Discussions

Not sure what insult you are referring to since this is the only post you have on this thread unless you are posting under multiple usernames. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and you have stated yours quite clearly. While the OP mentions that they were woken up I see no complaints about losing sleep and I think you are making a enormous leap to suggest the OP stated that "sleep for an extra minute was more important than alerting the public about an 11 year old girl".  
 
It seems to me that the OP was curious about why we were receiving the alerts, wondering if others received them as well and inquiring as to their effectiveness. In fact in a later post Donna says:  
 
"I think the system needs work. No one is saying it should not be in place and is not a benefit. If I lived in that area I understand but there were children missing in Saskatchewan in the summer and I never got alerts for them. And I was with in 3 hours not 20 hours as was the case this time."  
 
I guess I would rather debate than insult.  
 
Have a good weekend.

The issue some of us are conveying here is not the amber alert. You people jump on us for speaking out on this topic, its not about the alert its self or the terrible situation that unfolded last night near Toronto.  
 
The issue is this alert ready company and the government not having this system working properly. The company admitted it should NOT have gone to any Manitobans. It was pointless to come to Manitobans and everyone knew that.  
 
If the Canadian Government wants us to rely on this system they need to get their crap together. As it sits now, you can't opt out or disable it on a phone level for most. They need to have this system working properly, so if something does happen here in Manitoba, we get notified and can keep and eye out or seek shelter. Thats the intended purpose, based on current geographical location.  
 
If this isn't ironed out its going to be another notification on our phones we dont look at and simply swipe away to never be seen again.  
 
Nobody here is saying the event related to this alert was not tragic and horrible. Nobody is saying someone had it coming, Nobody is saying there is no sympathy for this mother who lost her daughter. Nobody said that 1 minute of sleep is more important than a child's life. Its all in how you, the individual, perceive the text written here.  
 
Stop painting us to be horrible people for questioning the alert system and its current half assed functionality.  
 
Edited by Suckie, 2019-02-15 15:04:45

To say that the government needs to get their crap together or else people will just swipe away the alert is a bit dramatic. Since the inception of the alert system how many actual alerts have any of us gotten? I personally count four. Two on the day they tested the system and two last night: hardly a nuisance. Yes we can all see now that improvements to the system are required and over time I am confident they will manage to iron out the wrinkles. Folks have been complaining about receiving the alerts last night and being woken up for no reason and stating it was pointless etc. I think people need to appreciate the fact that we have this great new system and we need to respect the complexities of full implementation of this system across multiple carriers across this vast country. The "hiccup" last night as some call it is minor at the most and I for one was delighted to know we have people working hard to implement and develop this alert system because we need it.  
 
Edited by Your Majesty, 2019-02-15 15:38:44

I didn't get the alert but wish I did. Makes you wonder what other alerts locally you don't get.  
 
yes at 10:30-11:00 at night not going to see anything with in a short time frame. But what if he flipped around and drove west for 20 some odd hrs, now he is in in our location and we had the alert. Maybe some one sees something. Amber Alerts should be Canada wide. Odds are they are not jumping on a Plane with all the security required now, but can defiantly drive a long way. Tons of Back roads to drive on that can't all be patrolled.  
 
In some situations, there may be a delay between the abduction actually happened and when the person was reported missing. Who knows where they are.  
 
And like people said it doesn't know where you are currently, so maybe you are in the vicinity.  
 
This is such a rare alert we get (thank goodness), and is only put out in the most severe cases, I think it is a great feature and a very easy way to get info out to masses.

from the OP

This discussion makes me sick. If that was your child wouldn’t you want it distributed? It was a minor inconvenience. Mute your phone overnight if you are sleeping and don’t want to be disturbed.  
I’m not saying the system doesn’t need work or we shouldn’t question alert readiness. But to be that upset about a minor inconvenience when a child’s life was taken.... just wow.

I don't see the big deal in getting the alerts even at 10:30 at night, lets not lose our humanity.

Some folks use their phone as their alarm clocks. I didn't get the alert as I use the wi-fi of my regular internet. Like some other said and the link which Adam, we shouldn't go the alert. The system needs some fine tuning and a bit more common sense.

