1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Accepted Solutions
As stated by @Meowmix , in Canada you cannot turn off these alerts. These alerts also include real emergencies.
Here's a thread discussing these alerts and the fact that some people don't like the way they are currently implemented:
Here's a link to the Emergency Alert system with lots of FAQs answered:
https://www.alertready.ca/#faq
The first dropdown, item 3 talks to the fact that you cannot opt out:
Given the importance of warning Canadians of imminent threats to the safety of life and property, the CRTC requires wireless service providers to distribute alerts on all compatible wireless devices connected to an LTE network in the target area. Therefore, it is not possible to opt out of receiving the alerts. Unlike radio and television broadcasting, which often has broad areas of coverage, wireless public alerting is geo-targeted and can be very specific to a limited area of coverage. As a result, if an emergency alert reaches your wireless device, you are located in an area where there is an imminent danger. Consult this webpage for more information.
Please feel free to contact the CRTC, your MP, or Alert Ready with your concerns.
As stated by @Meowmix , in Canada you cannot turn off these alerts. These alerts also include real emergencies.
Here's a thread discussing these alerts and the fact that some people don't like the way they are currently implemented:
Here's a link to the Emergency Alert system with lots of FAQs answered:
https://www.alertready.ca/#faq
The first dropdown, item 3 talks to the fact that you cannot opt out:
Given the importance of warning Canadians of imminent threats to the safety of life and property, the CRTC requires wireless service providers to distribute alerts on all compatible wireless devices connected to an LTE network in the target area. Therefore, it is not possible to opt out of receiving the alerts. Unlike radio and television broadcasting, which often has broad areas of coverage, wireless public alerting is geo-targeted and can be very specific to a limited area of coverage. As a result, if an emergency alert reaches your wireless device, you are located in an area where there is an imminent danger. Consult this webpage for more information.
Please feel free to contact the CRTC, your MP, or Alert Ready with your concerns.
There was another Amber Alert this morning from Newmarket, however, it was not a real abduction, rather a lost grandfather - see additional information in link below...
I have the following comments regarding this alert:
1. This is misuse of the Amber Alert system since all the criteria for such an alert were not met.
2. My phone had two alerts on it - one issued at 3:06AM and one at 3:45AM, so that anyone able to get back to sleep was awakened a second time. (my phone is on silent and not in my bedroom, so it didn't bother me, however, how many people did this bother, twice?)
3. There was no abduction, so, if they wanted to use the Amber Alert system, they should at least tell the truth in the "text". In light of the incorrect information, a civilian may have reacted in an inappropriate (vigilante?) manner if they had seen the van.
4. There was no cancellation issued. Why do they never send a followup alert when the situation is resolved?
5. People should complain about this misuse of the system, to the appropriate channels - not to 9-1-1.
6. The grandfather acted irresponsibly by not contacting anyone after a certain period of time. Being "lost" for over 12 hours with children in the van suggests perhaps appropriate actions need to be taken with the grandfather - like reviewing his driver's licence, or not leaving him alone with children, etc.
The children were not abducted. It was a "missing persons" case. Nothing more. The use of the Amber Alert in this instance was "stretching the facts" at a minimum, and a misuse of the system as I see it.
Were the children (and grandfather) missing? Yes
Were the children abducted? No
Were they in imminent danger? No
Every time a child goes missing are we now going to get an Amber Alert? That's not what the Amber Alert system was designed for. The rules were not followed in this instance.
The option to disable certain (Amber) Alerts in your cell phone should be available in Canada as it is in other countries (the US for example). The problem with turning off your phone at night, putting it in silent mode, or putting it in airplane mode is that you will then miss a real emergency, like a tornado, fire, hazardous spill, terrorist event, family emergency, etc.
In addition, I don't appreciate the police lying about the effectiveness of the Amber Alert in this (and some other) instances. They found the grandfather and children without any input from civilians (the public). The Amber Alert did nothing in this instance but bother millions of people, twice, in the middle of the night.
Please don't label me as uncaring. I simply want a better system so that people don't start ignoring (or turning off) real emergencies. The system could be easily modified to allow for this.
