By James Foster
If there really is life beyond Planet Earth, a new report suggests they may have a hankering for some poutine.
The annual Canadian UFO Survey released by UFOlogy Research of Manitoba shows there were 1,101 people who claim to have seen unusual lights and shapes in Canada's skies in 2017.
"UFOs still seem to be thing. They haven't gone away. And they don't seem to be declining in any numbers," science writer Chris Rutkowski told CTVNews.ca
Nearly half of the sightings last year were right here in La Belle Province, with 518 sightings (up from 430 in 2016). Ontario was second with 241.
Overall the research center said there are about three UFO sightings in Canada each day.
While the majority of unexplained happenings in the night sky come from rural areas, Montreal was Canada's UFO big city capital, with 74 reported sightings, Torontonians not wanting to be outdone reported 57 bizarre lights and objects flying overhead.
"It's not just an average person seeing a light in the sky. It's someone with a good background of observing the sky … who sees something a bit more structured," Rutkowski said.
"None of these cases are proof that aliens are visiting us," Rutkowski said. "What it does say, what our report overall says is that people continue to see UFOs in significant numbers and Canadians are certainly reporting them in very significant numbers."
In the 29 years since the UFO report began, the centre has catalogued 19,138 UFO reports in Canada.
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Manitoba−based Ufology Research has released its most recent UFO sightings survey and analysis. Eight per cent of the 1,101 reported eye−witness accounts across Canada in 2017 could not be explained. Here are some other findings from the survey:
Sightings reported in 1989 (first year of survey): 154
Sightings reported in 2017: 1,101
Highest number of sightings: 2015 with 1,267
Top three provinces for sightings: Quebec (518), Ontario (241) and British Columbia (128)
Cities with most UFO sightings: Montreal (74), Toronto (57), Vancouver (46), Edmonton (29), Hamilton (28), Ottawa (26), Calgary (24), Winnipeg (9)
Average number of witnesses per sighting: 2
Typical length of sightings: 15 minutes
Shape of sightings: Boomerang, cigar, cone, cylinder, diamond, disc, fireball, irregular, line, oval, point source, rectangle, round, sphere, square, triangle
Source: Ufology Research
Sylvia Strojek, The Canadian Press
