Robert J. (Bob) Burnside Robert J. (Bob) Burnside was raised on a farm in northwestern Amaranth and went to school in a one-room school house.

He little knew, as a boy, that living such a life would provide him with the emotional and intellectual foundation to create the company that today bears his name. He came away from his basic beginnings as quite an unpretentious soul and not at all concerned or judgmental about the basic lives of others.

As he tells the story, when he was a young engineer, deciding to take the plunge and go to work for himself, he felt there was really nothing to lose.

"In 1970, I was young, recently married — we were expecting our first child, John, [now president of the company] — it would only have meant a financial setback if I hadn't succeeded, but there was lots of time to make up the money," he philosophised.

As it was, his grandfather and uncle had been involved in local politics and so his name was known in the surrounding municipalities where he began to offer his services. They gave him opportunities, which he attributes to the honesty and integrity of his forebears, and he did not disappoint them.

Within a year, he told me, "I had an office and three employees."

He went on to say, "My wife and I were really happy to be living in Orangeville. I was getting work and our company has grown with the community over the years."

Ross Holden, who gave Bob his first job on

Christian Island, was an engineer about Bob's age, and a civil servant. He and Hugh Potts soon gave Bob referrals for other jobs as a person who could go to the aboriginal communities in the north and "not get into trouble."

"I wasn't there to judge — it [the life and culture of the First Nations] was so complicated," he said.

Mr. Burnside explained that, after a time, the federal government began to turn money over to the First Nations people, and they hired the engineers. Many engineering companies were not hired after that, but Burnside always was. They always had the attitude that the First Nation communities were their clients first and the paymasters in Ottawa came second.

By the early 1980s, it was clear that a new generation of youth was coming up within the communities and that Burnside needed someone from within them.

That someone turned out to be Merv Dewasha, an engineer who was also a member of the Wahta Mohawk First Nation.

"He was at a critical time in his life. We needed him and, in many ways, he needed us. There were lots of things that needed to be said and he could say them. We had people working for us who spent a lot of time with those communities."

About the same time, the firm started going overseas, to Mozambique (not Madagascar, as I mistakenly said in an earlier article) and Barbados. "We were used to dealing with people without judgment and that helped us in Mozambique."

Reflecting a moment, he added: "Designing roads and pipes — we went to school to learn that but it's more interesting to see how to apply that knowledge in these communities — it's really interesting to see where things are going to go. Right now, the First Nations are trying to hang on to what's gone before and take advantage of the 21st Century.

"One of the great things about being in this business, there are rocks and concrete — things you can kick — but there's the other side, the people. You can see where it's all going."

The subject turned to his staff: "We have been blessed with hiring good people who can relate. We've had a lot of inspectors who were culturally 'appropriate' to go north and we never had a problem.

They all understood that they were there for the greater good.

"You become very close in this business," he continued. "One of our staff, a young guy who's a terrific worker, had a stroke of some sort. We were all very upset because it's like a member of the family being stricken."

Burnside, Burnside International and Neegan Burnside are all employee owned, not publically traded companies, with a limited number of shareholders.

Although Mr. Burnside remains the firm's board chairman and has an office in the company's building on Orangeville's Townline, to which he comes most days, he is otherwise retired. Besides attending the board meetings he still offers advice on special cases: "You don't just unplug yourself."

He told me he has not been on the reserves for 10 years. Nowadays, he volunteers for Rotary, Gideon's, the Friends of Island Lake and the Salvation Army. He has worked on fundraising for Headwater Health Care Centre on its "senate" and is Mono's representative on the CTC Source Protection Committee, which monitors groundwater protection in the Credit and Humber river watersheds.

"There are things that I think you should do (to give back) — we have done well in this community."

He and his wife Nancy recently took a cruise on a Russian ship to the Yukon with Adventure Canada. Along the way, the ship stopped at Resolute Bay where Burnside is engaged. The couple had an opportunity to meet with the local Council there and deliver a gift from the company in gratitude for the co-operation they had had from the community. He says young people from Resolute are being sent to work at Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world.

The exchange of politeness and tokens between the Burnsides and the Council at Resolute was really a formality but had great meaning. Clearly, Mr. Burnside was quite moved to have had the chance of the moment.

"Over the years," he noted, "there have been some communities I really cared for, felt very strongly about."

Mr. Burnside took a pause as if to briefly review our conversation on his life and that of his life's work — his company/ companies.

There was a smile as he remarked: "It's been kind of fun."