The Ouje-Bougoumou Cree Nation of northern Quebec is a new village built between 1991 and 1995. The community planning and construction efforts were guided by a traditional philosophy of sustainable development. Among other innovations, the community installed a state-of-the-art biomass fuelled district heating system to provide heating energy and domestic hot water for the entire village, with the source of fuel being waste sawdust from nearby sawmills. The system thereby converts industrial waste into energy. The new village, in general, represents a translation of traditional indigenous philosophies in the context of contemporary technological possibilities.
 
 

Background

  The Ouje-Bougoumou Crees are the Aboriginal inhabitants of a territory situated in northern Quebec comprised of 1000 square miles which now includes the non-aboriginal towns of Chibougamau and Chapais which depend very heavily on mining and forest industries as their economic base. Ouje-Bougoumou is the ninth, and most recent, village which is part of the Cree Nation of James Bay.

  The Ouje-Bougoumou elders retain vivid recollections of the time seventy years ago when some of the earliest mining prospectors entered the territory looking for gold and copper and how Ouje-Bougoumou people escorted them to show them interesting rock outcroppings.

  As the identification of mineral deposits intensified, outsiders established mining camps, settlements and towns. The discovery of economically interesting geological formations took precedence over the continued existence of Ouje-Bougoumou villages. The Ouje-Bougoumou people were coerced into leaving successive village sites which were then bulldozed and destroyed. Successive villages were forced to relocate seven times over fifty years.

  With the last of these relocations in 1970, the Ouje-Bougoumou society was fractured and its people were dispersed throughout their traditional territory establishing small encampments which consisted of crude, makeshift dwellings, often just simple tent frames. By this time, a dozen mines were operating on Ouje-Bougoumou lands and interfering with the pursuit of the traditional Cree way of life. Clear-cutting occurred on such a scale on the traditional Ouje-Bougoumou territory that a very significant portion of the trees were destroyed, and along with them, the habitat required by the animals upon which the community depended.

  The living conditions were terrible. Independent observers compared them as being among the worst in the third world. The non-aboriginal settlements thrived while the original and permanent inhabitants of the territory were completely isolated and marginalized from the economic and political life of the region.

  In the early 1980's the community decided to initiate vigorous efforts to obtain government cooperation in addressing the Crees, concerns. Intensive discussions were begun with representatives of the Province of Quebec in 1984. After several years of these discussions and negotiations an agreement was reached in 1989 whereby Quebec agreed to contribute financially toward the construction of a new village. A separate round of negotiations began in 1990 to secure the financial participation of the federal government culminating in the Ouje-Bougoumou/Canada Agreement in May 1992.

  Since the time of the signing of these two important agreements the Ouje-Bougoumou people have constructed their new home. In the course of this community development the village has won international recognition for its innovativeness and creativity. In 1995 the village received the «We the Peoples: 50 Communities Award» and was selected as one of fifty communities in the world which best expressed the objectives of the United Nations. In that same year Ouje-Bougoumou also received the U.N.´s «Global Citizen Award» as well as recognition from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation for innovation in «Technology and Production». In 1996, Ouje-Bougoumou was recognized as one of the «Best Practices in Improving Human Settlements» as part of the U.N.´s Conference on the City, Habitat II. Ouje-Bougoumou has also been registered as an official project of Expo2000, the World´s fair to be held in Hannover, Germany. In 1998, Chief Abel Bosum received the prestigious National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the category of «community development» for his efforts in directing the construction of the new village.

  The recognition of Ouje-Bougoumou as a "model aboriginal village" has been based notably on its achievements in developing an innovative and appropriate alternative energy project, a unique, self-sustaining housing program, and the village's visually impressive and culturally-appropriate architecture. All of these projects were developed and implemented in the context of intensive and continuous community involvement in decision-making.

  The community leaders have now identified as their mission the application of the same spirit of innovation with sound management practices to addressing a range of longer-term community undertakings designed to ensure its sustained viability. These areas include economic development and social development.