June 18, 2007-OTTAWA -- A UFO researcher who offered to brief Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on the presence of extraterrestrials is putting an optimistic spin on the pro-forma response he received from her office.

Victor Viggiani of Exopolitics Toronto, admits that the perfunctory reply could be seen as a polite brush off, but he's taking it as more than that.

The letter from the Governor General's office says Viggiani's concerns "would be best addressed by the Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service."

"You may wish to contact these organizations."

Said Viggiani: "You could interpret it in one way as a standard response. But we're interpreting it, I guess, in a positive way that we now have the Governor General's OK to pursue this thing in the Canadian security service ... with her support.

'TACIT PERMISSION'

"She's giving us sort of, quote unquote, her permission, consent, tacit permission to go forward with this."

In an e-mail to supporters, Viggiani said his group had "received direction from Jean's office to pursue this issue with Canada's space agency and CSIS."

The retired Toronto school principal has been a dedicated supporter of UFO research and a firm believer in extraterrestrials for years.

In a May 17 letter to the Governor General, Viggiani offered a private briefing by "citizen experts" including one-time Liberal defence minister Paul Hellyer.

Hellyer, a 1960s minister, has said he is convinced that UFOs are real and are evidence of extraterrestrial visitations.

He believes that shadowy government agencies -- and some governments -- are aware of the existence of alien visitors and may actually have met them.