An emergency alert sounded on devices nationwide on Wednesday afternoon.

The test alert went off at 12:55 p.m. in Ontario through Alert Ready , Canada’s national public alerting system.

It was also scheduled to sound in all other provinces and territories across Canada at various times.

The messages are intended to test that the system is working and build awareness of the alerts.

However, people may need to acknowledge they’ve received the emergency alert to allow their wireless device to go back to proper function, Alert Ready said . If you’re unable to acknowledge the alert, it will sound and vibration will continue for eight seconds, the website says. Depending on the specific wireless device, some may receive additional reminders.

People cannot opt out of receiving test aler

See Full Page