Recovery efforts are underway for an unidentified object shot down by North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) jets over the Yukon on Saturday, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.."Canadian Forces members will be leading the recovery efforts on the ground for the unidentified object," Trudeau said during a press conference in Whitehorse, Yukon on Monday.."As you know, the responsibility of the Canadian government and of NORAD is to ensure the safety of Canadians. And when these unidentified objects represent a threat to airline traffic to civilian safety, we needed to take action which we did.".On Saturday, NORAD shot down a "high-altitude airborne object" that was flying over the Canadian Yukon at 40,000 feet. Canadian F-18s and US F-22s were scrambled, and an F-22 took down the object at around 3:40 p.m..READ MORE: NORAD shoots down 'unidentified object' over Yukon .Trudeau said search and recovery efforts are currently underway involving "all the very best resources that the Canadian Forces and the RCMP and other partners have put forward." Trudeau added that Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai and indigenous leaders have been "tremendous partners" in the process..The prime minister was asked by a reporter why American jets had been the ones to shoot down the objects over Canadian soil, to which he responded that NORAD is a "joint command."."There were Canadian and American fighter jets scrambled to intercept the the object and to take it down," Trudeau said. "It was a very much based on the context and the situations of who was there who had the capacity to do it before we lost the object into darkness or into situations."."Our focus was not on which side gets credit for what. Our focus was on running the operation smoothly and successfully. That's what NORAD is all about," he said..Trudeau said there was also "some sort of pattern" to the various objects that have been shot down in recent weeks, but did not elaborate. "The fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention," he said..Trudeau's comments come a day after another octagonal object was shot down by a US F-16 over Lake Huron at 2:42 p.m. Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD said the object likely fell into Canadian waters and recovery efforts are underway.
