Canadians reported more than 1,000 UFO sightings in 2025, including blinding lights, hovering orbs, airborne cylinders and disc-shaped objects.
According to the 2025 edition of the annual Canadian UFO Survey, the 1,052 UFO reports come from every Canadian province and territory. But while many sightings may seem strange at first glance, roughly three per cent were considered unexplained after analysis.
“The vast majority of reported UFO are easily explainable as stars, planes and satellites, but a small number didn’t have easy explanations,” lead researcher Chris Rutkoski told CTVNews.ca from Winnipeg.
Drawing from sources like public reports, UFO research groups and a government aviation incident database, Rutkoski’s annual survey has catalogued more than 26,000 Canadian UFO sightings since 1989. The latest version of the survey was released Monday.
“For this study, the working definition of a UFO is: ‘an object seen in the sky which its observer cannot identify,’” the survey explained. “UFO witnesses range from farmhands to airline pilots and from teachers to police officers.”
Lights, spheres, triangles and more
The 1,052 UFO reports made in 2025 was a slight increase from 2024, when 1,008 reports were collected. Just over half of the reports in 2025 were of lights in the sky (52 per cent) while other reported shapes included spheres (11 per cent), triangles (five per cent) and discs (five per cent). Nearly half of the sightings (48 per cent) were of white objects or lights, followed by “multicoloured” at 16 per cent. About 13 per cent of sightings were during the day. Ontario had the most reports at 307, followed by Quebec at 210 and B.C. at 131.
Rutkowski, who has authored 10 books on the subject, says he remains motivated by “scientific curiosity.” While he says “there’s no proof aliens are responsible” for UFO sightings, he continues to encounter “interesting cases that don’t seem to have good explanations.”
The 2025 survey includes several unexplained examples, such as a case from last December that was submitted via the UFO research group MUFON, which involved an alleged witness driving near Hafford, Sask., who reported seeing a “domed, silver disc-shaped object hovering across the highway, 20 feet off the ground.” Another from last April in Sudbury, Ont., described a glowing “orange diamond” that “went higher and then became an orb.”
While most reports are submitted by the public and many remain unconfirmed, some are taken from official sources, including 18 that were found in Transport Canada’s online aviation incident database. They include a flight approaching Vancouver International Airport that reported “an unrecognizable flying object of mechanical nature, without lights” and another flight over northern Alberta that reported “a cylinder-shaped object” at 39,000 feet.
Transport Canada routinely cautions that such “reports contain preliminary, unconfirmed data which can be subject to change.”
From UFO to UAP
Short for “unidentified flying object,” the “UFO” acronym is increasingly being replaced by the term “UAP” in official circles, which stands for “unidentified aerial (or anomalous) phenomena.”
In the U.S., the Pentagon has a dedicated UAP research office. U.S. President Donald Trump also recently promised the release of government UFO files. With little to no official investigation in Canada, a 2025 report from the government’s top scientific advisor recommended the creation new federal body to standardize, collect and study UAP reports.
“Given that thousands of Canadians each year believe they have seen UFOs, and since there is a need to better understand incursions into Canadian airspace regardless of UAP origin, Canada should create an office dedicated to UAP research,” Rutkowski said.
For his research, Rutkowski has quietly received UFO reports directly from officials at Transport Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces. A 2022 CTVNews.ca investigation also revealed that Rutkowski contributed material to a UFO briefing that was held for former defence minister Harjit Sajjan.
With many sightings likely going unreported, Rutkoski urges more Canadians to document their UFO experiences, which can be submitted online to the Canadian UFO Survey team.
“There still may be a bit of a stigma on admitting you have seen a UFO, but this is changing,” Rutkowski said. “In order to better understand the UFO phenomenon, we need more data, and that data comes from witnesses coming forward with their sighting reports.”
More on this topic from Daniel Otis:
Do you have an interesting document or observation to share? Email CTVNews.ca Journalist Daniel Otis at daniel.otis@bellmedia.ca.