Project Second Story (A.k.a. Project Second Story, Project Theta) launched on April 22, 1952, and was Canada's second official government initiative to investigate UFO sightings, following Project Magnet.
The Defence Research Board sponsored a committee of scientists and military officials, which included Wilbert Smith of Project Magnet to investigate the UFO phenomenon. he committee was chaired by Peter Millman, an astronomer with the Dominion Observatory, who held a skeptical view of UFOs, believing they were misidentified natural phenomena rather than extraterrestrial spacecraft. The project aimed to collect, analyze, and categorize data from UFO reports across Canada.
Unlike Project Magnet, which was described as Wilbert Smith "Side project". Project Second Storey was broader in scope, prioritizing a systematic examination of reported UFO phenomena from a defense and security perspective. At the same time, the US Air Force was actively investigating UFOs through Project Blue Book, and the Project Second Storey committee was Canada's more cautious and skeptical approach to the UFO phenomenon.
One of the main focuses of Second Storey was the development of a standardized form for reporting UFO sightings. This form (which can be found in the Arthur Bray Fonds) was intended to be used by various government departments, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), to collect consistent information about sightings. The form emphasized quantitative data and objective observations, minimizing narrative accounts or personal interpretations. Second Storey members, particularly Millman, were primarily interested in explaining UFO sightings as misidentified natural events such as meteorites and other conventional explanations.
The committee held six meetings over two years before its termination in 1954, when it was concluded that UFOs were not a significant threat to national security and did not warrant extensive investigation. The committee's final report asserted that the UFO phenomenon did not "lend itself to a scientific method of investigation".
Then end of Project Second Storey and Project Magnet effectively shut down further official inquiries into the subject in Canada for several years and marked the beginning of a period of increasing distrust and frustration among Canadian citizens interested in UFOs
Arthur Bray fonds - Project Second Storey. Archives of the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
Hayes, Matthew. "UFOs in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 20 October 2020, Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ufos-in-canada . Accessed 01 November 2024.
Hayes, Matthew. Search for the Unknown: Canada’s UFO Files and the Rise of Conspiracy Theory. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022. https://www.amazon.ca/Search-Canadas-Files-Conspiracy-Theory/dp/0228010748
Hayes, Matthew. A History of Canada's UFO Investigation, 1950-1995. Trent University, 2018.https://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/objects/etd-776