The Cree Indian Centre Changes its Name

It’s official: the Cree Indian Centre will now be called the Chibougamau Eenou Friendship Centre / Centre d’amitié Eenou de Chibougamau (CEFC/CAEC). This change is in response to our members requesting in General Assembly that the name be updated and aligned with the Friendship Centre Movement across Canada and better reflect the membership.

The Centre’s original name was considered out-dated by most members. By general consensus, the term Indian was removed. The addition of Friendship Centre was a given. Eenou, the people, in Cree, was added to reflect the membership. According to the Elders present during the discussion, « Eenou is inclusive; this word can refer to the people living in Chibougamau, as well as the people of the Centre itself. We are one people; in the same way the Centre promotes –that there is only one race, the human race – we are one. It is normal that the name be in Cree, it is primarily Cree that live in Chibougamau and that use the Centre’s services from its beginning. » And the Elders are correct, 98% of CEFC users are Cree, particularly from the inland communities of Mistissini, Oujé-Bougoumou, Waswanipi and Nemaska.

In the last year, the CEFC has updated its General Bylaws as well as its name, both having been unchanged since the Centre’s creation in 1969. These efforts are aligned in the Board’s action plan to modernise the Centre, its services and its governance. The only urban Aboriginal organisation in Jamesia, the mission of the Chibougamau Eenou Friendship Centre is to provide quality services to the resident and transit Aboriginal population:

• Ease integration into an urban lifestyle;
• Promote an intercultural space that highlights the culture and traditions of the community as well as act as a bridge with the non-Native population;
• Facilitate and support Aboriginal participation in urban society ;
• Provide a welcoming and comfortable space that responds to the various needs of the Aboriginal population.

The Chibougamau Eenou Friendship Centre opened in December 1969. It is the firstborn of the nine (9) Quebec Friendship Centres, a founding member of the Regroupement des Centres d’amitié autochtone du Québec and member of the National Association of Friendship Centres that gathers together more than 120 Centres throughout Canada. All are devoted to the improvement of quality of life for urban Aboriginals.

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Source : Jo-Ann Toulouse
            Chibougamau Eenou Friendship Centre/Centre d’amitié Eenou de Chibougamau
            418.748.7667