Rallye International du Chibougamou

Open letter

To: Sylvain Simard, President

Dear Mr. Simard:

As a supporter of the Rallye International du Chibougamou and as a parent of one of the participants in this past weekend’s events, I must, after much reflection and deliberation, express to you my most profound disappointment at the manner in which the calculations for the racers’ scores were made and the manner in which the announcements of the winners of the rally were made to the public.

As you know, shortly after the conclusion of the race Nathaniel Bosum was declared the winner by a margin of 28 seconds in the Semi-pro class. This announcement was followed by an interview on the local Channel 9 television network and announced on the region’s radio station throughout the day. Nothing further was reported or communicated to Nathaniel or any of the other racers until the awards ceremony later that vening. At that time, the gathering was informed that the race was won by Mr. Alain Bradette of Chibougamou, and that Nathaniel placed third in the race. There was no explanation given for the reversal and no information presented to explain the process for tabulating the scores, nor why there was an initial announcement which was different from the final announcement.

In view of the initial announcement of winner, and also in view of the total absence of any communications which could have explained that there may have been certain difficulties in the tabulations, the announcement later in the evening came as a devastating surprise, not only to Nathaniel, but also to the many Cree people who attended the event and to those who were supporters of Nathaniel.

The manner in which the organizers conducted themselves in this matter is unacceptable.

Accordingly, I must insist on a meeting immediately with the organizing committee together with Nathaniel Bosum and myself in order to, first, have explained in detail the process by which the results of the race were arrived at; and secondly, for the organizing committee to apologize to Nathaniel for any errors which were made by the committee for both the process of tabulating the scores and the way in which the results were communicated to the public.

I must be open and frank with you. In spite of the efforts on the part of the Cree communities, and in particular my personal efforts, to create a new climate of good relations between the Cree and non-Cree communities of our region based on harmony, fraternity and partnership, events such as this bring serious challenges to those efforts. When events such as this occur it leaves many Cree people wondering if anything has really changed in our region.

I am concerned that unless measures are taken to publicly and immediately display some sincerity and regret at the manner in which this incident was dealt with I predict that the residents of the Cree communities will find participation in next year’s events, the 40th anniversary, distasteful.

I look forward to your early reply to this letter.

Sincerely yours,

Abel Bosum