Check out the recent Macleans article. www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/you-are-horrible-people/ar-BBTE1Pt?li=AAggXBV  
Hope that works. Some people are indeed "horrible"!

I caught hell on facebook last time I questioned an amber alert (the one before this), so may as well join the chorus.  
 
During the day, its less problematic. But at night, I suspect one would be better served in using local and semi-distant radio stations to distribute information like this. As opposed to television screens (people are HOME when they see it!) or cellphones. Cell distribution is more understandable, but I'm not sure I agree with this use.  
 
These things will get out there. It's not good to have people disabling LTE just to avoid frivolous usage of what may well prove to be an extremely important life saving system in the future.

you would agree with the usage if it was your child. (the rest of this post is my rant, not quoting you)  
 
 
I don't get why people are angry or mad over this? What has this world come too.  
 
No one I know sleeps right through the night, they get up, go to the bathroom, wake up occasionally, so one time your phone goes off and it is a pain in the ass?  
 
As a teenager, If I was out and staying out all night, I phoned my parents, who were on a party line to let them know. No one ever got upset when woken. They were happy to know were I was.  
 
This happens once or twice a year and all hell has broken loose.  
 
I bet if it was a text from a friend, all would be good.  
 
Unbelievable.  
 
Edited by Brenda..., 2019-02-15 20:16:18

Sorry but that's a horrible argument. First off time of day should not matter. They choose cell phones for the fact that most if not almost everyone has one. They can then reach the masses much quicker. And to say these things will get out there.....in any abduction of a child time is of the utmost importance. We can't wait for Don and Shelly to get home and sit in front of the old vacuum tube tv to get the alert. The alert must be sent out quickly and to as many people as possible. Yes probably 99.9% of the people won't be able to help however we only need that less than 1% to be in the right place at the right time. More people that get the alert the better the odds. Hence again....using cell phones. Be grateful we have an alert system, contribute feedback to the alert system provider so the system can be improved. It's heartbreaking and a huge disappointment that some people are bothered by the alerts.

I put my phone on silent overnight because the emails, fb, texts etc still happen all night. The odd time I use the alarm feature (I guess I’m old school...I still have a real alarm clock haha) it still rings even though it’s on silent. Maybe some of you should look into that?

You do realize Amber Alerts are only for child abduction emergencies and not for shot mounties or any other crime right??  
 
And as for the people complaining their phone or watch vibrated between 1030pm and 1130pm and how it was so intrusive and bothersome. Wow. Just wow. There really are no words...

Sorry for the sarcasm, but guess what, I’ve been woken up at night by numerous things, train whistle, dogs barking, people honking horns, mother nature’s thunder storms , and the list goes on, but the world didn’t end.  
Simple solution for me was read the warning, then go back to sleep, thunderstorms must drive some of our society crazy because they can last for hours.

My phone is muted all day everyday. However I use my phone for the alarm feature to wake me up in the morning. If you go to bed with your phone on mute, your alarm will still go off in the morning. So that’s not an excuse.

Saw this posted on Facebook.....not my words but I agree!  
 
 
 
 
 
Last night an Amber alert was sent to thousands ( millions?) of tvs, radios and cell phones. A little girl was not returned to her mother after her father took her out for her 11th birthday. Like many others, it woke me up. I had just fallen asleep and nearly jumped out of the bed at the sound. You see, it’s meant to do that. Because it’s an EMERGENCY.  
 
An emergency doesn’t care that it’s 11:30 pm. An emergency can happen at any time.  
 
This morning upon waking, I discovered the heartbreaking news that this sweet little girl was found murdered by her father. Let’s all take a minute to think about that.  
 
A frantic mother received disturbing messages from her child’s father that insinuated that he was going to harm the child. All evening she panicked. I’m sure she was out of her mind with pure terror.  
 
An amber alert was sounded shortly after 11:30 pm and thanks to that loud and unnerving alert, a person driving the same road that the suspect was, was alerted to the situation and to the make and model of the car. By midnight, he was apprehended. The system worked as it was supposed to.  
 
You see emergency alarms are supposed to be loud and unnerving. They are supposed to wake you up from a deep sleep. They are there to save lives.  
 