@Meowmix wrote:
1. As for @57 . You label the grandfather as a " irresponsible". You have NO right to label him as that. Just like you dont like being labeled.
2. The police NEVER lied about anything.
3. If you got hurt over losing some sleep? So be it. I rather have those alerts coming to know then lose 5-10 minutes of sleep coming online to complain. Sorry it's the truth.
4. I see so many complaining it's ridiculous. If it was one of their family members however, they would be crying all over.
1. If the grandfather was not acting irresponsibly, then the parent were, by leaving the children in his care.
2. Actually the police did lie. They made it sound like the Amber Alert helped find the grandfather and children, when, in fact, the police found them on their own, without public assistance.
3. I'd rather have the system work properly, like it does in other countries, where people who don't wish to receive certain alerts at certain times of the day can do that. As I stated earlier, I don't lose any sleep because my phone is on silent in another area of my house.
4. When there are this many people complaining, it means that the alert system is not working properly and needs to be modified. There's nothing wrong with complaining to the appropriate people (not 9-1-1) to make the system better and to change away from the "Cry Wolf" problems that come into play when the system is not working properly.
The current recommendation is to turn off your phone at night if you don't wish to hear these alerts. Doing this circumvents the very reason for the alert system in the first place - real emergencies like a tornado, etc.
It is possible to implement a system that will have many fewer complaints and work better for us all. I'm not saying "get rid of the system". I'm saying make it better. How?
1. Allow people to turn off certain alerts at certain times, if they want to do so.
2. Province-wide alerts could be avoided in some instances. The "default" should not be province-wide every time.
@Lurker wrote:
The alert tone is the tone mandated by the Canadian government.
That is certainly true, as is the fact that currently a phone's "do not disturb" doesn't disable an Amber Alert as is possible in other countries. What many of us are trying to say is that perhaps there is a better approach than mandatory alerts with Klaxon tones.
This would allow people to be adults and make up their own minds about which alerts they wish to participate in and how/if/when they are warned (or not warned). Is that too much to ask? Currently we are all treated like children and chastised if we voice opinions that are different from the way things are currently handled.
I didn't state that all people will act like adults, I stated that we should be allowed to be adults. As you state, there's always a portion of the population that doesn't act like adults. 😉
@JohnGalt : It looks like your post may have been moved to this existing thread. At this time, I don't believe there is any way to disable Amber Alerts in Canada.
This is because it's being sent in the same manner as a "presidential alert" in the US. In the US you can disable Amber Alerts, however, until the government and Alertready change the alert level (highest) of Amber Alerts, the only way is to turn off your phone (or silent or Airplane mode may work). Our phone sits in a dish in the kitchen turned off until we need it. I realize that some people cannot do that for various reasons and it disables access to other important emergencies.
See post 3 of this thread and subsequent posts for additional information.
I totally support the need for Amber Alerts but it's crazy that we don't have multi-level altering implemented (even though it would be trivial to do so) and cannot select which devices that we do and do not receive certain alerts on, nor can we customize the alert tone for the various different types of alerts.
With this latest alert, it wasn't until later that I realized that I had fallen victim to alert fatigue. At 4:00 AM and barely awake, I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't even look at this alert. I just tried to get back to sleep as soon as possible. There was absolutely no sense of urgency on my part to take any immediate action at that time. (I "knew" that it was "only" an Amber Alert and that I was not in any position to provide any kind of assistance whatsoever, and I ignored the possibility that my life could have been in danger.) That's not good.
@treasurevk wrote: WE SHOULD HAVE THE OPTION TO TURN IT OFF !!!!!!
I and many others agree with you. Unfortunately, Rogers doesn't really have any option, so if you wish things to change, contact AlertReady, and/or CCTS, and/or CRTC and/or your MP.
In many other countries, including the US, people are given the option regarding which Emergency Alerts get through to their phone, while maintaining certain other alerts like tornados, floods, fire, etc. People should not be forced to hear Amber Alerts at 3AM if they wish to maintain other emergency alerts. Turning a phone or its ringer off is not an acceptable option because that defeats the (main) purpose of emergency alerts.
People who don't mind Amber Alerts in the early morning hours may continue to receive them. All we ask is that people who do mind have the option.
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