CAF hangs up on E.T. file as interest cools off

No further plans for allies to meet, share intelligence

After an initial meeting on sharing information with allies on unidentified flying objects, the Canadian military has cooled on its interest in the extraterrestrial file.

The Canadian Forces do not have any plans for additional meetings with allies at this point and will not be working with the federal government's science advisor on the phenomena, National Defence confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen.

Last year, a U.S. defence scientist revealed that allied militaries had met at the Pentagon to discuss sharing data on what is officially referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAP.

At the time, National Defence confirmed that a Royal Canadian Air Force officer attended the meeting in May 2023.

Department spokeswoman Andrée-Anne Poulin said what was discussed at the gathering remains secret. She noted the discussions centred around sharing information on the subject of UAPs.

But Poulin said while the Canadian Forces continue to share various types of information with its allies, unidentified flying objects are not on the agenda for now. “At this time, we are not aware of a planned meeting on UAPs,” she added.

Poulin also revealed that the military had introductory meetings with the Sky Canada Project, which was created in the fall of 2022 by the federal government. That project is to study how UAP reports from the public are managed in Canada and to recommend improvements. It is being led by the Office of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada.

But Poulin said beyond the introductory meeting, neither National Defence nor the Canadian Forces are working with or involved in the Sky Canada Project.

Last year, American scientist Sean Kirkpatrick, who was then leading an office in the U.S. military that examined UFO-related activities, revealed that allies had met on the subject. He said the meeting involved the Five Eyes — an intelligence alliance of the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

But Kirkpatrick's announcement sparked a flurry of inquiries at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa as the military tried to figure out who had attended the meeting, according to newly released documents.

A Canadian Forces Intelligence Command officer confirmed his organization had not attended.

“We further confirmed with DRDC that they did not attend either,” noted the officer in an email sent June 6, 2023. DRDC refers to Defence Research and Development Canada, the department's science branch.

The names of those sending the emails were censored from the records for reasons of national security.

WE ARE NOT AWARE OF A PLANNED MEETING ON UAPs.