UFOS ARE NO STRANGERS TO THE NORTH

Internet UFO Group Media Archive

From:webcreat@internorth.com
Title:UFOS ARE NO STRANGERS TO THE NORTH
Source:Northern News Service
Date:January 15, 1996


by P.J. HarstonS

News/north (January 15, 1996)

Yellowknife, NT


Northern Lights, atmospheric irregularities, drug use and over-active

imaginations ahve often been used to justify - and dismiss - paranormal

phenomena. But how do you explain mysterious lights seen by as many as 50

people

in one community? One of the onlookers even videotaped the sighting. That's

what happened last week in Forst Resolution. An unidentified flying

object (UFO)

with blue, green and white lights was spotted hovering for almost an hour by

about 50 individuals. The spectacle was so intriguing, the North's top military

commander, Col. Pierre Leblanc, travelled to the South Slave community Wednesday

night with two military investigators. He said the investigation was pretty

straightforward. They simply flew over the area of the sighting and interviewed

eye-witnesses. They didn't return to headquarters empty-handed. They

obtained a

copy of the videotape, which will be forwarded to Defense officials in

North Bay,

Ont. (Ontario - Blaine), for further study. Leblanc said information from other

sources, such as land and sea radar, will be collated and compared to his

findings.

"The next step"? Where does it go from there? Well, Leblanc said National

Defense keeps track of paranormal investigations, although the budget for such

activities is shrkinking all the time. Jim Bronskill, a reporter with the

Canadian Press, recently researched UFO sightings files at the National Archives

in Ottawa. He said UFOs have been active in the North for as long as records

have been kept. "Sightings are fairly evenly spread out across the country,

including Northern sightings," Bronskill said. While doing research, he saw

files from Pond Inlet and a few other NWT communities in which authorities

documented sightings of strange lights and hovering objects. He also recalls a

sighting in Lynn Lake, Man. Two observers there told a RCMP officer of a green

fireball falling slowly from the sky. In his report, the constable said

meteorites and the Northern lights (Aurora Borealis - Blaine) had been seen in

the area recently. He said he also detected the unmistakable odor of marijuana

while taking witness statements. "The North is a little bit different from the

rest of Canada because of the Northern lights and other atmospheric

irregularities," he concluded. "Quite often, Northern sightings are explained

away because of those types of things."

"Casting doubt" Fort Simpson elder Leo Norweigian came forward with information

about a November UFO sihting after hearing of the Fort Resolution report.

He said

he had seen a lot of things in his life, but nothing like these lights. He said

he had seen lots of Northern lights and other atmospheric phenomena, he had even

seen an unexplained glowing fireball shoot across the sky - that was 25 years

ago. But on Nov. 13, when he and an eight-year-old child witnessed lights on a

hovering craft near Fort Simpson similiar to what was reported in Fort

Resolution, he was baffled. "I'm just glad that someone else has seen it too,"

he said, admitting he didn't tell too many people about his sighting because he

feared he wouldn't be believed. Bronskill said Canadians used to file close to

200 official non-meteoric sightings a year with the National Archives. That

figure changed last August when the fedreal government canned the recording

program - a budget cutting measure. (or something more? - Blaine)

"Where do UFOs go?" What happens to UFO reports isn't clear. Northern RCMP

officers say UFO investigations aren't within their jurisdiction any more. RCMP

in Ottawa say they're only concerned with UFOs which threaten the national

capital. Meanwhile, Department of National Defense officials say they're not

sure what happens when people spot UFOs, either. "There used to be a Project

Blue Book that looked into those reports, but that's no longer operational," one

official said. Military police officials said they would house an alien

prisoner

if required, but have nothing to do with investigating UFO sightings. They

thought National Defense public exhibition staff might know something - they

didn't. "Staff Sgt. Eric Lafoy, a spokesman for the RCMP in the NWT, said that

if a UFO ever landed in the North, police, military and territorial officials

would just have to deal with it, policy or not.