The my.Portal site has the ability to alert users to important messages through Announcements, they can be Notices, Alerts or Emergencies.

Users with specific roles and permissions can create Announcements within my.Portal. The Announcements and Notifications feature provides ways for users to receive important information. Notifications can be adjusted for receipt of relevant updates through channels a user prefers.

This video provides an overview of all the communication tools in Canvas.

This article describes how Announcement replies work in Canvas.