After decades of dropping candy from the sky, this Inuk pilot is taking Christmas off

The jolly man who flies through the sky dropping presents to excited children is taking a break this Christmas Day. 

No, it's not Santa Claus: it's 76-year-old bush pilot Johnny May, much to the dismay of his community. 

"You know when you're at a concert and you have a good band, people start yelling one more, one more? Same thing," May, who also happens to be the brother of Governor General Mary Simon, told As It Happens host Carol Off. 

"Almost daily I go to the local stores and someone will ask me, 'Are you doing a candy drop this year?' So yeah, people are curious whether I'll be continuing, but unfortunately I won't."

Every year for the past 55 years — except 2020 — the Inuk pilot has flown over Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec, dropping everything from candy, toys and warm clothes to coupons for TVs, chainsaws and fridges — although those are delivered in the form of a certificate in an envelope. 

His annual Christmas flights were so iconic they're celebrated in The Kuujjuaq Christmas Candy Drop, a children's book by the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, which was also adapted into a CBC animated film. The book is available in both English/Inuktitut and French/Inuktitut.  

May's decision to retire the tradition was first reported in Maclean's.

This year, May will be spending Christmas at home with his family. He says he made the decision for several reasons: the pandemic, his airplane is under repair, and he decided a couple of years ago that it was time to spend Christmas on the ground. 

He says he has "mixed emotions" about the decision, but one thing he's looking forward to is not waking up early to check the weather. 

"I will miss it. Absolutely," he said. "I have many grandchildren. It'll be a good time to be together with family and not worry about the weather." 

This year will also be extra special because his sister will be delivering the Christmas address to the nation in her new role as Governor General.

"That's quite something," May said.

May says he got the idea for the gift drop from his childhood. His father was the manager at the Hudson Bay post in Kuujjuaq, and every winter they would toss hard candy from the roof to Inuit who had come to the post from their camps on the land. 

When May got his pilot's licence, he decided to continue that tradition. He would load up his plane with presents and his "helper elves" and take to the sky as a crowd gathered on the ground.