In Ottawa on March 7, 2023, General Wayne Eyre, the chief of the Defense Staff, was pictured looking at his notes while appearing as a witness at the Standing Committee on National Defense, regarding the surveillance balloon from China. The Minister of National Defense, Anita Anand, was also present during the hearing. Anand was asked by MPs if there was any data on the recent downing of three aerial objects over North America after a Chinese spy balloon was detected intruding into Canadian and US airspace. She responded by saying that there was not enough data to conclude if they were connected to foreign states. When asked if it was plausible that China used the balloon to test Canada and US’s defenses, Anand said she could not speculate without data. Some debris from the first Chinese spy balloon was recovered by the US authorities after it was downed off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on February 4. However, the three other objects, including one that was downed over Yukon, have not yet been retrieved. Anand did not give a direct answer when Conservative MP James Bezan asked whether Canadian Armed Forces members would start searching for the objects in spring. Instead, she cited the importance of safety and security.
No origin or purpose identified for downed UFOs – Anand.
