Using Traditional Environmental Knowledge and a Geographical Information System to Identify Sites of Potential Environmental Concern in the Traditional Territory of the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree

Abstract / Resume The Cree Nation of Ouje-Bougoumou had concerns about the impact of mining on the environment; thus, a traditional land use study was initiated to document potential sites of concern (SOC) in the Ouje-Bougoumou territory. SOC refers to any site that an individual and/or their family had observed and felt concerned about from an environmental health perspective. Seventy-two head-of-household participated; 42 identified at least one SOC in their interview. A total of 90 SOC were identified corresponding to 73 environmental concerns, and 66 unique SOC; some were identified by more than one person. La nation crie d'Ouje-Bougoumou est preoccupee des incidences de l'exploitation miniere sur l'environnement. C'est pourquoi on a entrepris une etude de l'utilisation traditionnelle des terres afin de documenter les emplacements inquietants potentiels sur le territoire de la nation crie. Un emplacement inquietant fait reference a tout endroit observe par une personne ou sa famille qui se preoccupe de la salubrite de l'environnement de l'emplacement. L'etude a engage la participation de 72 chefs de menage, dont 42 ont indique au moins un emplacement inquietant au cours d'une entrevue. Les entrevues ont permis de recueillir 73 preoccupations environnementales qui ont cerne un total de 90 emplacements, soit 66 emplacements distincts (certains ont ete indiques par plus d'une personne). Introduction The Cree Nation of Ouje-Bougoumou is located in the south-eastern James Bay region of northern Quebec, Canada. Since the early 1950s, the mining industry has extensively explored the traditional territory of Ouje-Bougoumou for various metals (e.g., gold, copper). The result of these explorations has been the establishment of more than 20 mines in the area and seven major relocations of the Ouje-Bougoumou community (Frenette, 1985). After many years of turmoil, the Ouje-Bougoumou community negotiated an agreement that provided for the construction of a permanent village in a location of their choice; construction of the village commenced in 1990 and was completed in 1992. Within 10 years of living in their new community, the Ouje-Bougoumou people became concerned about the health of the fish and animals in a number of their traditional harvesting areas. The people believed that past and present mining activities were having a detrimental effect on the environment and consequently all organisms. As the Ouje-Bougoumou people still practice subsistence harvesting, the people were concerned about environmental health issues related to past and present mining activities (e.g., waste water containment areas) in their traditional territory. The traditional territory of the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree is composed of 13 traplines (i.e., trapline # 048A, 048B, 048C, 052,053,054,055,057, 058, 059,060,061,062; Figure 1 ). A trapline can be defined as a circumscribed area where harvesting and gathering activities of First Nation Cree occur in the James Bay region of northern Quebec, Canada (Feit, 1973, 1986; Speck, 1973; Tanner, 1973, 1983). Harvesting activities in each trapline are supervised by one tallyman/steward/shooting (hunting) boss/owner per trapline (Frenette, 1985; Feit, 1989,1991; Scott, 1986, 1996). A tallyman is recognized by the community as being responsible for wise resource use of a specific trapline (Feit, 1982,1989). This type of hunting territory system was formally recognized by the Governments of Quebec and Canada in the 1930s (Feit, 1982; Scott, 1982,1989), and in the Canadian Constitution (1982) through the signing of the James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975 (Feit, 1989). In response to the concerns of the Ouje-Bougoumou community and a preliminary environmental health study (Covel and Masters, 2001), a comprehensive health study was initiated in the fall of 2002. This study assessed the general health status of the people of Ouje-Bougoumou including body burden of metals (e. …

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