National Defence provided false information on live phosphorus flares left in Marsh Lake after search-and-rescue exercises took place there in September.
A live flare found two weeks after the exercises by an explosive ordinance disposal team was the only one left behind, military officials told RCMP at the time.
“The information I had was that that was indeed the case,” said Sgt. Don Rogers, RCMP spokesperson on Tuesday.
But on Sunday, a member of the Marsh Lake Fire Department found another live flare.
It was destroyed by the RCMP at an undisclosed site on Monday.
“To answer any discrepancies between that and this you would have to get a hold of the military,” said Rogers.
The military won’t explain why they told the public only one flare was left behind.
“That was our assessment at the time, based on the information we had,” Sgt. Eileen Redding of the air force, the military branch responsible for search and rescue, wrote in an e-mail.
“We now know there were at least two that were not expended.”
Searches will be conducted in the spring after ice break-up to determine if any more flares surface over the winter, she wrote.
“With the lake freezing over, the risk to the public diminishes daily.”