Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled Sunday night to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where a flying object was shot down by a NORAD fighter jet on Saturday for “violating Canadian airspace.”
The United States identified the object as a small surveillance balloon.
“The safety of citizens is our top priority. That’s why I made the decision to shoot down this unidentified object, ”said Prime Minister Trudeau in a brief statement to the media Sunday morning in Ottawa, before his departure for the Yukon.
This visit by the Prime Minister to the Yukon capital was already planned, as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Council of Yukon First Nations.
Search teams were dispatched to the Yukon to find the remains of the flying object, referred to as a “balloon” by the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Wayne Eyre, the previous day when he accompanied the Minister of National Defence, Anita Anand, to take stock of the situation.
“We still have a lot to learn. This is why the analysis of the object will be important, ”said the Prime Minister.
Trudeau is scheduled to meet Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai in Whitehorse on Monday, where he will also hold a press briefing.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) publicly revealed the presence of the object over Canada’s far north on Saturday afternoon and it was an American F-22 fighter jet that shot down.
U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC on Sunday that U.S. authorities believe the object downed in the Yukon, and the one downed Friday in Alaska, were smaller surveillance balloons than the first. which had flown over North American territory two weeks ago.
Trudeau in the field
“Tonight (Sunday), I will meet with Aboriginal leaders, including leaders who could be affected by the descent of the object and tomorrow morning, I will speak to the Prime Minister of Yukon,” said Mr. Trudeau before his departure. to the Yukon.
“You see how seriously NORAD, Canada and the United States take these potential threats. We will find out more when we analyze the object that we find on the ground, ”said the Prime Minister.
Justin Trudeau reiterated that he had discussions with US President Joe Biden regarding this new incident in North American airspace, as he first stated in a series of tweets on Saturday.
At a press conference on Saturday evening, Minister Anand said it is too early to know for sure if the “cylindrical” object that was shot down over the Yukon on Saturday came from China, but she hinted all the same that it could indeed be another Chinese “spy balloon”.
“Early indications are that this object is potentially similar to the one that was shot down off South Carolina, although it is smaller and cylindrical in shape,” Anand said, referring to the Chinese balloon that was destroyed on the ship. February 4 by the United States.
While Ms Anand spoke of a “cylindrical object” throughout her press briefing, General Wayne Eyre referred to the object as a “balloon” during the same meeting with reporters.
Repeated incidents
A fourth “unidentified object” was shot down Sunday while flying over Lake Huron. It was therefore the third object in as many days to be shot down by the American air force.
“Today (Sunday) a high altitude object was detected in US airspace over Lake Huron. NORAD sent Canadian and US aircraft to investigate and the object was shot down in US airspace by US aircraft,” Minister Anand tweeted.
It was therefore the fourth object to have violated North American airspace in the past two weeks.
A suspected Chinese “spy balloon” had returned to the United States after flying over Alaska and parts of western Canada two weeks ago, before being publicly identified on February 1. The balloon was shot down off South Carolina on February 4.
A second object was shot down after flying through Alaskan airspace on Friday, then a similar situation occurred on Saturday, this time in the Yukon. In both cases, the authorities indicated that these objects were smaller in size than the first Chinese balloon.