that information be filed in confidence under subsection 39(1) of the Telecommunications Act and section 25.3 of the Broadcasting Act with a detailed rationale as to why that information should be considered confidential. The Commission reminds parties that make such a request that when a document is filed with confidential information, an abridged version must also be filed so that it can be included in the public record.

Accessible formats

  1. The Commission requires regulated entities and encourages all parties to file submissions in accessible formats (e.g., text-based file formats that enable text to be enlarged or modified or read by screen readers) for this proceeding. To help in this regard, the Commission has posted guidelines on its website for preparing documents in accessible formats.
  2. If submitted documents have not been filed in accessible formats, you can contact the Commission’s Hearings & Public Proceedings group at hearing@crtc.gc.ca to request that Commission staff obtain those documents in accessible formats from the party that originally submitted the documents in question.
  3. The Commission is accepting submissions in ASL or LSQ in video format. The Commission will publish the links to the parties’ videos on its website. The permissions on the videos must be set to public. The Commission will not accept links that require anyone to request access to the videos. The links on the Commission’s website will redirect users to parties’ videos as they are uploaded, and users will have access to any of the parties’ personal information displayed on the video-hosting platform. The videos will be fully translated into text, and transcripts will be posted on the public record in English and French for ASL and LSQ videos.

Sharing views on CRTC Conversations

  1. People have until 14 October 2025 to share their views on CRTC Conversations, the online engagement platform.
  2. The platform facilitates participation among persons who may be less familiar with Commission processes. It includes only select questions.
  3. All submissions received via CRTC Conversations will be placed on the public record of this proceeding.
  4. Please note the following:
    • The information provided is entered into a searchable database on the engagement platform.
    • The comments provided will be attributed to the username given during the registration process on the platform.
    • These comments and usernames are searchable with the help of third-party search engines.
    • Any personal information submitted through the platform will also be searchable. Any information will be used and may be disclosed for the purposes for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission, or for a use consistent with that purpose.
  5. Participants who provide their views via CRTC Conversations will not be considered parties to this proceeding. In general, this means that they will not receive notice of other comments or procedural requests or changes, they may not participate in an oral hearing, and they may not be named (or required to participate) in any appeal of the Commission’s decision.
  6. To become a party, interested persons must submit a formal intervention via the online form, fax, traditional mail, or by ASL or LSQ video. Details on how to submit a formal intervention are provided above.

Accessing documents

  1. Links to interventions, as well as other documents referred to in this notice, are available on the Commission’s “Consultations and hearings: have your say” page.
  2. Documents are available upon request during normal business hours by contacting:


    Documentation Centre
    Examinationroom@crtc.gc.ca
    Tel.: 819-997-4389
    Fax: 819-994-0218

    Client Services
    Toll-free telephone: 1-877-249-2782
    Toll-free TTY: 1-877-909-2782

Applications for costs

  1. For the sake of simplicity and ease of access, all costs applications in this proceeding will use the telecommunications costs process and be reviewed and assessed under the regime set out in the Telecommunications Act.
  2. The Commission considers that active participation of individuals and groups that represent the public interest provide a valuable contribution to its decisions. These individuals and groups may require financial assistance to effectively participate in Commission proceedings. To understand how to apply for costs after the proceeding, please visit the Commission’s “How to claim telecommunications proceeding expenses” page.

Secretary General

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