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Sky Canada Project report (PDF)

Office of the Chief Science Advisor, Government of Canada · 2025 · 30 pages · text from the file's own layer

The Office of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada issued this June 2025 report of the Sky Canada Project, which reviewed how public reports of unidentified aerial phenomena are handled in Canada. It finds no cohesive, standardized reporting system, no official public platform, limited analysis and little scientific involvement. It compares approaches in the United States, France and Chile, includes a commissioned public survey, and makes fourteen recommendations, including naming a lead federal agency, creating a dedicated reporting service and cooperating with AARO, NASA, GEIPAN and SEFAA.

  • p. 13 …Canadian UFO Survey” produced by a group of Manitoba-based volunteers called Ufology Research, directed by…
  • p. 16 …The Search for the Unknown”.28 Many researchers and authors have mined LAC’s UFO docu…
  • p. 19 …zur Erforschung des UFO- Phänomens, or The Society for Research into the UFO Phe- nomena),41…
  • p. 20 …China UFO Research Association, several localized societies were established, including the Beijing UFO Society, which was…
  • p. 28 …Society for the Study of the UFO Phenomenon eV. (2024). Available at www.ufo-for- schung…
REPORT OF THE SKY CANADA PROJECT# 39
Management of UAP reports in Oceania
Australia
From 1950 to 1996, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was
responsible for investigating UAP sightings in Australia.47 How-
ever, the RAAF ceased its involvement in public UAP investi-
gations in 1996, citing a perceived lack of scientific value and
compelling reasons to continue dedicating resources to these
activities.
Today, public sightings of UAPs in Australia can be reported to
the local police or other third-party organizations such as the
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) for Australia and New Zealand
and the Australian Centre for UFO Studies (ACUFOS). Defence
flight safety incidents (including those potentially caused by
UAPs) are handled by the Defence Aviation Safety Authority
(DASA), while the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) handles
civilian aviation safety.
New Zealand
New Zealand also had a period, spanning from 1954 to 2009,
during which the military collected public UFO sightings, ap-
parently without investigating them.48 New Zealand’s military
released hundreds of documents detailing claims of UFO sight-
ings to the national archives.49 Today, members of the public
can still report UAP sightings to both the New Zealand Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA)50 and the New Zealand Defence Force
(NZDF). Additionally, there are civilian groups, such as Ufocus
NZ,51 that gather reports from the public and pilots.
Management of UAP reports in Asia
Japan
According to media sources, Japan’s Defense Minister in-
structed the Japanese Defense Forces in 2020 to record and
photograph any object they encounter or that enters Japanese
airspace, and to take steps for the “necessary analysis” of the
sightings.52 This directive underscores the importance placed
on monitoring and documenting UAPs by the Japanese gov-
ernment, as well as the recognition of the need for thorough
analysis and investigation including information provided by
the public. The Japanese military announced in February 2023
a new policy to consider unidentified drones and balloons as
legitimate targets to be shot down.53
On May 28, 2024, ruling and opposition lawmakers in Japan
held a meeting to address UAP issues, and, on June 6, 2024,
they created a nonpartisan group to ramp up abilities to detect
and analyze UAPs.54
China
The rise of UAP research in China coincided with the country’s
reform period in the late 1970s. As part of the first wave of
reforms, public interest in UAPs began to emerge.55 In Septem-
ber 1979, students at Wuhan University established the China
UFO Enthusiasts’ Liaison Office, which later evolved into the
China UFO Research Association. The association expanded,
opening branches in other cities.
The Journal of UFO Research, founded in 1981 in Lanzhou by
the Gansu People’s Publishing House, became the most widely
read UAP research magazine in Asia by the 1990s.56 Following
the success of the China UFO Research Association, several
localized societies were established, including the Beijing UFO
Society, which was founded in 1984. The Beijing UFO Society
claimed to have collected a significant number of photographs
and first-hand accounts of UAPs through its fieldwork.
During the 1990s, interest in UAPs and extraterrestrial life
surged as state media began covering the topic and publishing
restrictions were relaxed.57 However, the China UFO Research
Association disbanded in 1997.
Recently, China has a dedicated task force within the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) to investigate Unidentified Aerial Phe-
nomena (UAP). This task force employs a multi-tiered reporting
system to manage UAP sightings, collecting data from military
radar stations, air force pilots, police stations, weather sta-
tions and observatories affiliated with the Chinese Academy
of Sciences. Reports undergo preliminary analysis at regional
military commands before being centralized in a national data-
base. To handle the vast amount of data and identify patterns,
the PLA utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to assess the nature
and potential threat level of these phenomena. This approach
enables the PLA to rapidly determine whether observed objects
are foreign aircraft, natural occurrences or potentially other-
worldly in origin.58
The recent global developments in the study and inves-
tigation of UAPs demonstrate an increasing commit-
ment to scientific inquiry and national security. Coun-
tries such as the United States, France and Chile have
established formal governmental bodies to investigate
UAP sightings, while others have relied on non-gov-
ernmental organizations or citizen science groups to
collect and analyze reports. The growing recognition of
the need for robust data collection and international
cooperation reflects a shared interest in understanding
these phenomena and a global shift toward a more
systematic and open approach to the study of UAPs.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan ATLAS), Chicheng Iceberg
Ridge, Hebei Province, China (2024). A massive object
entering Earth’s atmosphere disintegrates, leaving behind
a bright trail.

Cases discussed

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Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 30 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.