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September 16, 2026 1048 am EDT
Cases of rickets and scurvy are on the rise in one of the wealthiest G7 nations in the world. The cost of groceries in Canada's northern communities is three times higher due to transport alone. Winter roads are becoming unreliable for delivery as the permafrost melts.
WTMI speaks with Randy Jenkins of Wiiche'iwaymagon Buying Alliance and Barry Prentice, University of Manitoba and developer of ISO Airships about the logical solution to solve this.
Edited for clarity and length.
The Arctic is central to Canada’s national identity, prosperity, security, values and interests. Canada's Arctic covers 40% of Canada's territory and more than 70% of our coastline and is home to many Canadians across the region, including Indigenous Peoples who have inhabited this land since time immemorial.
Government of Canada, Global Affairs website
- in March 2015, CBC reported Health Canada's "abysmal failure" to address rickets, which Dr. Leanne Ward says is "a global health problem we shouldn't be seeing anymore." Rickets is a Vitamin D deficiency, hindering the development of healthy bones, muscle and teeth. A 2007 study showed children in NWT, Yukon and Nunavut suffering 6 to 12 times above the national average.
- A 2015 report found Nunavut's 37,000 residents facing food security rates 4 times the national average
WaterToday Media International: Randy Jenkins runs a co-op that ships food to the north. Prof. Barry Prentice develops airships, with potential to change the way remote deliveries are made. I would like to welcome you both, thanks for doing this. My first question is for Randy, tell us about your program and how much food you currently ship north?
Randy Jenkins: It goes back a bit in time. In 2023 eight Indigenous groups, tribal councils and other First Nation organizations signed a treaty with the eight of the national food charities, including Food Banks Canada. That treaty says we will work together to end hunger for babies and elders in remote communities. In the first year of that alliance, over 5 million kg of food were shipped into remote communities by the various charity organizations.
By 2024, as a group we came to the understanding that the charitable food is a lovely thing, but our people need more. They need access to food at southern prices. We need access to the variety of food available to everybody living in southern Canada. We started the Wiiche'iwaymagon Buying Alliance, a First Nation-owned non-profit. The job is to source food and other supplies from major southern companies and ensure it gets to northern communities through the Food Bank network, in the same range of pricing as in southern grocery stores. Since we started that, we have shipped well over 500,000 kg into northern communities, shipping every day.
WTMI: This question is for Professor Prentice, given what Randy just said, how much relief would an airship bring to this program?
Prof. Barry Prentice: In terms of cost, the airship is about a quarter of the cost of the small airplanes used to transport food now, so, it's a huge saving in the cost of food. Airships match the cost of trucking on the ice roads. We want to run year round. Ice roads are in for a very limited season.
Airships get much better as they get bigger. You have to have an airship of a certain size in order to be reasonable for lowering prices. In terms of our analysis, it looks like an airship that can carry about 30 tonnes is the optimal size to start. In the 1930's, German airships were carrying 100 tonnes, so we are far within the envelope of what's been done. In order to get to 30 tonnes (cargo), we are talking about a vehicle 600 ft, 200 m long, 100 ft in diameter. These big machines need a proper landing base. Thirty tonnes of cargo won't be moved by hand. We have developed a landing base with a turntable, so the cargo can be efficiently handled.
It's not only food that has to come into the communities. One of the greatest problems in the north is the lack of housing. There is a need to bring in building materials year round. You need fuel to run the buses, fire trucks. Anything that has to come in, water, or equipment that has to be replaced, or parts. As of now, if equipment breaks down in June you are waiting until next February or March to get a replacement in. The airships can bring in large, heavy equipment (for a longer window).
I don't want to go too far out on a limb, we haven't tested our airships in (northern) winter conditions, that's part of what we are planning, to put the airships through the paces to make sure they are safe year round. Even if that's impossible, with six months more transportation to the north, it will make a world of difference.
WTMI: What is the timeline for an airship delivery, could you do a successful flight over 2 days or 5 days?
Prentice: Airships are actually much faster than people think. We have this impression of them doddling around a football field, very slow. Even 90 years ago, the zeppelins flew 80 miles per hour, or 135 kph. Distances we are talking about in general are not that far. Trucks are cheap, everything would be trucked as far as you have roads and then launch the airship. We did a study on this and looked at half a dozen "jumping-off points" across Canada, Yellowknife, Thomspon in Manitoba, Pickle Lake, Moosonee in ON. From there to the remote community may be around 300 km. We see more than one flight a day, serving many communities.
