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Between 1927 and 1986, the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree were forced from their traditional lands and left to live in shacks beside logging roads on the extreme margins of Canadian social, economic, and political life. They were the "forgotten Cree," facing complete social disintegration and living conditions almost incomprehensible in a developed and affluent society.

In 1975 the Ouje-Bougoumou Cree began building on the assets within their community: the foundation laid by the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement and their own commitment to self-determination. By 1995, the United Nations identified them as one of only fifty communities around the world best representing the ideals and objectives of that international organization. During this twenty-year period, the community:

• rebuilt its village using community labour and a design developed by the community itself in consultation with a leading Aboriginal architect;
• assumed responsibility for delivering its own health services and built a new healing centre;
• built its own youth centre, using the skills and commitment of its teenagers and young adults;
• developed an Elders' residence, day care centre, school and cultural centre;
• developed a unique, centralized method for heating all the community's homes using local resources; and
• is developing a sustainable local economy which incorporates not only wage labour but more traditional land-based activities.

The community building process in Ouje-Bougoumou incorporated all the lessons which have been identified in this report and can itself serve as a lesson for other communities about what needs to be done and what can be accomplished.

First and foremost, residents refused to see themselves as victims and instead focused on their assets, strengths, and goals. With that foundation:

• community residents have planned everything that occurred and regularly host workshops to discuss the roles and responsibilities of community living, how they wish to organize their own affairs and by what values they wish to live. During one workshop residents discussed how traditional approaches for solving conflict could be integrated into a local law enforcement system. During another, they decided to include hunting breaks in the community's school and construction schedules so as to sustain their traditional ways;
• the community developed training programs to give people the specific skills they required for building their own homes. And the community developed an innovative home-ownership program which tied payments to income. The community gradually built a community housing fund to sustain further development; and
• the community made their school a centre of village life, serving as both a place of learning and of recreation.

The community acknowledges every achievement with a formal ceremony and holds frequent celebrations to allow people to know each other and to help bring them together.