2. Kwaay! It is with great pleasure that, on behalf of the Oujé-Bougoumou Cree Nation, I welcome you to Oujé-Bougoumou. Under our former Chief, Abel Bosum’s leadership, we undertook a dramatic and remarkable journey from the squalor and marginalization most usually associated wit the Third World to an optimistic and forward-looking model aboriginal village. The history of Oujé-Bougoumou is a heroic story of the determination of a small community of Cree aboriginal people to overcome the spread of mining and forestry industries, with their unending hunger for natural resources, into the furthest reaches of North America. summary of welcome from chief at www.ouje.ca Chief Sam Bosum, Oujé-Bougoumou Cree Nation
4. Our small group of people were content for centuries pursuing our traditional way of life based on hunting and fishing. The Oujé-Bougoumou people welcomed the early prospectors to our region and escorted them throughout the territory helping them to survive in the sometimes harsh climate. As mineral deposits were identified in increased quantities more people entered the territory. Mining camps gave way to settlements which eventually gave way to towns. As the mining activities increased the Oujé-Bougoumou people came to be seen as an obstacle to industrial growth. We were forced to relocate our villages time after time to make way for new mines. Between 1920 and 1970, the Oujé-Bougoumou people were forced to relocate no fewer than seven times. We witnessed our villages repeatedly destroyed. And we were left, scattered, to live in deplorable conditions as "squatters" on the land we had occupied since time immemorial.
6. But the Oujé-Bougoumou people refused to disappear. We decided to make our stand and take our rightful place in the region as the original inhabitants and the centuries-old stewards of the land. After a lengthy and protracted political struggle and, against all odds, Oujé-Bougoumou won recognition by the Government of Canada and the Province of Quebec of our right to live as a community. We began to re-build our village and restore the community life which had been shattered. Our courage and our commitment throughout the years was sustained by our yearning to live together again as a community. That determination was translated into the building of a new village. In Oujé-Bougoumou an enormous creativity was unleashed which was applied to the construction of a new village. ~ Chief Sam Bosum
7. We are now in the process of transferring that creativity and that enthusiasm to the building of community. Having successfully built an award-winning village-basically a physical shell-we are now re-building our community and focusing on those areas of community life which will be essential to our long-term health and viability.
8. It was important to have a physical reflection of the Ouje-Bougoumou people, their values and culture in the buildings. The village design is circular, with the Shaptuwan (traditional meeting place for feasts) in the center and at the top of the hill. The inner rings are lined with community buildings, which reflects the Ouje-Bougoumou tradition of sharing. The homes are built in clusters, just as the old camps were, and their doors face east where the sun rises, as the elders demanded.
9. HEALING CENTRE-CLINIC PEACEKEEPER STATION YOUTH CENTRE CHURCH
10. The new village has helped work through some of the old legacy of social problems for example, some former drinkers have sobered up and much of the domestic fighting and child abuse of the past has stopped. Having experienced total despair and the social problems that accompany that despair, the band was left with some damage that needs repair – the village is part of that healing. It is ironic that Ouje-Bougoumou, with all its beauty and cultural significance, was much cheaper to build than a reserve. It is proof that transferring resources to native people is the path to helping them out of their misery; handing out money and jobs solves nothing.Instead of winning people's sympathy we are now gaining people's respect." -David Bosum, band member
11. Awards of Excellence United Nations "We the Peoples" Award Oujé-Bougoumou was recently honoured by the international community by receiving one of the " We the Peoples: 50 Communities Award “ in 1995, one of the programs established to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Canada Mortgage and Housing Award In 1994, Oujé-Bougoumou received honourable mention from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ( CMHC ) in a competition for housing innovations in the category of " Technology and Production ". The award was presented in recognition of the installation of a biomass fuelled districts heating system and its impact on the local housing program.
12. Habitat II: Best Practices Award T he Together Foundation and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements ( UNCHS ) worked as partners in 1995 to compile a " knowledge base " of Best Practices for Human Settlements information as submitted by communities from around the world. The Technical Advisory Committee selected Oujé-Bougoumou as one of the top initiatives to receive a Best Practices designation. First presented at the United Nations Habitat II City Summit in 1996, the successful entries play an important role in identifying ways in which shared solutions can address issues such as poverty, access to land and clean water, population, shelter, and transportation.
13. Expo 2000 Oujé-Bougoumou has been asked to have an exhibit at the world's fair Expo2000, to be held in Hannover, Germany. The International Advisory Board to Expo2000 felt that Oujé-Bougoumou exemplifies the objective of this world's fair, which is the balancing of mankind, nature, and technology. Global Citizen Award O ujé-Bougoumou received an award from the United Nations Association in 1995. The award, entitled the "Global Citizen" Award was presented at a special award ceremony held in Ottawa in recognition of Ouje-Bougoumou having built a community which was both environmentally and people-friendly. The presentation was made by special Undersecretary Gillian Martin Sorenson.
