Page 13 - The 'X' Chronicles - September 2023

UFO Stories Abound In Canada Now 13

Chinese Balloon Saga

Floats Some Old UFO

Stories In Canada To The

Surface For The First

Time

Party balloons, weather balloons,

airplanes — they’re part of the
92 per cent of UFOs that can be
explained. It’s the other eight per

cent — the what if — that
capture the imagination.

By Patty Winsa

Darlene Redwoods was birdwatching a
few weeks ago when she looked up and
saw a large object hovering in the sky
over southeastern Saskatchewan, the
second time she says she’s seen an
unidentified object in the air over White About 92 per cent of sightings reported to Canadian UFO Survey, or provincial

Bear First Nation. the UFO survey can be explained, volunteer organizations, and are
according to a network of volunteers. investigated by a network of research
“It was a balloon shape,” says Redwoods, volunteers across the country.
“a really huge balloon with something Some turn out to be large #1s or #5s —
hanging from the bottom.” She says she helium-filled party balloons floating The survey is “just a way to try to
saw a similar object in May last year. across the sky. Or airplanes, that look to understand what it is that people really
be cigar-shaped objects because the are seeing,” says Rutkowski.
At first, she said, she and her husband wings aren’t visible from the ground.
thought the recent sighting might be a In 2022, there was a slight increase in
weather balloon, but, “We’ve seen what But it’s the other eight per cent that open reports of UFO sightings over the year
those weather balloons look like, and the a door of possibility for Rutkowski, who before due to multiple reports from the

bottom didn’t match up.” has written numerous books on UFOs. same person in Quebec, says Rutkowski,
but generally, the number of UFO
She didn’t think much of it, other than to “There are cases that don’t seem to be sightings in 2021 and 2022 were far
tell her sister-in-law, who sits on the band balloons or jet contrails or weather below what has been reported annually
council. balloons or whatnot. There are reports for the past decade.
that come in from people that seem to be
But after reports of four objects shot truly mysterious,” he says. “And whether One of the most interesting from
down by the United States from the air that means we need more information or September of last year, says Rutkowski,
this month, including a Chinese spy we need more investigation or more is a report from witnesses who watched a
balloon, more people like Redwoods are access to the information remains to be group of bright lights, stationary above

coming forward to report UFO sightings, seen.” the trees along the horizon, around 7 p.m.
although not necessarily current ones. in Sainte-Martine, Que. The report was
The UFO survey is a compilation of investigated by a provincial UFO group
“I can tell you since the whole balloon sightings in Canada from official sources of volunteers, Association Québécoise
thing, we’ve been having a steady, such as NORAD (North American d’Ufologie.
constant stream of UFO reports being Aerospace Defense Command) and by
submitted to us,” says Chris Rutkowski, pilots to Transport Canada, where they Although the lights appear to be in the
who as a volunteer has been compiling are included as part of its Civil Aviation sky, Rutkowski says it’s possible that
research for the annual Canadian UFO Daily Occurrence Reporting System or they were on the ground and “it’s just an

Survey since 1989. CADORS, a record of aviation incidents illusion. That’s one possibility,” he says.
and accidents. “But, as far as we know, it’s still

“There’s a media effect such that people something that was moving in the sky.”
will feel comfortable and not as afraid to There were 2,174 reports of “Foreign
admit they’ve seen a UFO,” he says. object debris” made to CADORS Often, though, it’s fairly easy to identify
“And we’ll talk about things that they’ve between 2016 and 2020. what people are seeing.
seen years ago and were hesitant to report
back then.” Sightings are also reported directly to the (Continued on Page 14)