Canada needs a transparent, public-facing agency in charge of managing reports of mystifying things seen darting, blinking or hovering through our skies, according to a new report commissioned by Canada’s top scientist.
The Sky Canada Project reportΒ publishedΒ this weekΒ calls for a federal frameworkΒ for managingΒ UFO sightings by the publicΒ and pilots as a replacement for theΒ current patchwork of protocols across departments that “hinder[s]Β scientific investigation.”
“There is some evidence that there’s something really unusual going on in the skies β¦ we just don’t have enough information,” said Winnipeg-based science writer Chris Rutkowski, director of the long-running Canadian UFO SurveyΒ who was consulted for the report.
The Sky Canada Project was created in 2022 by the Office of the Chief Science Advisor, Mona Nemer,Β partly in response to growing public interest in the topic of UFOs βΒ also known asΒ UAP, or unidentified anomalous or aerial phenomena.Β
Staff set out toΒ identify challenges related to data collection on UAP sightings and provide a summary of how other countries approach the issue.
The project wasΒ tasked with doingΒ an environmental scan of historical reporting practices across the federal government andΒ present-day UAPΒ procedures of different federalΒ agencies, and to consult non-governmental groups and experts in the country tracking and receiving UAP reports from the public.
The report foundΒ Canada’s “fragmented” UAP reporting protocols acrossΒ departments “complicates the application of scientific principles …Β making it onerous, if not impossible, for researchers to access and compile data for rigorous, science-based analysis.”
“Canada would benefit from an improved process for reporting, collecting, and studying UAP sightings,”Β reads a section of the report.
Canada once had a centralized office forΒ that run by the National Research Council beginning in 1967,Β with help from the RCMP.
That’s the same year one of Canada’s best-documented UFO cases emerged in Falcon Lake, Man.
The NRC effort ended in 1995. Roles and responsibilities wereΒ scattered among the Canadian Space Agency, Transport Canada, NavCanada β andΒ Rutkowski, who amassed vastΒ civilian, military, police and air traffic controller records of UAP reportsΒ dating back to the 1940s that Sky Canada has used in its analysis.
No definitive proof of E.T.
In recent years,Β NASA has conducted anΒ independent UAP study; the U.S. Office of the Secretary of DefenceΒ erected the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to investigate UAPΒ reports by military personnel; and Congress has held multiple public hearingsΒ centering on national security concerns posed by UAPΒ and alleged government coverups.
Most UAPΒ sightings happen to beΒ planes, atmospheric conditions, planets or stars or meteors, satellites, weather balloons, drones, experimental craft, optical illusions or other mundane phenomena.
To date, there’s still no evidence definitively proving extraterrestrial life is here or exists, notes the Sky Canada report.
“Nonetheless, some UAP sightings β for which data exist β remain unexplained even after investigation,” the report says.
That uncertainty adds to the cultural fascinationΒ aroundΒ UAPs.
“There is some interesting stuff being reported,” said Rutkowski.Β “It doesn’t necessarily prove that aliens are visiting us. It proves that some unusual cases are baffling.”
Dispelling disinformation
The report also identifies the needΒ to increaseΒ transparency and buildΒ public trust through proactive disclosure of UAP case details in an effort to combatΒ mis- and dis-information, and “pre-bunk” conspiracy theories before they spread.
“Everyone loves the idea of searching for UFOs or UAPs,” said Sara Seager, a Canadian-AmericanΒ astrophysicist at MIT focused on the search for Earth-like planets.
“Taking that into a way to educate people about misinformation, about challenging your own assumptions … I had never thought of the field in those terms before, and that was a really, really exciting new thing to me.”
The report suggests the Canadian Space Agency might be a good fit to lead public UAP data management.
Seager thinks a post-secondary institution might be more appropriate.
“Universities are used to educating people, so perhaps there’s a way they can, as the report said, parse this into some kind of outreach about planets and stars and natural phenomena,” said Seager, who wasn’t involved in the report.
Report cites Harvard UAP team
Sky Canada never set out to prove whether we’re alone in the universe, the report says,Β nor was that project in particular to analyzeΒ data of sightings.
Astrophysicist Avi LoebΒ is hunting for evidence of alien technologyΒ within Earth’s atmosphere and our solar system through a data-driven approach.
Loeb wasn’t involved in the report either. However, his work as head ofΒ Harvard’sΒ GalileoΒ Project was cited by Sky CanadaΒ Project as anΒ initiative that could prove “crucial inΒ transitioning from anecdotal evidence to more scientifically rigorousΒ analysis” of UAP.
That project will have threeΒ uniquely-constructed observatories in different U.S. states upon completionΒ that use sensors and machine learningΒ to spot andΒ measure speed, size, relative distance and other variables of UAP flitting around American airspace β including balloons or craftΒ from rival governmentsΒ engaging in espionage.
“The software we develop, the sensors we put together can be used by the Department of Defence if these are human-made objects, so I wouldn’t feel like I wasted my time if we end up finding only human made objects,” said Loeb.
“This subject of course touches upon national security for Canada and the U.S. and I think co-operation would be very much appreciated.”
Rutkowski appreciates Sky Canada’s calls to encourage pilots to report sightings and for moreΒ scienceΒ on aΒ topic still at times dogged by stigma and aΒ “ridicule factor.”
“Things are looking up and you know, there’s no question that the truth is out there,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re stuck down here.”