DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION - John Bjornson saw his construction and renovation company suffer a dip in business in the 1990s.

He blames it on politics - his own.

John Bjornson is the owner/operator of a construction and renovation company in Fort Resolution. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

He was elected to Deninoo Community Council in 1990 and served one year.

Bjornson said, while on council, he angered many important people in the community and that negatively affected the amount of work he got.

"I found out I had no political skills at all," he said with a laugh.

In fact, Bjornson said things were so bad in the 1990s that his business was close to being wiped out.

However, he said things have been much better this decade.

"People kind of forgave me for being on council," he said.

Bjornson, who has owned and operated his business since 1983, is one of the biggest employers in Fort Resolution.

During the peak construction and renovation season, he hires up to 15 people, not including subcontractors.

Bjornson, 61, has lived in Fort Resolution full time since 1982.

"When I moved here, it wasn't very long before I knew I was going to live here for the rest of my life," he said. "There's

something about the community. It's home."

Originally from Saskatchewan, he first came to the NWT in 1971 to pump gas at a garage in Pine Point.

While there, he met his first wife, who is from Fort Resolution.

"For something to do, I came up here and met my first wife and got acquainted with Fort Resolution," he said.

Not long afterwards, the couple moved south and Bjornson originally started his company in Calgary in 1974.

He said he worked in southern Alberta, especially in the Brooks area, until a construction boom ended in 1982.

"Construction just came to a grinding halt," he said. "Nobody had work."

While working in Alberta, Bjornson and his first wife bought a house in Fort Resolution in 1977 and would visit twice a year, during which time they would renovate their home.

When the construction bubble burst in Alberta, they returned to Fort Resolution for a visit and Bjornson was approached about building a community hall.

He agreed, and Antoine Beaulieu Memorial Hall was constructed in 1983.

Around 1990, Bjornson also undertook another major project – tearing town the arena at Pine Point and rebuilding it in Fort Resolution.

"We redesigned it, so it's a completely different arena," he noted.

Along with those two major projects, Bjornson estimated he has built about 15 houses in Fort Resolution over the years, along with several duplexes in Fort Simpson and Fort Providence.

However, he said most of his work has been renovations.

Virtually all of his contracts are with the GNWT, Deninu Ku'e First Nation and Deninoo Community Council.