Ex-defence minister joins search for aliens: A new group is pushing for full disclosure about extra-terrestrials, and they've enlisted a former Canadian cabinet minister to help make their case. !Exo UK Comment! - The British media are becoming more tolerant to topics of an Exopolitical nature and about time too. Talk to any media bigwig off the record and they'll tell you what we've also learned from distributing images, documents and videos online -  ie: that despite the denial in public, most people are desperate for information on this topic and are only now getting such matters as part of their regular info-diet. Read the reactions to the article published in Canada below - the main article follows.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
E.T. has phoned home
Oct 31, 2007 04:30 AM

Gearing up for `Cosmic Watergate'

Ideas, Oct. 27

I'd like to thank the Toronto Star for introducing the issues raised in this article. But let's be a bit frank and honest. The Star knows a lot more, has known a lot more and could choose to take its public responsibilities seriously and publish more at any time.

It is not a question of needing a lengthy investigation to get the ball rolling. The evidence, the sources and documentation have been in plain sight and in your files for a long, long time.

This issue is far past the knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and sightings. There has been direct and ongoing contact, as well as advanced and revolutionary technologies, held back from the public.

People in many sectors of the government, military, industry and the media have been involved and in the know for decades. In Washington, it is one of the top open secrets.

Clearly, large media organizations need to take the issue seriously and help move us all forward in a meaningful way. Don't tease, don't waste time skirting around it; just tell it straight. Imagine the credit and respect that would ultimately come your way.

David Shewchuk, Toronto

I am happy to see an effort in mainstream media to cover and expose some of the tremendous factual cases documented concerning extraterrestrial-related investigations.

I could go on and on with documented sightings, radar contacts, official investigations and incredible cases, including activities of more than 50 air force, navy and army bases, but I don't wish to try to convince anyone of anything.

I would like, however, to see the efforts of these brave men and women in the know shared in an environment of enlightenment rather than ridicule, and understand that action is needed to examine and release the massive factual evidence existing in this matter.

Douglas Lemkay, Victoria, B.C.

The Toronto Star is to be commended for allowing your reporter to cover the truth embargo that the press maintains on the UFO question. It is very important for responsible mainstream journalists to be permitted to provide the detailed coverage of the reality of extraterrestrial visitations, as it has been provided by thousands of credible witnesses and government documents.

Please continue to cover this controversial issue in detail. It has been said that truth comes in three phases. First it is ridiculed, then it is fought ferociously and finally it is proclaimed to be "self-evident."

Joseph Burkes, Arcata, Calif.

I read this article with much interest. It was excellent and also good to see that it was not ridiculing Exopolitics Toronto in its endeavours to get the government to admit a cover-up.

Victor Viggiani and his group seem to have a lot of information regarding this subject, which oftentimes is a source of ridicule. But as the article stated, he has no intention of convincing anybody of anything. Just get the government to release the information and let the people think for themselves.

Rose Levay, Welland, Ont.

Thank you for the insightful article by Joanna Smith. It was unbiased and void of any giggle factor. It is time earthlings grew up and started interacting peacefully on various levels with our cosmic neighbours. The secrecy embargo needs to end.

This planet is in desperate need of some outside assistance and guidance. Thank you for being brave enough to publish this article. I only hope there are more to follow.

Dave Beckingham, Markham

Ex-defence minister joins search for aliens: A new group is pushing for full disclosure about extra-terrestrials, and they've enlisted a former Canadian cabinet minister to help make their case.

Joanna Smith, Staff Reporter: Toronto Star

Victor Viggiani has one of the toughest jobs in the universe. The retired elementary school principal spends his time lobbying reporters to blow a massive government cover-up wide open and reveal that extra-terrestrials have been visiting our planet for years.

"I have no intention of convincing anybody of anything," said Viggiani, 59, director of media relations for Exopolitics Toronto, a non-profit educational group pushing for full disclosure of the truth about off-world beings.

"What I do is point them to the evidence."

Exopolitics is a field of study that has moved far beyond the question of whether we are alone in the universe. Its supporters believe there is enough evidence out there that they can state as fact that a) intelligent, sentient, ethical extra-terrestrials exist; b) they have made contact; and c) they probably have light years of lessons to teach us about sustainable energy sources and countless other matters of global importance.

"This has nothing to do with lights in the sky," Viggiani said. "... We are attempting to put together a civilian diplomacy movement that will verse people in these kinds of things so that we can develop a relationship with these extra-terrestrials and become part of that community.

"But we are not ready yet," said Viggiani, who lives with his wife in Mississauga. "As a species, we are not ready yet."

A large part of getting ready to deal with diplomacy on such a high level involves lifting what exopoliticians often refer to as the "truth embargo" on government information about the subject.

Viggiani does his part by collecting reams of documents, such as thick files he obtained from the Canadian Department of National Defence under the Access to Information Act on what pilots talk about when they are scrambled to track "non-correlated targets," also known as UFOs.

But in order to get to the point where a team of investigative reporters would be willing to dive into what Viggiani calls a "cosmic Watergate," he faces what is arguably an even greater hurdle: "the ridicule factor."

Ridicule is a potent weapon that ensures newspapers actually willing to mention extra-terrestrials in their pages usually add throwaway lines about little green men.

Viggiani believes this is part of a deliberate government plan to keep this stuff under wraps because it inhibits potential witnesses from coming forward.

"The ridicule factor is extremely powerful," said Viggiani.

As any public relations guru would know, it helps to have a credible celebrity to champion your cause.

Viggiani found his champion in Paul Hellyer, who was federal defence minister in Lester B. Pearson's cabinet and then ran for the Liberal leadership against Pierre Trudeau in 1968.

 

"I think the significance – and they are probably exaggerating it – but the significance is that I'm the first person of cabinet rank in the G8 to have come out openly and unequivocally and said the extra-terrestrial presence is real," said Hellyer, who explained that his interest does not derive from anything he learned while he was defence minister. He said he is currently reviewing the file he had while in cabinet, "but it doesn't really tell me very much" except that most sightings can be explained by natural phenomena while others cannot.

It also helps to make the most out of any step in the right direction.

In May, Exopolitics Toronto, on behalf of the Canadian Exopolitics Initiative, sent a letter to the governor general of Canada that outlined much of the documented material and requested she meet with credible experts to discuss disclosure and diplomacy.

Her secretary's office responded two weeks later, suggesting their "concerns would be best addressed by the Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service."

In a press kit he hands out to reporters and other media people, Viggiani called the response a "major breakthrough in Canada's disclosure initiatives."

"It's an admission that she now knows, or her office knows, that we are concerned about this and gives us the opportunity within the Canadian government to find out more," Viggiani said in an interview, while at the same time conceding: "It's a generic response – there's no doubt about it."

Stephen Bassett, executive director of the Paradigm Research Group in Washington, D.C., said he has noticed a change in the way extra-terrestrial topics are covered in the media of late.

"They still have to apply the same sort of phraseologies and some of the lightness and the humour and – I guess you could call it ridicule – but they get all the information in," said Bassett, referring in particular to three recent stories published in the Washington Post.

But the dearth of serious coverage has Bassett suspecting whether publishers and national security forces are working together to keep things quiet.

"The failure of the major media in the United States to cover the ET issue is one of the great failures of all journalism," he said.