WTMI: Randy, give me your take on what northern people are saying when you talk about this?
Jenkins: There is a fair amount of excitement. A fair amount of skepticism as well. Governments don't spend on small communities the way they spend on mines. The airship is a fairly palatable option, effectively operating as a large, floating cloud, not disturbing wildlife.
WTMI: Can you tell me if any of the mines have expressed interest in financing a pilot?
Prentice: There is one mine on record to take the first airship that comes. That mine is called Torngat, in northern Quebec on the border with Labrador, a rare earth deposit. Their location is 250 km from the nearest railhead or port, the cost to get permanent access is over $1 billion. So nobody is talking about building a road. They have opened the mine on a winter road basis to the coast of Labrador, to get the mine started.
This is an issue we have faced forever, the chicken and egg. The users want to use airships, but they don't want to invest in building airships. The investors say, "If we put money in, will the government what it needs to do?" Transportation is a shared responsibility. Airplane operators don't build runways, and shipping companies don't build ports. Everyone sits waiting for the other guy to move, and nobody moves. Randy and I are working on a small demonstration project, not a commercial venture, but to show that cargo airships will work.
WTMI: What about hydrogen, what is people's perception of things blowing up?
Prentice: In my class, I have asked the students, how many have seen the flaming Hindenburg video? Of 30 people, only 4 put their hands up. This is ancient history to them. We are using hydrogen all over the place, runs school buses, forklift trucks are very common now using hydrogen. Its used as a fuel for city buses in Winnipeg. We understand hydrogen a lot better than we did 90 years ago and we know it can be used safely. You know about the Hindenburg, but tell me of another accident? There was only the one, and it wasn't caused by the hydrogen. People have this idea that airships are dangerous, however if something goes wrong, you float around, you don't come cratering down like an airplane. Airships are inherently much safer than airplanes, but have this reputational deficit with the public.
WTMI: An airship company in England, I believe, has been licensed by Lufthansa, for five or six airships, have you been following any of those programs?
Prentice: Yes, the company you are likely talking about Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV). They have been developing a vehicle for passenger use. They have been looking at short hops, they have a deal with a company in Spain, looking to buy a bunch of these. Places like Liverpool to Belfast, out to the Orkney Islands, in Canada, Vancouver to Victoria would be ideal. Short haul commuter type, a lot of the issues pertain to having passengers.
We are looking at cargo only, and we see the future with drones. You don't need a pilot on board to fly an airship, the airships are actually very easy to fly. If you don't have anyone on board, what is the complaint about using hydrogen? All the airships now being designed operate electrically, nobody is going to put a gas engine or a diesel engine on an airship anymore. There are a number of reasons why that is happening. Hydrogen, as a fuel source for electricity, or run through a fuel cell is ideal for an airship. The airships are really big, so there no issue, there is lots of space for the fuel tank. As you consume the hydrogen in a fuel cell you gain water. For every kg of hydrogen you burn, you end up with 8 kg of water, so that's a great advantage to adjust buoyancy and land. Very desirable. Of course, on top of everything else, zero carbon emissions. This is an ideal vehicle in terms of the environment. These are just things that are already in the works.
WTMI: I understand you need a huge hangar to build one of these, or work on one of these things.
Prentice: That's a really important point about the hangar. You have to have a building bigger than the airship, in order to build the airship. You don't put the airship in the hangar very often once its been built, like a ship on the ocean, it lives in the sky, but it has to have a place to go once a year, at least for inspection and any major repairs. One hangar can serve 25 airships, so it's not so debilitating in terms of cost there. The building is a huge barrier to entry. Until you have a hangar, you can't build the airship. This is a financial barrier, more than anything else.
WTMI: Once you have the building, have built your airship and Transport Canada has agreed to do a test, how soon could you be up and operating to help the people up north?
After our demonstration flight, we are looking at an 18 month window. We are going with the drone model, to avoid the 3 to 5 year aviation air worthiness process required for a manned unit. With a drone, you don't have that. There is no air certification process for any drone, of course you want to be safe, but we think we can speed the process up quite a bit by going with a drone. The first drone you build can be used in commercial operations, you can use it to start hauling freight and making money.
