After passing away October 20, former Ouje-Bougoumou Chief Samuel Reggie Bosum is being remembered for his warmth and generosity, dedication to community building and pioneering mining achievements.
“So much of what our community is today carries his fingerprints – the families he fed, the young people he gave their first chance to, the countless people who learned from him what it means to show up for one another,” said Ouje-Bougoumou Chief Gaston Cooper.
Born in 1941, Bosum was raised in the bush by his grandparents, who instilled Cree values during time on the land. As a teenager in the late 1950s, Bosum began helping his father and brother in the bush as Chibougamau became a mining town.
Bosum learned to operate the geophysical equipment used for line cutting before working in explorations for the Campbell mine for nearly a decade. He worked as a miner for eight years in Chapais and four years in Chibougamau.
“You climb up from there, right to the top,” Bosum told the Nation in 2015. “But I got a little tired after 12 years and I kept thinking about the bush life that I used to love working in, so I decided to go back to that work.”
In 1984, Bosum founded Native Exploration Services, earning a reputation as a reliable contractor in mineral prospecting, line-cutting and geophysical surveying across Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland. The company was an innovator, using portable electromagnetic survey tools to detect conductive mineral deposits underground.
As Ouje-Bougoumou’s first entrepreneur before there was even a community, Bosum was the man people called when they needed work. Chief Cooper said Bosum came through for anyone needing help, giving whatever he had and never wanting anything back.
“During the many years when the Ouje-Bougoumou people were living in makeshift dwellings on the edges of the highways in the Chibougamau region, Sam was the source of employment for many members of the community and provided an important source of stability,” noted former Grand Chief Abel Bosum.
Ponch Cherello fondly recalled how Bosum would welcome him back from schooling in Montreal for summers working in the bush, learning about land staking and other mining exploration activities. The work was hard, he said, but it taught him “discipline, responsibility, respect for the land and the importance of earning an honest living.”
“Those summers became some of the most memorable chapters of my childhood,” shared Cherello. “He believed in giving young people opportunities, teaching them responsibility, and helping them find their way in life. His contributions to our community and to the early days of mineral exploration will never be forgotten.”
As a respected mining industry leader for over 55 years, Bosum was honoured with the Quebec Mining Association’s Aboriginal Developer Award in 2014. Accepting the Skookum Jim Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in 2015, Bosum gave special thanks to his wife Margaret.
“This kind of work takes you away from home a lot,” Bosum explained. “Sometimes we would have to go to northern Ontario and travel three days just to get there and then be there for a week, a month or even two months. I wanted to give my wife special thanks for looking after our family while I was away.”
In 2021, Bosum received the J.C. Sproule Northern Exploration Award from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. Abel Bosum said this lifetime of work “helped lay the foundation for the Cree Nation’s efforts to collaborate positively with mining companies proposing to work within Eeyou Istchee.”
Perhaps even more important than his mining work was Bosum’s role in developing Ouje-Bougoumou. He was its longest serving Councillor, beginning in 1984 when community members began organizing politically to establish a permanent village.
Bosum served as Deputy Chief from 1986 to 1999, contributing to the new village’s establishment in 1992. In 1999, he was elected Chief and re-elected four years later.
When he was living in Ouje-Bougoumou, Eastmain Deputy Chief Daniel Mark-Stewart said Bosum often stopped by to share bear or moose meat.
“I was touched that the Chief would take the time to personally extend such kindness and hospitality to someone living in his community,” said Mark-Stewart. “I later came to understand that this was simply who Sam was – a generous and caring man who looked after his people and made others feel welcome.”
When she was a summer student, federal Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty worked with Bosum during his time as Chief. Gull-Masty said she learned a great deal from him over the years and was deeply saddened by his passing.
“He showed me that leadership isn’t just about the responsibilities you hold, but how you treat people and care for your community,” said Gull-Masty. “His kindness, generosity and dedication are things I will always remember.”
Lance Cooper, Ouje-Bougoumou’s Cree Nation Government representative, expressed deep gratitude to Bosum and his wife for raising his mother Mary Jane and walking her down the aisle at her wedding.
“Your love and care have touched our family in ways that words can never fully express,” shared Cooper. “Elder Sam was more than a leader – he was a source of wisdom, strength and guidance whose presence will be deeply missed by so many.”