Papers, licensing and protests

Though they were two very different protests, one outside of Ouje-Bougoumou and the other outside of Mistissini, two local Cree contractors made it known to the public that they do not like the way construction contracts are being handed out.

On August 25, David Coonishish put up a semi-blockade outside of his community of Ouje to get the attention of his band council to let them know that he would not stand for local construction and renovation contracts being awarded to outside companies.

“We are not trying to keep anyone out of the community, we have the roads open, it’s just that we wanted to stall them because we don’t have work and we are the local people. It’s been a month now and we are searching for all of the local directors and support that we can get,” said Coonishish.

Coonishish, who runs Construction Rennovation Eenou Enterprises, protested with his workers for a day in the hopes of scoring a meeting with his local chief and council to find out just why he was out of work when there is so much work to be done in Ouje.

According to Freddy Bosum, Ouje’s Director of Capital Projects and Public Works, the reason Coonishish was not being awarded any contracts was because his company did not have the necessary licensing or permits to be able to do the work to code.

Coonishish said that in previous years his company had obtained a number of contracts but recently the work had dried up for him, despite the fact that the council had been awarding contracts to other companies. He claimed he would first hear that there would be no money for a project and then out of nowhere he would discover that an outside company would be doing the work.

“There are a lot of people who have been making promises for people to get contracts without them going through the proper process where they tender out a document and say this is the work we are asking to be done,” said Bosum.

According to Bosum, Coonishish’s company does not have a Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) number which is required for contractors and Construction Rennovation Eenou Enterprises is not a registered company.

Beyond that, the company was not insured and Coonishish was looking to insure his employees under the band council instead of paying them as employees under his own company.

Though Bosum could not elaborate on what agreement had been reached between the band and Coonishish, as he was not present at the meeting, he did say that the issue was resolved by the following day and the protest ended.

On August 26, Matoush Enterprises erected a barricade in Mistissini over a similar issue but, rather than being specifically the band council that they were protesting, Cree Construction was also named in the dispute.

According to Willie MacLeod, president of Cree Construction and Development Company (CCDC), Matoush Enterprises felt they had been given a raw deal when they were not awarded the full electrician contract for the new Mistissini clinic.

Macleod, however, explained that the project was under unique circumstances as though CCDC is in a joint venture with Cree Nation of Mistissini owned Makaahiikan Construction, this contract had come through the Cree Health Board and Social Services of James Bay (CBHSSJB).

Though these kinds of contracts normally go through a thorough tendering process, the Health Board was able to negotiate with Quebec so that the communities could have local workers do the work if they were qualified.

“They definitely have to have the necessary qualifications, necessary licenses, the capacity and the resources to do it. We are talking about a $20-million contract for a health centre. This is not a normal house or building,” said MacLeod.

Because the new clinic will serve as a mini-hospital with lots of high-tech equipment from dialysis machines to X-ray machines, the building requires a highly specialized electrical system to support the equipment.

According to the consulting that the partners involved in the project did, Matoush Enterprises did not have the necessary experience to do 100% of the work. It was suggested that an outside electrical company do the work in partnership with Matoush so that they could gain necessary experience for the next clinic project.

MacLeod said that this did not please Matoush Enterprises as they wanted the whole contract and so they undertook a day-long blockade.

“We made an agreement with the outside company to work with (Matoush) and give them the necessary experience for the future because we have six more of these types of buildings coming up. The idea is that they will get the experience, expertise and knowledge of these types of buildings because they have never done these kinds of buildings before and they will be in a much better position to do the next project by themselves,” said MacLeod.

Though the issue has not been completely resolved, both parties have begun mediation in the hopes of reaching a final agreement soon.