Three 'objects' destroyed since Chinese balloon was downed earlier this month
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that teams are working to "find and analyze" an object shot down on Saturday over the Yukon, while another object was destroyed Sunday over Lake Huron by the American military.
"The safety of Canadians is our No. 1 priority, that's why I made the decision to shoot down the object. It was a threat to civil aviation and a potential threat to Canadians," Trudeau said in brief remarks on Sunday morning.
Trudeau was speaking from the Ottawa airport ahead of a trip to Whitehorse. The trip was pre-planned — to participate in the Council of Yukon First Nations' 50th anniversary celebrations — and unrelated to Saturday's events.
A senior government source with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that the federal government was first alerted to the object on Friday night, when it was still travelling through Alaska.
Trudeau ordered the object shot down by whichever country arrived at it first, and an American F-22 destroyed it at about 3:41 p.m. ET.
Trails from an aircraft are shown in the sky, along with a white object.
The remnants of a suspected Chinese spy balloon drift over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, after it was shot down on Feb. 4 by a U.S. military fighter aircraft, whose contrails are seen below the object. (Submitted by Chad Fish/The Associated Press)
"To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that a NORAD operation has downed an aerial object," Defence Minister Anita Anand told a news conference on Saturday.
A source with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that the closest city to the debris was Dawson City, Yukon. The RCMP said Sunday it had also deployed resources to help with the search efforts.
Trudeau did not share any additional details about the nature of the object on Sunday, saying only that "teams are on the ground, looking to find and analyze the object.
source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-yukon-object-threat-aviation-1.6745783
