AN EXAMPLE of housing to be found in many remote Northern Ontario communities. Contributed Photo When there is a discussion about the people of the first nations, the pivotal word is "community".

There are, for example, 136 communities (of First Nations people) in Ontario. And the time has come when the multifarious problems afflicting these 136 communities, as well as all those across Canada, are beginning to and must continue to truly capture the attention of the rest of the people of the whole nation.

Until 1960, the law of this land dictated that "Indians" were not allowed off their reserves without federal permission. They could not own land or hold jobs. They could not be trained as professionals: doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. If there was a determination to get an education, that person had to go the U.S.A.

Earlier in the 20th Century, young natives were taken from their communities, to residential schools, punished for speaking their native tongue and given educations in European history - and abuse.

In order to achieve any kind of advancement in the world of the "white man", an Indian had to give up his status, leave behind his community: his family and friends, and take up citizenship as a "Canadian".

Thus, he was forever condemned to live in between worlds, pining for the loss of the one but without ever achieving acceptance of the other.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the aboriginals of this country were the first to sign up for duty overseas. When they came home, they received nothing by way of compensation if injured or any pension (because they were not "Canadian citizens").

This brutality is extremely recent history that is remembered by the large number of survivors still living. Their memories are passed to the (only) two generations who have followed them and those young people continue to harbour the pain and resentment that such treatment has rightly incurred.

In 1965, the community of Walpole Island took money from its trust fund and hired an administrator to work between the community and the government agencies so that something could get done when there was a need, so difficult was it always for the aboriginals themselves to successfully communicate with bureaucrats. The heavy issues of aboriginal living conditions, water, employment, etc. were dealt with slowly or not at all by the Ministry of Indian Affairs.

In 1970, a young engineer, Bob Burnside, started a company, Burnside, which was meant to handle engineering projects of all kinds, "around his kitchen table". Ross Holden, of the Indian Affairs department in Toronto, called him for a quote on a project on Christian Island. The project was concerned with the water distribution of the community — pipes, etc. — and involved the design, supervision of construction of the system and engineering inspection upon completion.

Mr. Burnside offered an estimate of $3,000 for his part in the project. Mr. Holden accepted the bid and asked Mr. Burnside to go up to Christian Island to complete the work.

It was an interesting personal epoch for Mr. Burnside to spend the time within the community during the construction of that water system. When he came home, he sent in an invoice of $1,800.

After a short time, Mr. Ross asked for the rest of his invoice and Mr. Burnside told him that was all there was. That was all he spent to do the work and that was all he needed to be paid. Mr. Ross was so impressed by the honesty and integrity of this young man that he called on him for all the engineering work he needed.

It was a very great beginning. Mr. Burnside had cemented a solid relationship with Ross Holden and established a reputation of integrity, honesty, high quality work ethic and being a person who could work well within a First Nation's community.

These were all virtues that secured Bob Burnside and his fledgling company a future workload that offered considerable success as long as the standards were maintained.

To this end, as the company has grown, the basic philosophy of doing the job well, but, more importantly, in a way that suits the community in which the work is being done, that lead to the first successes, has become the whole tenet for every project.

When Bob Burnside went to Christian Island, being a man from the countryside, from Dufferin County, he learned that the people of the First Nations were not particularly different from his own neighbours. They were down to earth, with simple needs who had little respect for the impatience and attitude of "big city" people.

As the years went by, Bob Burnside made it clear that he had no problem going to small and remote villages for the work and that he was quite comfortable in rural communities, understanding the straight forward approach to life of a rural mentality.

It was Mr. Burnside's acquaintanceship and then friendship with Mervin Dewasha that brought Burnside well and truly into the world of the First Nations. Mr. Dewasha, an engineer himself, is a member of the Wahta Mohawk First Nation, with now a 35 year history of working to improve the conditions in the First Nation reserves.

He has been one of the people responsible for the push ahead to improve the standards of water services within the communities. This is no small problem and stems from various directions, as Mr. Dewasha explained to me in an interview with him and Bob Burnside's son John, at their head office in Orangeville.

Firstly, there are no standards of engineering set by the government on reserves. They are exempt from the standards that apply to the rest of the country, which means that much of the systems that have put in place are substandard.

In the 1980's there was, as Mr. Dewasha said, a lot of "gold plating" of systems, systems that were more than was needed, too complicated or elaborate to suit the needs of the situations.

Worst of all, though, is the problem of maintenance. It is all very well to install a system, but everything needs to be maintained and operated in a knowledgeable way. Where there is no one who has been properly trained to do the work, the systems deteriorate and eventually fail.

While Burnside has been working with the First Nations since its inception, it was in the early 1980s that Messrs. Burnside and Dewasha met. At the time, Mr. Dewasha was working with Indian Affairs.

In 1999, a sister company, Neegan Burnside, was created to work exclusively with the First Nation projects, with which Mr. Dewasha has worked ever since in one capacity or another. Today he is the CEO and majority shareholder of Neegan Burnside.

It has been Mr. Dewasha's lifelong determination to bring young First Nations people into the engineering and scientific world and within the last 20 years, he has been using the work of Neegan Burnside to assist in this ambition.

Next week, we will look at the way into the future road of resolutions to the complicated history of governmental mismanagement and Neegan Burnside's role in that future, as well as Burnside's international role.

(First of two parts.)