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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Unlike many other civil engineers who gravitate to larger communities, Don Sutherland has spent 25 years in Fort Smith.

Don Sutherland: civil engineer has worked in Fort Smith for 25 years. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

For Sutherland, it was his own choice to live in a small community.

"It was more the norm in the old days, not so much now," he said. "Everybody wants to seem to want to work for a larger company. I'm not sure if it's the benefits or just money."

Sutherland said he chose to live in Fort Smith partly for its sense of community.

"You're a person not a number," he said.

The 72-year-old also noted he likes the history of Fort Smith and its mixture of people – First Nations, Métis and those from the South.

"For me, it's a good mix," he said. "It's just interesting. It's kind of like a microcosm of humanity."

Sutherland is still doing a little bit of engineering, but has been trying to retire since he was 65.

"To be honest, the work I'm doing is not that arduous," he noted.

That includes helping Smith's Landing First Nation with roads, and Salt River First Nation and the Fort Smith Metis Council with buildings.

Sutherland, who was born in Toronto, had an interesting life journey on his way to Fort Smith.

His father was a railroader and the family lived in many parts of Canada, including Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and B.C.

Sutherland learned his trade as a civil engineer while studying to be an officer in the Canadian Navy.

After finishing his studies in 1962, he went on to serve in the armed forces, he said. "I was in the navy, including school, for a total of about eight years."

Sutherland left the navy in about 1965 and, in the following years, worked in the Ottawa area, the Maritimes, in Edmonton and even on the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line system.

By the early 1980s, he had a chance to work in Inuvik, he recalled. "I took that chance. I moved up to Inuvik with the Department of Local Government in those days, and I was up there for a couple of years."

With that department, which later became Municipal and Community Affairs, he worked on planning water and sewer projects, roads and buildings.

While he liked the people of Inuvik, he said it was difficult to find land to build a home and he missed trees.

Sutherland, a father of three grown children, moved to Fort Smith in 1986.

"For trees and a little more room, I guess," he said with a laugh.

In Fort Smith, he continued to work for the territorial department for about nine years.

After leaving the government, he worked on his own.

"I was semi-retired," he said.

Over the years, he worked on numerous initiatives – providing power to several communities, installing water and sewer projects, and planning buildings.

In Fort Smith, he worked with the GNWT and the municipality on more projects, such as student housing for Aurora College, a subdivision, water and sewer, the Rec Centre and a clean-up of an oil spill at the college.

"I done some good things here," Sutherland said.

"I've always enjoyed working construction," he noted. "I like the concept of being outside and helping see things being built, and helping to plan them is fun."

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