Last night, many ‘concerned ‘ citizens called 911 (!!!) to complain about the amber alert waking them up.  
 
Let that one sink in.  
 
Can you imagine calling 911 because your smoke alarm woke you up because your house was on fire? Or if your carbon monoxide alarm went off before you and your sleeping family succumbed to a deep sleep forever?  
 
No, of course not. That would be ludicrous.  
 
Right?  
 
Well, a missing child is an emergency. A huge, terrifying emergency. One that I hope you and I never have to experience ourselves.  
 
When things like this happen it makes me realize how broken a society we live in. A ’ME’ society. Where we are so disconnected from each other and so lacking empathy for human life, that we call 911 to complain about a service that could save a child. Your child. My child.  
 
I’m telling you that if that loud and unnerving emergency alert went off last night because we were going to get flattened by a tornado, everyone and their dog would be thanking their lucky stars to have received a message in time to get to safety.  
 
Police, fire departments, emergency providers, 911 operators, THANK YOU for all you do.  
 
Last night a little girl lost her life. That is what we should be outraged about.  
 
May she Rest In Peace and May her grieving mother be surrounded in love and support.

Amber Alerts are only for child abductions and I did erroneously state an Amber Alert was not issued when the Mountie was shot in Onanole instead of just stating an alert. I also overstated how long ago it was as I thought it was spring 2018 and it was actually in August last year. We do however have a national alert system that broadcasts over LTE networks. It's called Alert Ready and it was not used in that incident in Onanole, a perfect opportunity for it. Here is a link to a CBC article that discusses some of the problems they have been having getting the system to work the way it should.  
 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/wireless-emergency-alert-1.4911848  
 
It doesn't change my point to the post at all however. A cell phone based national alert system is a tremendous asset and could save lives but it can only be effective if used properly. My phone will identify when I am in a particular store, examine my buying habits and send me a notification with a coupon and a request to rate my experience all before I have even left the store. The technology exists now to have an alert system that notifies people in a specific area of an Emergency. I, like others on this thread including the OP simply suggested that the system is not currently working as it should and it should be a priority to have the issue fixed so the system does not lose it's effectiveness in the future.  
 
I don't care if the system wakes me up 10 times a night and of course I am saddened by what happened to the poor 11 year old girl in Toronto. And yes I would be worried if my family was at risk of course. that's the whole reason we are suggesting the system needs to be fixed and needs to be a priority. Those of you that are jumping to conclusions and calling anyone who questions the handling of the alert as heartless need to get over yourselves.

A little girl is dead. Is it really that inconvenient people were woken up by alerts?! Give your head a shake

Best post over!!!  
And yes-heartless and selfish are KIND descriptions of those who called police and emergency line to complain about the amber alert waking them up.  
 
Should the alert work better? Yes. But for me it is a minor inconvenience to check my phone and see the emergency does not affect me -doesn't matter if I get 5 not ne messages, I will still read the next 10 that come in. It takes 5 seconds to read a message and delete it. People have become a selfish lot, no doubt about that.

Call me a psychopath, but I don't amend my conclusions based on emotion. Reactionary decisions based on emotion often times end up being the WRONG decisions, or may end in flat out indecision.  
 
If it were someone close to me, well, naturally that would be terrible. This does not make the seemingly most obvious reaction in my context, the right one.  
 
In my spare time, I often find myself dealing with issues which require some emotional distance. Which, interestingly, made me aware of the plight of the one who has to choose.  
A packed aircraft is hijacked and is full of people. But it is also headed towards a population center of thousands. If you let emotion dominate THAT decision, it won't end well.  
 
Fine, apples and oranges. But none the less. . .  
 
Someone here has already stated an intention to stifle these alerts. While I doubt many will ditch the speed of LTE for the lack of annoyance, you now run the risk of people tuning out. It is NOT GOOD if the year starts with, say, 3 or 4 amber alerts, causing people to dismiss them unconsciously. Only to dismiss a tornado or other such alert a few months down the road.  
 
I understand the need to protect children. But shove the attitude.

