Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the last of his time in the Yukon on Monday to say a foreign object shot down between Mayo and Dawson City last weekend remains a mystery, but Arctic sovereignty is still a top priority.

The prime minister was in Whitehorse on Sunday and Monday to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Together Today for our Children Tomorrow.

On Saturday, he ordered Norad to shoot down an unidentified aircraft in Yukon airspace. It was one of three foreign objects shot down over North American airspace last weekend, and the fourth in just over a week.  

Trudeau spoke to reporters outside Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport on Monday morning before departing for Ontario. He was joined by Premier Ranj Pillai and MP Brendan Hanley.

“When these unidentified objects represent a threat to airline traffic, to civilian safety, we needed to take action, which we did,” Trudeau said.

“And that’s what we’re going to continue to do to ensure that Canadians are kept safe.”

The prime minister didn’t give any more details about the nature of the downed object, but said the Canadian Armed Forces were leading an ongoing ground search with the RCMP and other partners to recover it.

He said the federal government has been working closely with the territorial government and Indigenous leaders to make sure the search is done “safely and appropriately.”

Once the object is recovered, it will be analyzed to determine its nature and origin, he said.

That could take days, as the object was shot down over a large, remote, unpopulated area that’s difficult to access in winter months.

“There is much analysis going on at the highest levels of Norad, in both Canada and the United States, to try and understand more…and be able to answer the questions that Canadians have,” Trudeau said.

“As soon as we have more clarity and better answers to give to Canadians, we will be giving them.”

Trudeau said locals will be instructed on the safety of the area as the ground search learns more.

The prime minister was asked if recent events made the protection of Arctic sovereignty a more urgent priority.

“The importance of defending our territorial integrity, our sovereignty, has rarely been as important as it is now,” he said.

Another object was downed over Alaska last Friday, and the Chinese spy balloon that passed through the United States at the start of the month entered North America over Alaska and the Yukon.

Trudeau said he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden last Saturday about the situation.

He said the sovereignty of North American airspace in general will be part of the conversation when the two meet on Biden’s scheduled visit to Canada in March.

“This is a very serious situation that we are taking incredibly seriously,” Trudeau added.

“The responsibility of the federal government and leading Armed Forces and Norad is to make sure Canadian sovereignty is protected and maintained.

“But we do that in partnership. You can’t talk about protection and sovereignty in the North without talking about and talking with the people who’ve lived here for millennia.”

Trudeau and Pillai both said over the weekend that the object now scattered on Yukon ground never posed a threat to the safety of Yukoners, only to civilian aircraft. 

The object, described as small and cylindrical, was unlawfully occupying Canadian airspace at an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet, Defence Minister Anita Anand said in a televised statement last Saturday. 

The federal government is working in partnership with the territory to ensure Yukoners in the area remain safe as the area is searched, Trudeau said.

“We understand that Yukoners – and I spoke with the First Nations leaders in the affected territory (Sunday) night – are rightly concerned about the impact on their citizens,” he said. “We are deploying all measures possible to keep Canadians safe.”

Trudeau said Norad’s response to the recent slate of foreign objects in North American skies shows the defence command is operating as it should. 

“Obviously there is some sort of pattern in there,” he said.

“The fact that we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention, which is exactly what we’re doing.”

The prime minister was also asked how the federal Liberal party would ensure Yukon First Nations would be consulted on a federal gun bill that’s caused backlash among northern gun owners.

Answering in French, Trudeau said Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino had taken what he’d heard from gun owners in the Yukon last month, including those in First Nations communities, and decided to withdraw amendments to the bill introduced last fall.

Yukon gun owners, and Hanley have said those amendments would have banned firearms essential to life in First Nations and rural northern communities.

Trudeau said his government still wants to ban firearms not essential to hunting to decrease gun violence in the country.

However, it wants to do so in a way that respects the fundamental rights of Indigenous and northern communities.

Pillai didn’t take questions Monday, but said a few words to reporters about the Trudeau’s visit, thanking him for coming to celebrate a “really important anniversary for the Council of Yukon First Nations.”

Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow was presented to Trudeau’s father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, on Feb. 14, 1973 as a road map for reconciliation and Yukon First Nations self-governance.

It led to the Umbrella Final Agreement in 1993 and final agreements for self-governance for 11 of the territories 14 First Nations.

“It’s a story that all Canadians need to hear about a modern treaty and how amazing it’s been for our territory,” Pillai said.

He said the two discussed a number of issues important to the territory during the visit, including Arctic security. 

Pillai said the two also spoke about health care negotiations – the premiers decided to accept the federal government’s nearly $200-billion offer later that afternoon – and what the Yukon could expect from new federal funding.

The Yukon will negotiate its own bilateral agreement for health care funding with the federal government, as well as what the territory can expect from $150 million set aside over five years for the North as part of a Territorial Health Investment Fund.