Drone Stewardship Program

Upcoming Dates:

Drones Cohort 5

Program Duration: August 23, 2021 – September 10, 2021
Application Deadline: July 16, 2021

Drones Cohort 6

Program Duration:  November 15, 2021 – December 3, 2021
Application Deadline: October 18, 2021

Drones Cohort 7

Program Duration: March 7, 2022 – March 25, 2022
Application Deadline: January 10, 2022

The Course

Indigenous communities and organizations in British Columbia are invited to apply for the first program to offer comprehensive training in the theory, set up and application of drones with an Indigenous community context! Students will be provided with a foundational understanding of management through experiential learning, ground school, and applied learning. This course is offered in partnership with Flytbox Aerial Solutions to prepare students for the Transport Canada Small Basic RPAS exam.  In addition, students will receive their Restricted Radio Operator Certificate with an Aeronautical qualification (ROC-A).

We are pleased to share that upon successful completion of the Drone Stewardship Training, six Regional Hosts (Indigenous Nations, communities or organizations) will be provided with a professional-level drone for ongoing operation.

Who can apply?

The Technology Council is accepting applications from Regional Hosts across B.C. who will nominate two Regional Representatives to attend this pilot training program. Regional Hosts can be Indigenous Nations, communities or Indigenous-led organizations. Regional Representatives are Indigenous staff or community members who already have a basic understanding of technology.

Regional Hosts: Apply here

Regional Representatives: Apply here

For a full list of Regional Host and Regional Representative eligibility criteria,

Training Details

Dates:

Listed above

Application Deadline:

Listed above

Location:

Online – Virtual Classroom

Time commitment:

Three weeks, 9AM – 3PM Monday – Friday

Cohort size:

12 students

Costs:

Tuition and certification costs are funded by the Technology Council. Additional funding for travel and accommodation expenses are available upon application.

Meet your Instructors

Pano Skrivanos

Pano Skrivanos has been working with Indigenous communities for many years as Senior Manager of the GIS and Information Management Program at Inlailawatash Limited Partnership. He provides expertise in the areas of land use planning, forestry, surveying, marine conservation, archaeology, wildlife habitat analysis, and forest carbon. Pano also specializes in land use and occupancy research, and more recently, optical and LiDAR mapping using drones. Pano has a BSc. in Geography from the University of Victoria, an Advanced Diploma in Geographic Information Systems from British Columbia Institute of Technology, and an MSc. in Forestry from the University of British Columbia.

Pano says, “The course is going to be really interesting. I mean drones are interesting. These are machines that fly around and can do really cool stuff. It’s going to be a really good opportunity. It’s going to open up doors for people to do all kinds of neat stuff in their communities.”

Pano’s great-grandmother is from Tia’amin Nation.

Maxime Lapierre

Max is the Chief Operations Officer and Lead Pilot at Flytbox Aerial Solutions Inc. He is a career Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professional with experience working in government, academia, and the private sector. Max has also worked with EMO, Search and Rescue and a variety of public service departments. His passion for RPAS has developed significantly in the last few years after receiving his first Special Flight Operations Certificate. He enjoys the new perspectives drones can give you, especially when used for data collection.

Max says, “Drones are such an empowering tool. I love being able to teach folks how to bring all this technology together and see what they do with it. I hope to help students build the confidence they need to fly.” His family is from Quebec and his great-grandmother is was Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk). Max now lives in K’jipuktuk (Halifax).

What you’ll be learning

Week 1

Rules and Regulations

Week 2

Transport Canada Exams

Week 3

Hands-On Piloting

How drones are being used across the world

Forestry

Firefighting

Search and Rescue