Canadian UFO sightings up in 2020, group reports

June 24, 2021 · 0 Comments

Written By Mark Pavilons

The number of unusual sightings continues to grow across Canada.

Ufology Research released its 2020 Canadian UFO Survey recently, noting numbers have risen noticeably.

Last year was “exceptional” for UFOs, noted data collectors.

Some highlights include a total of 1,243 UFO sightings recorded in Canada in 2020, an increase of 46 per cent over 2019. Despite the pandemic and lockdowns, this was one of the highest total numbers of UFO reports recorded in a single year since the annual Canadian UFO Survey began in 1989.

Data showed that during the early stages of the pandemic, during the first quarter of 2020, UFO report numbers surged significantly from 151 in 2019 to 259 in 2020. As the pandemic took hold in Canada in the second quarter of 2020, UFO report numbers surged to 354 cases, up from only 222 in 2019. This trend continued throughout 2020.

There are now more than 22,000 Canadian UFO reports in the Ufology Research database, just from 1989-2020. The group says a project is under way to document Canadian UFO reports previous to 1989.

In 2020, roughly 13 per cent of all UFO reports were classified as unexplained, but more than 26 per cent had definite explanations. The remaining cases had either possible explanations or insufficient information for evaluation.

In 2020, Ontario led all Canadian provinces with 30 per cent of all Canadian UFO reports, up from 20 per cent in 2019, followed by Quebec (24 per cent, down from 2019) and BC (17 per cent, unchanged from 2019).

Maritime provinces had a dramatic increase in reported UFO sightings, rising from 39 reports in 2019 to 130 in 2020.

Since 1989, Ufology Research (formerly Ufology Research of Manitoba) has solicited UFO case data from known and active investigators and researchers in Canada. The goal has been to provide data for use by researchers trying to understand this controversial phenomenon.

Last year marked the 32nd year of collecting and analysing Canadian UFO report data by Ufology Research. With some gaps in data, tables of most Canadian UFO reports included in the annual surveys from 1989 to the present are available online.

The most obvious indication of something being unusual in 2020 UFO data is the distribution of cases over the year. The double peak in April and August is particularly striking.

Was this because of COVID? Or was it because of several factors such as Starlink satellite launches combined with the lockdowns? One suggestion, that it was because of media attention to the “Tic Tac” UFO story and the impending U.S. intelligence report on UFOs, would be reasonable, but that would not explain the sharp drop in June reports. Besides, it is known that current UFO reports are not necessarily linked to current media, but often precipitate reporting of older experiences, the report says.

It’s also interesting to compare Ufology Research data analyses with other studies. American ufologist Cheryl Costa, for example, has been doing fine work by crunching UFO data as well.

What’s curious is that her graph of monthly UFO report numbers is very different:

Specifically, while the April peak is in the U.S. data, the second August peak that is in Canadian data is absent. Costa notes that the March/April American peak is due to: “the result of COVID lockdown giving people more leisure time, a known driver of sighting reports.”

Of all the 1,243 reports recorded in 2020, while about 13 per cent were classed as Unexplained, when looking only at Higher-Quality cases with high Reliability, the field was narrowed considerably.

In York, Aurora seemed to be the hotspot, with four reports.

April 25 in Aurora, someone reported three lights forming a triangle in the sky.

In Aurora on May 4 at 10 p.m. a light just appeared out of nowhere.

Sept. 20 in Aurora, a light was observed moving around, not following a straight path. The report included a photo.

April 2 in Vaughan, white cigar-shaped object streaked across the sky and disappeared. 21:45

In Orangeville on Aug. 29 at 6:15 p.m., a slow moving light in the sky was reported.

In nearby Palgrave last Nov. 3, someone reported on Facebook a single sphere, seemingly flying around the moon.

In nearby Tottenham last May 26 at 10:15 p.m., a star-like light was seen moving in an erratic way, with multi-coloured lights flashing

Last December 5 in King Township, at 6:30 p.m., more than 15 star-like objects were reported moving across the sky.

The following are some of the “best of the bunch,” mostly in the witnesses’ own words. Some might have simple explanations despite their classifications.

“I was shoveling snow on my balcony when I saw something in my peripheral vision. When I looked up it was about four or five feet away from me, levitating above a roof. It was about 7 feet long, silver on both sides with two black (not sure how to describe them) at each end. Almost like camera shutters. It had no noise at all. I stood there staring at it and the one side kind of folded. I went to the end of the balcony to get a better look and it was gone, or I couldn’t see it.”

From Innisfil April 18: “I was driving west, not far from home and on a side street that has farmland all around, so it’s very dark. From behind the trees came this white light in the centre and reddish lights in a triangular formation pulsating back and forth and then pulsating from the centre light. The direction it was headed was south. It was flying low and the reddish orange lights seemed fixated to the center light, but didn’t appear attached. It disappeared behind the trees on the south side of the road, but I was curious to see more, so I drove past my street to where there’s an elevated bridge. I stopped at the bridge and the lights continued to fly low in the south direction. It disappeared over a distant hill and that was the last I saw it.”

In Barrie: “At first I was looking into the sky towards the West from my backyard patio and saw a bright object moving SW with pulsating a bright white light. Then it disappeared and reappeared travelling in the opposite direction NE and it moved upward vertically and disappeared while pulsating. I was very excited and asked it to show itself for my wife to see, but my wife left. I then re-entered the house and just a moment later I went out on the backward patio again and there it was again showing up pulsating light like never before. I waved and got more response by light pulsation.”

From Tottenham May 26: “Star sized flashing red and green object with no specific pattern. Could be red for 1 min then flash green and red then be green for 1 min. Saw it at about 45 deg over the horizon due south. Then moved straight north to then veer southeast to a full stop for a few minutes. Then it started to go north to disappear and reappear going north and then started to go S. It stopped in the North at about 45 deg above the horizon. I tried to take a picture with my phone but was way too small to be captured. I tried to zoom but was just a big blur.”

Results of this study show that many people continue to report unusual objects in the sky, and some of these objects do not have obvious explanations. Many witnesses are pilots, police and other individuals with reasonably good observing capabilities and good judgement.

Numbers of reported UFO sightings remain high. Several theories for this can be suggested: more UFOs are present and physically observable by witnesses; more secret or classified military exercises and overflights are occurring over populated areas; more people are unaware of the nature of conventional or natural objects in the sky; more people are taking the time to observe their surroundings; more people are able to report their sightings with easier access to the Internet and portable technology; or even that the downturn in the economy is leading to an increased desire by some people to look skyward for assistance.

Although the largest percentage of reported UFOs is simply lights in the night sky, a small number are objects with definite shapes observed within the witnesses’ frame of reference.

Popular opinion to the contrary, there is no incontrovertible evidence that some UFO cases involve extraterrestrial contact. The continued reporting of UFOs by the public and the yearly increase in numbers of UFO reports suggests a need for further examination of the phenomenon by social, medical and/or physical scientists.