Some of you people posting here are such block heads. You see someone say the system doesn't work properly, provide a explanation of why they say that and still jump all over them.  
 
Gotta love Brandon.  
 
Nobody said that notification was the end of the world. It wasn't about the content of the amber alert. It wasn't about the fact we got woken up or lost 30 seconds of sleep. It was about the fact this system is being praised and a life saver but doesn't work properly. It was clearly stated it was not meant for Manitobans but because the system they use is flawed it got sent to the wrong people.  
 
Those of you saying amber alerts should go to the whole country, sorry that's kind of ridiculous. No need to panick a whole country when they will see the new first thing in the morning anyways.  
 
If someone is running West out of Toronto it will take at least 20 hours even if they are flying down back roads, which would take longer on the further west part of Ontario beside MB.  
 
It's 2019 and cell phone have GPS,(they have for a great many years now) this system CAN be location based and is intended on being provincial. If enough time passes they COULD rebroadcast the alert in the neighbouring provinces before the perp could possibly be there.  
 
People need to relax and realise we aren't bashing the poor girl and her family. We're pointing out flaws with this system. Yes, pointing them out here is useless. That's why personally I've left these comments with alert ready. Those condemning us probably feel that one person getting 2-6 of the same notifications and others getting 0 is fine too? Because at least the notification went out right?  
 
This system has major flaws and needs to be fixed so that next time something horrible happens everyone who should be notified of it, actually gets notified.  
 
PS, I know people in Ontario in the GTA who definitely were on LTE and still didn't get the amber alert.  
 
Some of us are able to seperate the emotional and technical side. That doesn't make is garbage or heart less. Those of you saying things along those lines, should take a look at them selves.  
 
Edited by Suckie, 2019-02-16 07:52:46

People will spend hours on Facebook wathching “cats playing a piano” but complain about something that could potentially save a life. Shows what kind of world we live in now. And no...I have never received any alerts ....with belll/mts.

There's another one who couldn't be bothered to read the comments and only saw what they wanted to so they could pass judgment onto others on this.

I’m all for fixing the system and working out the kinks....but there’s a time and a place to have those discussions. DURING the emergency is not the time imo. Calling 911 DURING the emergency is heartless. Complaining about lost sleep or a loud alarm when a mother is dealing with a missing child is heartless. Complaining that you got an alert DURING an emergency is heartless.  
 
Wanting to fix the issue IS NOT heartless....it’s the way people went about doing it that screams heartless to me. During the emergency, people were more concerned about themselves and the approach taken. Those are the people that need to get over themselves

We seem to take 2 maybe 3 problems and lump them into one conversation then deflect back and forth between problem.  
Myself I see three problems here, one is not all people receive the alert, second is people don’t believe that the problem is relative to their area which in part leads to the third of wasting 911 resources because you are unhappy that you were woken up.  
The first two are logical, solvable, and explainable, the third one about calling 911 is just simply a waste of time.  
The third one was the one I was referring my comment to.

Okay Suckie, give it a rest already. We get it. You shouldn't of been bothered by the alert. The system failed you. You've spun the discussion to prove your point, congrats bud! Yet the alert did help police arrest the father quite quickly thanks to that annoying text. So was it really a failure after all? It's a relatively new tool and its obvious it needs to be tweaked and fixed. But bottom line it worked, as a father I am glad it helped but also deeply saddened that the poor girls life couldn't have been saved.  
 
I've tried so hard to wrap my head around all this bitching and complaining about how the system should've worked better and I still can't come to the same conclusion. It's mind boggling and so sad that people could be upset by it.  
 
MG - Great letter from the Editor in today's Sun. Very well written.

My only thought for me getting it is because I have a few people who I call that are in the Toronto area with the 401 area code perhaps that’s why I received the alert. Otherwise people need to chill woke me up too, either way it’s a good system they have in place.

I understand the discussion about not everyone getting the amber alert.  
Everyone should get these no matter where you are in Canada.  
However the title for this discussion and the point that she got woken up at 2230 because of it makes me very sad.  
Do you realize what happened ? What if this is your child or friend I bet you wouldn’t mind waking the whole world up...  
Very poorly chosen title for your so important little rant...