Brian Young didn't let misguided
advice deter him from making
his company a success. Instead, it
inspired him.
"I was told because I was Native, I
would not succeed," said the owner of
Young Forestry Services. "I don't let anyone
tell me I can't do anything."
Since 1996, Young and his wife, Lorie,
have been proving the early naysayers
wrong. The business, located on Hwy.
17 between Sturgeon Falls and North
Bay, has grown from four to about 20
employees. It moved from rented space
in Dokis First Nation to its current location
in a Nipissing First Nation-owned
industrial and commercial park fronting
on the highway.
"We needed a bigger yard, since we
work on our own equipment. We do all
our own mechanical work," Young said.
Lorie, who was doing all the administration
work from home, quit her fulltime
job and hired another office worker
to keep up with demand.
Young started by undertaking contract
silviculture work with some area forest
management companies. When lumber
prices started to fall, and contracts for the
company decreased, Young had to look
for work in other areas.
"We did harvesting and cut firewood
for a few years," he said. "A few times we
were ready to pack it in."
Then, the company was offered an
opportunity with Union Gas to do some
work clearing right of ways.
"We worked with them for a couple of
years and then they awarded us as prime
contractor for their right-of-way clearing
for the whole province," Lorie said. "They
gave us a chance and we proved we could
do it."
The company was working throughout
the province and received good feedback
for the job it was doing, including from
landowners.
"Our name got out to other utility companies
and soon TransCanada Pipelines
contacted us and now we have work with
them doing the same thing," Young said.
The company recently completed a
contract for Hydro One on Nipissing
First Nation to clear brush along a transmission
line. A three-year contract with
Union Gas will begin soon for clearing
around pipeline markers throughout the
province.
It also does brushing for Goldcorp
along a 200-kilometre power line in
northwestern Ontario.
"We are growing a lot faster than anticipated
and we are getting calls from contractors
so we are trying to keep up with
demand," Lorie said.
Finding people to do the work is a
challenge since travelling is involved.
However, when possible, the company
hires First Nation staff.
"We have people from Moosonee and
Quebec and whenever we go into an area
where there is a First Nation community,
we try to hire from there. We contact them
and let them know we are a Native company
and then ask if anyone is looking for
work," she said.
Young said it does help that the company
is Native-owned, and he does promote
that it is. However, it also puts it in
the spotlight.
"Maybe they hire us because we are
Native but we have to be better than the
last company they hired," he said. "It puts
more pressure on us and everyone just
waits for us to screw up."
That's why he focuses on safety and
having his workers do the best job possible.
"We went over and above and bought
pretty expensive equipment to do the
job," Young said. "But now we have a
good track record and everyone is satisfied
with the work we do. We have some really
great references."
There are not many Native companies
offering the services it does and being
small means it has to compete with other,
bigger companies.
"We started small and now we are
growing every year," he said. "We do all
our own maintenance on our equipment
and I am also a certified trainer so I do
all of that. We are pretty self-sufficient."