b'TECHNOLOGYThey seem to be able to pick up the controls and operate the drones almost intuitively and without being told what to do. Its amazing to watch. The company runs a number of youth camp-style programs with elementary schools where kids are taught the basics of building drones and are engaged in games like drone tag. Older students are provided more advanced training and opportunities to use drones for appli-cations such as photography, using a multispectral camera to determine plant health, or mapping their surroundings to detect litter for clean-up.Its a great way to get young people involved and interested in the tech-nology and maybe inspire them to invest Indigenous Aerospacemore in studying science, technology focuses on in-personor engineering, says Taylor. Even if learning and trainingthey dont grow up to have a career in when it comes to teachingthe drone space, they may go off into a Indigenous communityrelated field in which Indigenous people members how to fly drones are underrepresented. was chosen to represent IndigenousMULTIPLE USES BUILDING CAPACITYAerospaces founding vision to not onlyThat focus has kept the companysAfter nearly two years of operations, educate Canadians on the realities thatCanada-wide team of 60-plus traineesTaylor is happy to see Indigenous interest Indigenous communities face when itand drone specialists busy workingin the drone sector and its technologies comes to things like getting supplies,with different organizations to explorepicking up speed. Moving forward, his but to help communities participatethe many uses for drones. To dategoal is to continue fostering engage-in this emerging drone sector in a waythey have engaged with a number ofment in this fast-evolving space: Right that fosters own source revenue andIndigenous organizations, including thenow, were still just building up as many economic development. Manitoba First Nations Police Service.Indigenous pilots as possible because it Elsewhere, the company has helpedreally does start with having that foun-Indigenous Aerospace travels to Firsttrain groups to use drones to locatedational knowledge of the industry, its Nations across Canada to recruit poten- missing hunters, assist firefighters withregulations, and its applications to truly tial drone pilots and guide them throughfire mapping, and manage emergencyparticipate in a meaningful way.Transport Canadas rigorous examinationmanagement activities. and certification process. The standardTaylor is also looking forward to April for drone pilot training is usually throughAt the time of print, Taylor was also2025, when Transport Canada is slated online schools, but I knew those dontproviding training for a project that willtoamendtheCanadianAviation really work for community learners, saysuse drones equipped with LIDAR to scanRegulations (CARs) to allow pilots to Taylor, who is also about to completeresidential school properties for geomor- operate drones up to 150 kilograms his Ph.D. in Indigenous Health Sciences.phic anomalies in the terrain to narrow(medium drones) and conduct Beyond the search for suspected grave sites.Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations To that end, Indigenous Aerospacein sparsely populated areas without a focuses on ground school, in-personTo date, the Indigenous Aerospace teamSpecial Flight Operations Certificate learning, where community membershas worked with groups in nearly every(SFOC). This will pave the way to provide are encouraged to learn the certificationprovince and territory, save for QuebecIndigenous communities with more testing materials together. My focus isand Yukon. Taylor has also rolled outmuch-needed services. mostly on pilot development, Taylor says.training programs for elementary and As the technologies get better and thehigh school students, who he says haveThere will be a new pilot certifcate for regulations develop, we want to helpa natural affinity for the technology. Youthat, says Taylor, so were getting ready communities be ready to take advan- can become a basic pilot at age 14 andto train people for that pilot certificate tage of the technology themselves ratheran advanced pilot at age 16, so we seeand also getting products lined up where than hiring a third-party industry partnerit as a good opportunity to start thisthey can start to do these delivery proj-to come in and do the work. training with young people, he explains.ects within their local communities. 80A CCAB PUBLICATIONFall 2023'