In 2004, the Environment Minister announced a plan to upgrade Environment Canada's Weatheradio Network. The upgrade included the transmission of codes that will allow the new generation of Weatheradio receivers to take full advantage of their enhanced capabilities of receiving both the audio signal and displaying text warning messages.
These codes, SAME (Specific Area Messaging Encoding) and CLC (Canadian Location Codes), will result in weather warnings being targeted to smaller specific areas and will allow the toggling on and off of alerts.
Additionally in the future, through coordination with responsible federal, provincial and municipal agencies, the Weatheradio network will broadcast a suite of other non-weather related public emergency alerts - such as boil water, amber alert (child abduction alerts), and chemical spills.
Weatheradio transmitter sites across the country are being equipped with the ability to transmit SAME/CLC digital data. Test transmissions of these codes will occur at selected Weatheradio broadcast stations this summer and fall. A nationwide launch of the newly upgraded Weatheradio network is planned by the end of this year.
Some common questions and answers:
Q. I am a recreational boater. Will Canadian Location Codes (CLC) also be transmitted for my lake?
A. Initially, CLC codes will only be broadcast for public warning regions. Codes for marine warning areas (oceans, large lakes and major rivers) will be implemented with the start of the 2006 navigation season.
Q. Which specific lakes and rivers will be covered?
A. Environment Canada provides warnings on the following lakes : Athabasca, Winnipegosis, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, the Great Lakes, Nipigon, North Channel, Nipissing, Simcoe, Champlain, Memphrémagog, Saint-Jean, and Great Slave; and on the following rivers : St Lawrence, Richelieu, Saguenay, and MacKenzie.
Q. Where can I find a list of SAME event codes?
A. A listing of SAME event codes can be found on the SAME webpage.
Q. Where can I find a listing of CLC codes for my area?
A. A listing of CLC codes for MSC public regions can be found at the Find A Transmitter & CLC Code. CLC codes for MSC marine areas will be published in early 2006.
Q. When will the Weatheradio network begin transmitting non-weather related emergency alerts in addition to the usual weather alerts?
A. Initially, only weather-related SAME event and CLC codes will be transmitted. SAME/CLC codes for other types of emergencies will be added to the broadcast sequence over the next few years as other governmental agencies obtain the ability to transmit their alerts on the Weatheradio network. As new types of emergency alerts are added to the broadcasts, a notification will be published here in the "What's New" section.
For more information, contact:
English:
Mr. A. J. Chir
Manager, Dissemination Networks
Meteorological Service of Canada
(416) 739-4369
French:
Mr. Denis Paquette
Outreach Officer
Meteorological Service of Canada
(613) 948-9170
For the first time, Inuit people living in Nunavut can hear current weather information in their own language on Weatheradio Canada and Environment Canada's automated telephone devices.
Broadcasts in Nunavut's third official language-Inuktitut-commenced on a trial basis in the communities of Iqaluit, Arviat, Rankin Inlet, and Cape Dorset in October 2004. They now run in addition to English and French broadcasts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The new service will be useful to the nearly 70 per cent of the territory's population whose mother tongue is Inuktitut-but in particular to the significant portion of Nunavummiut who do not know enough English or French to understand broadcasts made in these languages.
Weather information is critical to the safety of people pursuing a traditional subsistence lifestyle in such a harsh environment. While the Inuit use knowledge passed down from their ancestors to predict how the weather will affect their hunting and fishing activities, elders report that the rapidly changing climate in the North is making these efforts more difficult. As such, the Inuit community relies increasingly on the MSC for accurate weather information.
The Inuktitut broadcast initiative was launched in response to discussions with Inuit and the Government of Nunavut, and the results of the "North of 60" survey conducted by Environment Canada (EC) in 1999. In 2001, EC and the Nunavut government received financial support from the Search and Rescue Secretariat's new Initiatives Fund for their proposal to pilot Inuktitut weather broadcasts in Nunavut.
In order to produce information that could be understood in a number of regional dialects, the Nunavut Languages Commission was enlisted to assemble a group of elders to standardize the weather terminology and provide an acceptable translation. Jeannie Arreak, well-known anchor of CBC North's Inuit-language suppertime news, provided the voice recordings, which were then transferred to the automated voice information processing and dissemination system (AVIPADS).
AVIPADS automatically updates the automated telephone answering system by matching current weather conditions with the appropriate pre-recorded sound bites. As such, the total cost of the project has been an initial outlay of only $4,000 in funding and approximately $12,000 of in-kind support.
Over the coming year, the Nunavut government will evaluate the program and consider the possibility of expanding it to other communities. There has already been interest shown in having weather forecasts produced in Inuktitut. However, the costs would likely be 10 times as high, and it could involve potentially complicated translation issues.
As the network expands, notices will be posted here in the What's New section to announce the new sites. To find existing transmitter sites, check the Find A Transmitter page.
The Green LaneTM,
Environment Canada's World Wide Web Site.