Social Development

Community members have indicated that with the frequency of forced relocations and the progressive dispossession and marginalization of the Oujé-Bougoumou Crees in the past, they began to exhibit some of the social problems typically associated with poverty and political powerlessness. These phenomena have declined with substantial developments related to the establishment of the new Oujé-Bougoumou village and the associated political and spiritual development of the members. These problems, nevertheless, continue to some degree and are of concern to the Oujé-Bougoumou leadership.

Within this village we are creating the conditions which enable us to address the problems which destroy people's sense of stability and security, destroy their sense of belonging anywhere, and which make them feel totally vulnerable to uncontrollable forces. Although our objective has been to build a village in harmony with our traditional values, it is nonetheless a rather new and certainly very different environment which we are creating for our people with new requirements, new responsibilities and a new rhythm to everyday life. The spontaneity which characterized much of our day-to-day life will need to make room for, and accommodate, the requirements of maintaining and operating a modern village. Whereas our previous responsibilities were focussed on the maintenance of our families and close relatives we will now need to incorporate our new responsibilities which entail the maintenance of an entire village. The obligations which we now feel as individuals toward our families will need to make room for new obligations which we have toward the various community agencies and organizations which are located in the new village to provide community services.

We do not pretend that accommodating these changes will be smooth or automatic. Significantly altering a way of life, even if that change is desirable and controlled, always carries with it some turbulence. Community leaders initiated a series of workshops to address the issues related to the orientation of our members to their new surroundings. The objective was to provide our people with some tools to cope with the turbulence associated with the new environment we are creating. The workshops covered the major areas of community life, informing members of the changes and new responsibilities which lie ahead in those areas; and encouraged members to identify ways in which they could become directly involved so that they would be able to exercise some control over the coming changes. The orientation sessions focussed on the areas of housing, education, health and social services, policing and justice, and economic development.

When we embarked on our journey of reunification many years ago we committed ourselves to struggling together to overcome the obstacles to our having a permanent village. In making that commitment we, at the same time, also committed ourselves and our families to live side by side with each other for generation after generation. Although we may not even have been aware of it at the time, we committed ourselves to accepting each other as part of our own families. By committing ourselves to restore our sense of community we, in effect, agreed to treat ourselves as one family for the rest of our future. The challenge before us now is to express that commitment in every aspect of our community life. In our political struggles we have been victors, in our village construction we have been daring innovators, and now we must become nation-builders.

The Healing Center symbolizes the source of our healing, even though we know that our healing takes place throughout our territory, not only in a clinical setting but also in our homes, in our families, on the land, and in the way we conduct ourselves in our offices. Healing takes place in the way we take care of ourselves, and the way in which we take care of each other as a community.

Alternative Justice

It has been well known for too many years that current approaches to justice systems - as they apply to Aboriginal peoples in Canada are absolutely inappropriate to the cultures, traditions, beliefs and wishes of Aboriginal peoples. These systems of justice are imposed upon Aboriginal peoples, rather than derived from their own societies. They can be said to compound, rather than diminish, the many injustices and difficulties facing them as peoples in their personal and collective lives.

Current approaches to the administration of justice applied to the Oujé-Bougoumou people are "alienating, often inappropriate, and inconsistent in many ways with the needs and aspirations of the community". The Oujé-Bougoumou people have the inherent right to govern themselves. The right to administer our own justice system is clearly a part of this inherent right.

Oujé-Bougoumou is now exploring new approaches to justice in the community, and is encouraged by the cooperation of senior elected Quebec and federal elected government officials, and judicial representatives, who have indicated a willingness to implement new approaches to aboriginal justice in the context of"communities of excellence" such as Oujé-Bougoumou.

Essential features of an Oujé-Bougoumou justice system will be:

The Oujé-Bougoumou justice proposal itself will be flexible, so that as community needs and capacities develop, the system itself is capable of development and change. It will also be capable of being "phased in", so that Oujé-Bougoumou undertakes successive developmental steps when it is ready and according to its own abilities and capacities.