WTMI: Randy have you had any MPS, or mayors commit to help get this going?
Jenkins: I have spoken to a few, none of which are currently holding office. Lots of commitments mean nothing when you aren't in a position to do anything about it.
WTMI: A large law firm in Canada, Miller Thompson has on their website, "call our Dirigible Unit". I was amazed to see that. Have either of you been contacted by Miller Thompson at all?
Prentice: No, the first I've heard about it, maybe looking for clients?
WTMI: Getting back to the project, how optimistic are you that this will happen within 5 years?
Jenkins: I would approach this a bit differently. I'm not sure there is a choice. I'm not entirely sure winter roads will exist in another 5 years. I've watched insurance rates climb in the last 25 years. Insurance rates for freight are almost 4 times higher now than when I started.
WTMI: What would you like to ask Transport Canada?
Jenkins: I would ask what they are planning. If I'm right, and the winter road networks fail in the next decade, what are they planning to do?
Prentice: I would ask, could they share their written policy on airships? My guess is, you aren't going to get an answer, because I don't think they have a policy.
WTMI: Have you got anyone on the Transport Committee to help?
Prentice: We spoke to the Transport Committee in Harper's day, and there was a recommendation made, but nothing ever happened. When I talk to people in TC they ask me, "where is the political direction?" Civil servants can't just go and start working on something, there has to be political direction. It seems like the left hand and the right hand don't speak when it comes to this topic, that's been my observation.
WTMI: Have none of the Northern MP's said this is a great idea, I'm going to help?
Prentice: In my 25 years of talking about this, we never got anywhere. Guys who are now in the opposition, James Kozan, Lawrence Tout, an MP lost his seat. A head of the Transport Committee, former beet farmer in Ontario was very much interested. Its not that there haven't been MPs that like this, but it never got anywhere, and that's the basic problem.
WTMI: Randy, how much could the drone airship drop the delivered price of food in the north?
Jenkins: Giving an example from our recent experience, we sent a shipment of food to Fort Good Hope, NWT total $25,000. The transport alone on that shipment, through a charitable organization, was almost $40,000. Even outside the special framework we have created to make this happen, I think transport raises the cost of food almost three times.
WTMI: Could the airship pay for itself in a five year period?
Jenkins: It would pay for itself in about two years. It's not just the transport cost. Remember, every time I switch mode of transport, from truck to airplane, or truck to truck to airplane, each transfer costs a minimum $2000. So if I can get an entire load for a community on a single airship with a single drop, the cost saving would be remarkable.
WTMI: I'm going to go at this in terms of food expense to the northerners, and find out why no one is talking about doing this.
Prentice: Let me answer that. Right now, we are spending $200 million a year just to subsidize the cost of food to the north and its still ridiculously expensive.
Jenkins: Milk in Grise Fiord is subsidized by between $36 and $43 dollars per 2L carton.
Prentice: We have been doing this now, and its growing every year, with no end in sight. The subsidy is not a solution. The population is growing. The cost of moving things is growing. At what point does the government finally decide to do something that is not just a subsidy on food transport? We think that's what the airships should be.
Coming back to our demonstration. We have acquired an envelope to demo with an advertising blimp out of the USA. We are getting it delivered in a couple of weeks. It is 128 ft long, not that big, but it can lift about 2 tonnes. Turning it into a drone for a demonstration, we will be able to lift 500 lbs to 500 kg of cargo, to demonstrate this can be done. Right now, it seems the great debate is, "this is all good and fine, but who has done it? Prove it" We will show it can be done. Then we can ask what the excuse is for not getting it done.
Jenkins: Rickets and scurvy? This should not be happening, we've been to the moon!
Prentice: We have to come to grips with this, as Randy said, the winter roads are not lasting, and its only getting worse. We have to do this. You can't expect the people in the north to ask for this specific solution, most people in Canada don't know about airships. It's up to us to demonstrate this solution.
WTMI: Thank you both for doing this. Randy, all the work you do around food is admirable to say the least.
Related WT article: STRAIGHTLINE AIRSHIPS – ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY COMMERCIAL AVIATION THAT REQUIRES NO ROADS OR AIRPORTS - 2021
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