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Description: Canada’s UFOs: The Search for the Unknown
© Government of Canada. Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (2012).
The Toronto based independent news agency ZlandCommunications has learned that the Canadian government under the leadership of the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has provided open web access to approximately 9,500 UFO files at its archive web site, Library and Archives Canada.
In 1950, a senior radio engineer from the Department of Transport, Wilbert B. Smith, made a request to his superiors to make use of a laboratory and the department's field facilities in a study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the physical principles connected to them. Smith spearheaded Project Magnet with the purpose of studying, among other occurrences, magnetic phenomena, which he believed would open up a new and useful technology.
The goals of Project Magnet were fueled by the concepts of geomagnetism, and the belief that it may be possible to use and manipulate the Earth's magnetic field as a propulsion method for vehicles. Tests conducted by Smith were reported in November 1951 and they stated that sufficient energy was abstracted from the Earth's field to operate a voltmeter at approximately 50 milliwatts. Smith believed he was on the "track of something that may prove to be the introduction to a new technology." Smith believed that there was a correlation between his studies and investigations into UFOs: "...the existence of a different technology is borne out by the investigations which are being carried on at the present time in relation to flying saucers.... I feel that the correlation between our basic theory and the available information on saucers checks too closely to be mere coincidence" (Smith, Geo-Magnetics, Department of Transport, November 21, 1950).
It was believed by both Smith and other government departments involved, that there was much to learn from UFOs. Investigations into these sightings and interviews with the observers were the starting point for Project Magnet.
In connection with the establishment of Project Magnet, members of other government agencies formed a committee solely dedicated to "flying saucer" reports. This committee was sponsored by the Defense Research Board and called "Project Second Story." Its main purpose was to collect, catalogue and correlate data from UFO sighting reports. The committee created a questionnaire and interrogator's instruction guide. The reporting method used a system intended to minimize the 'personal equation'. In other words, a weighting factor was created to measure the probability of truth in each report. Smith explained that most UFO sightings fit into two general types: "those about which we know something, and those which we know very little."
“… we are faced with a substantial probability of the real existence of extra-terrestrial vehicles”.
senior radio engineer with the Canadian government Department of Transport at the time and a highly respected scientist who held a master's degree in electrical engineering and several patents.
“For the most part, however, the picture is clear: Wilbert B. Smith was a sensible and serious scientist who held an important post within his government”
“anti gravity flying saucer propulsion theory / contactee hugging crank who led a Canadian official or semi official UFO investigation back in the early 1950s”
“an insignificant Canadian scientist of long ago”
"The armed forces have a tendency to classify everything in sight. Then the fact that such cases are classified starts rumours. Somebody who is in a position to know realizes the Air Force does have relevant data; and it is just a short step to the idea of official conspiracy to suppress the truth. Had the data not been classified, then independent scientific judgments would have been possible. In many cases, such independent scientific analysis would show that the cases have a natural explanation. The culprit is classification. I have a friend who says that in America today if you're not a little paranoid you're out of your mind. The military has a responsibility not to add further to the paranoia".
Carl Sagan in "UFO's: A Scientific Debate" (1972) (edited
by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page) at pages 273-274 (in Chapter
14) of the Norton paperback edition.
In general, governmental agencies do not have the skill or knowledge to explain UFO reports. But rather than admit this, they either offer ridiculous explanations or conceal information that would enable others to explain them. However, the secrecy involved gives the impression that something important is being concealed, fuelling the UFO myth. Governments are victims of their own preoccupation with secrecy." [23]
Steuart Campbell in his book "The UFO Mystery Solved" (1994) at page 184 (in Chapter 12) of the Explicit Books softcover edition.
The undershirt which Mr. A presented had been ripped apart in front, where it was burned. It also carried a patterned burn centered high on the back, the pattern matching, according to Mr. A, the pattern of the UFO's exhaust openings from which the burning vapors had spurted. Mr. A had been burned only on the abdomen, with slight singeing of the forehead. The reason for the presence of a patterned burn on the back of the undershirt was not obvious.
Samples of soil and moss from the area, portions of the burned shirt, and a six-foot measuring tape which Mr. A had left behind were brought to city A. All three were radioactive. When sent to city B for analysis, they were found to be so strongly radioactive that the Radiation Protection Division of the Dept. of Health and Welfare considered restricting entry to the forest area from which they allegedly were taken. A careful check of the site by a representative of this department revealed that the perimeter of the "landing circle" and beyond were free of radioactive contamination. According to his report:
“A thorough survey of the landing area was carried out, using a Tracerlab SU14, Admiral Radiac 5016, and a Civil Defense CDV 700 survey meter. One small area was found to be contaminated. This was located across the crown of the rock. There was a smear of contamination about 0.5 x 8.0 inches on one side of the crack. There was also some lichen and ground vegetation contaminated just beyond the smear. The whole contaminated area was no larger than 100 square inches. All water runoff areas were checked for possible contamination, but nothing was found”.
No representative of an independent or official agency was present when the circular area alleged to be the landing site was rediscovered. In spite of an RCMP understanding with Mr. A that no evidence should be removed from the area should he relocate it, radioactive soil samples, (fortuitously selected from the small contaminated area), remnants of cloth, and the measuring tape were represented as having been removed from the area. Why the cloth remnants and the tape were radioactive was never explained. While these items could have been contaminated by contact with the soil samples, reports received by the project indicated that the items were in separate plastic bags, and major contamination would not be expected. The partially-burned undershirt had earlier been found not to carry radioactive contamination. The tape would have been left some 160 ft. from the landing circle, in an area found to be free of radioactive contamination.
Other individuals checked the site for radioactivity later. One of these was Mr. E. J. Epp of city A, who searched the site in Fall of 1967 and found no radioactive material. At the project's suggestion, he had the records of the Dept. of Mines and Natural Resources searched for mineral claims in the area filed by Mr. A. This was requested because of the possibility that Mr. A had deliberately misdirected the earlier searches in order to protect mineral claims. Such claims were filed by him, but not until later in the Fall.
The [Condon] project never received a final report of the analyses of the soil samples taken by the Dept. of Health and Welfare. The origin of this material is therefore an open question.
“This account differs in some aspects from Mr. A's original reports. In the booklet, for example, Mr. A is reported to have stuck his head into the open hatch of the "saucer" and observed a maze of randomly flashing lights inside the craft. In earlier accounts, Mr. A stated that he avoided going near the hatch and was unable to see inside it because of the brightness of the light coming from it. The account was chronologically jumbled, and showed a carelessness with fact.”
The Shag Harbour UFO Incident was the reported impact of an unknown large object into waters near Shag Harbour, a tiny fishing village in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on October 4, 1967.
The impact was investigated by various civilian (Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Coast Guard) and military (Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force) agencies of the Government of Canada. The RCN conducted at least one underwater search to attempt to locate the remains of any associated objects. The Government of Canada declared that no known aircraft was involved and the source of the impact remains unknown to this day. It is one of very few cases where government agency documents have formally declared an unidentified flying object was involved.