Why do some emergency alerts display with a banner that says “Presidential Alert”?

  • Updated

Wireless public alerts use an international standard. The broadcast channel used in the United States is called “Presidential Alert”. Governments and private sector partners have worked with Canadian wireless service providers to use the term “EMERGENCY ALERT / ALERTE D’URGENCE”, as identified in version 2.0 of the National Public Alerting System Common Look and Feel Guidance, published on March 29, 2018. However, some phones pre-date this guidance, or were either purchased outside of Canada or manufactured to be compatible with the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alerts system. In these instances, those devices will use the American international standard and will display “Presidential Alert”, or another non-Canadian headline banner.

For more information about your specific device, please contact your wireless provider.