Starting a Drone Business in Canada: The Legal Checklist

Real estate photography, roof inspections, construction progress, mapping, events: drones open many business opportunities. Before you take your first paying client, make sure every legal box is ticked.

1. Pilot certification

• At minimum, a Basic certificate; in practice, most professionals need the Advanced certificate to work in cities and near people.
• Keep up with the 24-month recency requirement.
• For BVLOS work, consider Level 1 Complex and an RPAS Operator Certificate.

2. Aircraft

• Register and mark every drone of 250 g or more — see registration.
• Check safety declarations for the advanced operations you’ll sell.
• Set up flight and maintenance logs — see record keeping.

3. Business structure

• Choose a structure (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation) and register your business name in your province.
• Register for sales taxes when your revenue requires it, and keep accounting records.
• Open a business bank account.

The Government of Canada’s business start-up pages and your provincial registry are good starting points.

4. Insurance

Get liability coverage suited to commercial work, and consider hull coverage for expensive equipment — see drone insurance.

5. Privacy compliance

• Images of identifiable people can be personal information.
• Write a short privacy policy for clients and how you store footage.
• Get consent where needed and blur what you don’t need — see drone privacy.

6. Permissions for each job

7. Contracts

• Scope, deliverables and timelines.
• Weather and airspace cancellations.
• Who obtains which permissions.
• Ownership and licence of images.
• Liability and insurance clauses.