Island-based Ontario First Nation to get drone deliveries

TORONTO – Ontario’s Beausoleil First Nation Community (BFN) located on Christian Island in Georgian Bay will soon be served by a drone delivery route.

GlobalMedic will deploy Sparrow drones from Drone Delivery Canada Corp. (DDC) to limit person-to-person contact on its island ferry service by transporting Covid-19 related cargo such as personal protection equipment (PPE), hygiene kits, test kits, test swabs, etc.

“GlobalMedic is proud to be part of this program using drones to deliver desperately needed aid to an isolated First Nations Community. Through consultation with the community we understand that supply chain issues exist and have been exacerbated by COVID19,” said Rahul Singh, executive director at GlobalMedic.

“We are excited to use drones as part of the solution to overcome these challenges. We have a history of using drones to respond to crisis zones having deployed our drone teams to dozens of countries using our award winning RescUAV program. We thank the OEC group and other donors to help fund this project and look forward to seeing DDC drones in the air delivering lifesaving aid to our friends in Beausoleil First Nation,”

DDC will provide a defined two-way delivery flight route between the BFN’s mainland and Christian Island communities, utilizing the Sparrow drone and its DroneSpot takeoff and landing zones as well as additional drone flight infrastructure as required.

All operations will be conducted in accordance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations and Transport Canada flight authorizations. Flights will be remotely monitored by DDC from its new commercial operations centre located in Vaughan, Ontario. DDC will commence deployment of site infrastructure shortly and expects to begin providing drone delivery services under the Agreement in Q3 of 2020.

The agreement, facilitated by Air Canada and the Pontiac Group provides for the payment of an up-front, fixed-fee for managed services for the project.  The term of the agreement is six months.

“The Beausoleil First Nation community will benefit from our drone delivery solution during the COVID-19 pandemic by limiting person-to-person contact between the mainland and Christian Island, while keeping their supply chain open,” said Michael Zahra, president and CEO of DDC.

“To our knowledge, this is the first announced Covid-19 related drone logistics project working with a humanitarian aid agency in Canada. We are grateful to GlobalMedic, OEC Group and other generous donors for their sincere concern for First Nations communities, involvement in this project and embracing our drone technology as a solution.”