WASHINGTON –

Canada’s defence minister says the United States is still trying to determine whether a Chinese surveillance balloon collected any intelligence from either country when it flew over North America last week.

Anita Anand says Canada opted against shooting it down over Canadian airspace because it was deemed not to pose a threat to public safety.

And she says Norad, the Canada-U.S. continental defence system, tracked the balloon throughout its flight, but she won’t say precisely where it was when it was first detected.

Anand met today with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon as she wrapped up a two-day visit to Washington, D.C. with Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

Austin acknowledged the role that Canada and Norad played in helping to track and monitor the balloon as it traversed the continent, before the U.S. shot it down over the Atlantic last weekend.

Both Anand and Austin say the incident illustrates the importance of their ongoing efforts to modernize Norad, which military analysts and commanders have been warning for years is badly out of date.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2023.