Canada First Became Aware of High-Altitude Balloon in January: Transport Canada

A jet flies by a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floats off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 4, 2023. Randall Hill/Reuters

Canada spotted an unidentified high-altitude weather balloon days before the U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of the Carolinas in early February, says Transport Canada.

“On January 31, 2023, Transport Canada was made aware of the possible presence of a High Altitude Balloon over Western Canada,” a spokesperson from the federal department told CTV News on March 2.

The Chinese surveillance balloon began making headlines on Feb. 1 when it was seen hovering over the state of Montana. It floated east over the continental U.S. before being shot down on Feb. 4, falling into the Atlantic Ocean.

NAV CANADA, the private not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation system, recorded the incident on Transport Canada’s Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS) on Feb. 9.

NAV CANADA’s report said the incident occurred in British Columbia skies on Jan. 31, when an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Winnipeg encountered “a large balloon about 4,000 feet above them with something hanging from it.”

The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) was advised about the incident, the report added.

Transport Canada also said event information listed in CADORS reports contains “preliminary, unconfirmed data which can be subject to change.”

Transport Canada told CTV it directed NAV CANADA to “issue a notice to airmen” that would identify the balloon as a hazard in the affected airspace and would also advise aircraft in the area to “exercise caution.”

The Epoch Times contacted Transport Canada for comment but did not hear back by press time.

High-Altitude Balloon

The Pentagon said on Feb. 2 it was tracking a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon that at the time was believed to have floated over the Aleutian islands and Canada before crossing into the airspace of Montana.

Several days later, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the Canadian federal government did not alert the public about the high-altitude balloon earlier because there were “lives at stake.”

“There are techniques at stake. This is complex stuff,” Mendicino told the Canada-China House of Commons committee on Feb. 6.

He also said Ottawa needs to be cautious about releasing such information in the interest of protecting national security operations and the individuals involved in them.

“That is a matter of the utmost sensitivity,” he told the committee.

Lt.-Gen. Alain Pelletier, the deputy commander of NORAD, later said the balloon flew through gaps in Canada’s radar system before reaching the U.S.

Both Pelletier and Maj.-Gen. Paul Prevost of the Canadian Armed Forces strategic joint staff also said the balloon flew near several Canadian military bases while travelling through the country on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, but didn’t pass over anything of particular significance.

Andrew Thornebrooke, Omid Ghoreishi, and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.