Builder aims to fast-track first nation homes.

• Author: Ross, Ian

An Aboriginal homebuilder is aiming for a late fall groundbreaking to build a composite home manufacturing plant to serve First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario.

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AlterNative Homes of Edmonton is making plans to move into a Dryden municipal industrial park and fill 20 positions by next spring.

"We've been trying to get this off the ground for three and a half years," said company CEO Bernie Bird, a northeastern Ontario Moose Cree, who's built a professional career as a petroleum engineer in Alberta.

The $2-million Dryden plant will be his first foray into the homebuilding business with the Edmonton-based startup company.

Joining him on this venture are partners Leon Tirums, who spent 20 years in the Florida housing scene and Bird's brother, Philip, who brings 35 years of experience in contracting.

Dryden would be the first of three regional plants to serve Aboriginal clientele in the mid-Canada, East and West Coast markets.

The company's cornerstone product is centred around producing a magnesium oxide board which is mould and mildew-resistant and fire retardant. This checks off many problems that plague residents on First Nation reserves with conventional stick-built homes.

"This product is a natural board, no toxins or off-gases and it's waterproof and doesn't disintegrate," said Bird. "It's a good product all around and easy to put together."

Nicole Gale, manager at the Dryden Development Corporation (DDC), likes the versatility of the product.

"They have the capability to build any style of home. They can do sound barriers along major highways, docking, port-a-potties; there are all sorts of applications for the product."

The plant will feature a line of pultrusion machines, a process used in manufacturing composite materials, to make wall, roof and floor panels. A warehouse will store finished product awaiting delivery.

The plant would be capable of producing five houses a day.

In July, the company was in negotiations with the DDC and the City of Dryden to purchase land in the Norwill Industrial Park. The DDC is assisting AlterNative with a government grant application.

Bird grew up in northeastern Ontario before moving West where he became a petroleum engineer in the Alberta oil industry.

He survived residential school and lived in a Cochrane foster home until he was adopted and moved to the Barrie area. Summers spent working railway jobs in Western Canada evolved into a permanent move to Alberta in...