With the assistance of Air Canada and the Pontiac Group, Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has entered into a commercial agreement with The David McAntony Gibson Foundation (operating as GlobalMedic) to use its drone delivery technology to provide service to the Beausoleil First Nation Community (BFN) in Ontario.

A variety of donors provided funding for the project, including the OEC Group (Canada), which is a global logistics provider that services clients in all major industries including aerospace, healthcare, global retail, automotive and manufacturing.

“DDC and OEC have been looking for an opportunity to partner. When the chance popped up to help the Beausoleil First Nation community, it was an easy decision to make,” says Landon Bibeau, CMO of the OEC Group.

Under the terms of the Agreement, DDC will use its Sparrow drone and its DroneSpot takeoff and landing zones, as well as additional drone flight infrastructure as required, to enable a defined two-way delivery flight route from/to BFN mainland to/from the BFN Christian Island.

All operations will be conducted in accordance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations and Transport Canada flight authorizations. DDC will remotely monitor the flights from its new commercial operations center located in Vaughan, Ontario. DDC says that it will soon begin deployment of site infrastructure, and the company expects to begin providing drone delivery services under the Agreement in Q3 of 2020.

BFN will transport COVID-19 related cargo such as personal protection equipment (PPE), hygiene kits, test kits, and test swabs using DDC’s Sparrow drone, which will help limit person-to-person contact on its island ferry service.

The Agreement provides for the payment of an up-front, fixed-fee for managed services for the project. The term of the Agreement is six months.

“To our knowledge this is the first announced COVID-19 related drone logistics project working with a humanitarian aid agency in Canada,” says Michael Zahra, president & CEO of DDC.

“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.”