The Chief and people of Oujé-Bougoumou have made clear that we wish our community to heal and become healthy. For this reason, a proposed new Oujé-Bougoumou justice system will take a holistic approach. Its goals will be fully compatible with those of all other key sectors of Oujé-Bougoumou society, such as health, education, social services, and youth protection.

Cultural Preservation

James Bay Cree Cultural Institute Kenny Mianscum Annual Walking-out Ceremony Naomi Bosum Medicine Bag

The communities of the Cree Nation of Eeyou Astchee, guided by their elders, have decided that there will be a building to be located in Oujé-Bougoumou which will house all the existing agencies which currently provide programming in the areas of culture and language preservation. There will additionally be facilities for exhibiting historical artifacts and art reflecting Cree culture. In Cree, the new Institute is called Anischaaugamikw which means "the handing down from one generation to the next".

Kenny Mianscum

Talented singer and songwriter Kenny R. Mianscum captures the language and spirit of Oujé-Bougoumou in his first CD recording N'dee'nee'miitche (My People) with such songs as They that Live off the Land and You can Cross Every River. Kenny is now looking forward to recording another CD in the very near future with producer Randell Prescott.

If you wish to write:
Kenny Mianscum
PO BOX 44
OUJÉ-BOUGOUMOU QC G0W 3C0

Click the icon to hear 1 minute, 1 Mb sound clip of one of Kenny's songs or shift-click it to download the file (au format) to your hard drive.

Annual Walking-out Ceremony

"Our community was all gathered here on a bright fresh April morning to observe our annual walking-out ceremony. For those of you who may not be familiar with this Cree tradition, when a Cree infant is old enough to walk, he or she along with other infants of the same age are dressed in traditional Cree outfits, and given toy versions of the tools which are used by Cree hunters, guns and knives for the boys, and scraping instruments for the girls. They are then placed in a ceremonial tent in which the elders of the community are seated. The elders then send them out of the tent accompanied by a parent or close relative with the infants pulling behind them decorated animals which have been hunted, sometimes geese, sometimes beaver, sometimes small game. They then complete a circle around a decorated tree. For the boys when they have completed half the circle they are assisted in firing a rifle in the air. They complete their circle, re-enter the tent and give the animals which they have been pulling to the elders. For Crees this is a wonderful ceremony which symbolizes very much in the Cree world the expectation of productive behaviour from individuals, the collective objective of work, and the worth of everyone in Cree society. Traditionally this ceremony is carried out in the morning. Also, the opening of the ceremonial tent always faces east, toward the rising sun, which is a constant symbol of optimism and hope for the future."(Chief Abel Bosum)

Naomi Bosum

The Boston Globe,
December 15, 1995: Taking a New Year's World Tour

Canada: Naomi Bosum, 13, Oujé-Bougoumou
(a tiny Cree Indian village in north-central Quebec)

"During the time of the New Year, the families go out to the bush where we stay in tents even though it is so cold. We stay warm by the wood stove. We sleep on beds of spruce boughs. There are fires and feasts. We eat caribou and moose meat and we go visiting all of our friends. We make ice and snow sculptures of husky dogs and beavers. At midnight on New Year's Eve, the men all fire their guns in the air to say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new."

Medicine Bag

A Traditional Medicine Bag includes... Pine Cones - pine cone liquid is used for heart disease problems Cedar Branches - boiled and taken orally for colds, coughs and sore throats Beaver Testicles - dried and used for ointment on deep and open cuts Dry dead fir and pine trees - crushed up into powder and used for skin irritation and diaper rash Charcoal - used as tooth paste and whitener Tamarack - branch scrapings used in ointment for eczema Fir tree - liquid used for open wounds, sores, and constipation Moss leaves - dried, crushed, and used as a painkiller, also regularizes menstruations Bear grease - used for chapped skin and losing hair Partridge stomach - boiled and used for heart disease problems Bear grease - used for chapped skin and losing hair Labrador Tea - used to improve digestion