An Amber Alert warning issued by the Ontario Provincial Police Sunday evening prompted the first broadcast of the new national public alert system across televisions throughout the province and caught many viewers by surprise.

Here's what it looked like:

The system is designed to warn Canadians about emergencies such as water contamination, industrial disasters, tornadoes, forest fires, floods and in Sunday's case, Amber Alerts.

The national alert system has been in place since 2010 and in August 2014, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) required all broadcasters and TV providers to begin relaying emergency alerts to localized audiences by March 31, 2015, through satellite, cable and digital TV.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) issued the Amber Alert for a boy between the ages of 8 and 13-years-old, just before 10 p.m. The alert was lifted at 11 p.m. after the boy was "located and safe."

Police said the boy had run away from home and it wasn't a case of abduction.

However, Sunday's broadcast received scorn on social media after the alert interrupted such shows as The Walking Dead.

The Amber Alert system has been in place in Canada since 2004. The system started after the abduction and brutal murder of Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old from Arlington, Texas.

According to the OPP, the alerts are issued when:
-Law enforcement agency believes a child under the age of 18 has been abducted.
-Law enforcement agency believes the child is in danger;
-There is descriptive information about one or more of the following: Child; abductor and or vehicle.
-Believe an immediate broadcast alert will help in locating the child.