Broadcasting - Secretary General Letter addressed to Monica L. Auer (Forum for Research and Policy in Communications)
Ottawa, 9 October 2024
BY E-MAIL
Monica L. Auer, M.A., LL.M.
Executive Director
Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC)
Ottawa, Ontario
execdir@frpc.net
Subject: Secretary General Letter – Letter submitted by FRPC regarding emergency alerts and the National Public Alerting System
Thank you for your letter dated 29 July 2024. The Commission appreciates the FRPC’s thorough research and involvement in topics relating to the National Public Alerting System (NPAS). The Commission’s role with respect to NPAS is to ensure Canadians have access to public alerts through the broadcasting and telecommunications systems to warn them about imminent or possible dangers to life in emergency situations.
The Commission has reviewed the initial FRPC letter (dated 28 March 2024) and concludes by majority decision that it is not an application for the purposes of the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules). As set out in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-959, an “applicant” is someone “who asks the Commission to make a decision, whether on a matter specific to the circumstances, like a new licence or a tariff, or on a more general policy issue.” In the Commission’s view, these are examples of requests that the Commission exercise a statutory authority based on its deliberations, which is the core attribute that defines an application. In light of this, the Commission considers that the FRPC’s letter should be viewed as a request to initiate a broad proceeding on a wide range of policy matters rather than an application. While the Commission has the discretion to undertake broad-based inquiries, the Rules, in particular regarding applications, do not authorize persons to request the issuance of such a notice of consultation.
A notice of consultation on public alerting is among the CRTC’s planned consultations for this winter. The notice will seek comments from the public on several issues identified in your initial letter. We look forward to your participation.
Yours sincerely,
Marc Morin
Secretary General
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