Speaking to lawmakers in Ottawa this week, Mona Nemer also said that more can be done to make UFO information available to Canadians.
"I think that there is room for improvement in terms of the gathering, reporting on the information, and also making it available to researchers and to the public," Nemer told Parliament's science and research committee on Tuesday.
"I can appreciate that some, you know, may be of national security concern, but I believe that by and large, that you can make the information public - and I think that's the best way to mitigate conspiracy theories and disinformation."
As chief science advisor of Canada, Nemer heads an arm's length office that reports directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the minister of innovation, science and industry. In March 2023, CTVNews.ca revealed the existence of the office's Sky Canada Project, which is the first known official Canadian UFO study in nearly 30 years.
"We should be on track for releasing the report at the end of summer, early fall," Nemer said on Tuesday. "I think our report is going to be quite fascinating on the historic front, so stay tuned."
The Sky Canada Project has contacted counterparts in the U.S. and France, while also collecting information from Canadian departments and agencies like the Department of National Defence, Transport Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
"The enthusiasm or the responses have been uneven," Nemer revealed. "Sometimes the information is more complete or, you know, more cryptic than we'd like it to be, which is why in some cases I will be engaging directly with the deputy ministers to make sure that we have the information that we need."
Also referred to as "UAP" - short for unidentified anomalous, or aerial, phenomena - the seemingly strange subject is increasingly being taken seriously, and has become the focus of recent U.S. congressional hearings and official reports from both NASA and the Pentagon.
The Sky Canada Project now even has its own webpage that describes its mission.
"The Sky Canada Project was launched in the Fall of 2022 to study how Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) reports from the public are managed in Canada and to recommend improvements," it explains. "The Sky Canada Project supports citizen science and aims to facilitate the collection of observations documenting rare natural phenomena."
Comment: In other words, no military or intelligence reports. How convenient.
The webpage also makes it clear that Nemer's office is not looking to receive reports from the public.
"It should be noted that the Sky Canada Project is not intended to access and collect first-hand data," states a disclaimer at the top of the page. "Furthermore, it is not meant to prove or disprove the existence of extraterrestrial life or extraterrestrial visitors."
A cardiovascular scientist and former vice-president of research at the University of Ottawa, Nemer has held her current position since it was created in 2017. The Office of the Chief Science Advisor of Canada has previously published reports on topics like COVID-19, aquaculture and open science.
"I can tell you that we're taking this seriously," Nemer told members of Parliament on Tuesday. "We're taking a very thorough approach to this and making sure that our recommendations will be based on the best evidence and interactions that we've had."
An earlier February 2023 PowerPoint presentation on the Sky Canada Project pegged the public report release date at winter or spring 2024. A CTVNews.ca investigation previously showed how UAP reports are handled by the Royal Canadian Air Force, Transport Canada, air traffic controllers and others.
Nemer was responding to questions on Tuesday from Conservative parliamentarian Larry Maguire, who has become one of Canada's most vocal advocates for UFO transparency.
"The Chief Science Advisor's project is a signal to the government, the scientific community, the media, and Parliament that they can no longer ignore this," the Manitoba MP previously told CTVNews.ca. "The Chief Science Advisor's team has the appropriate clearances to dig deep into the existing data and must be given access to everything."
Tuesday marked the first time Nemer has spoken publicly about the Sky Canada Project since it was launched almost a year-and-a-half ago. You can watch the nearly nine-minute exchange between Maguire and Nemer above.
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