First Nations of Canada - The Cree

Introduction

The Cree are the largest group of Aboriginal people in Canada today. They have occupied a wide area of what is now Canada for thousands of years. They live in many parts of Canada, from northern Quebec and Ontario to the Prairies. The Cree people of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are known as the "Plains Cree" and make up a large percentage of the First Nations population of the Prairie provinces. Plains Cree once lived on the prairies, hunted buffalo, and traded with other Aboriginal people and Europeans. Today, they live in towns and cities as well as on reserves.

The name Cree comes from a French word, Kristinaux, shortened to Kri. The Plains Cree call themselves Nehiyawak. Long ago, the Cree lived in the woodlands. Then some moved to the prairies, a perfect environment for buffalo. The people and the huge herds of animals they followed lived for much of the year on the open areas of grasslands then found in central North America. Today, most of the tall grass prairie has disappeared and the few remaining buffalo are in special parks, but the Cree people are numerous. They changed their way of life when they needed to, and found ways to survive.

Origins

The Plains Cree culture changed around the end of the 1600s. Cree trappers and traders worked in the fur trade around James and Hudson bays. In return for furs, they got European trade goods such as axes and copper cooking pots, as well as beads and mirrors. They traded these to other Aboriginal people for furs, and took the furs to Europeans at their trading forts around Hudson Bay. In this way, they became "middlemen" between the Europeans and other Aboriginal people. They were smart and successful trappers and traders, and soon some of them moved away from their territory around James and Hudson bays, into northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. These people lived for a time in the northern woodlands. Then they moved southward again, and learned how to survive in a new environment: the prairies.

Language

The Plains Cree speak an Algonkian language. This means that their language is related to other Algonkian languages, but is not exactly the same. The Algonkian is the largest of 11 Aboriginal language groups in Canada. Some familiar place names that come from this language family are Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec. The Cree language itself is very ancient. Today, many Cree people can read and write in Cree as well as in English or French. Some other Aboriginal languages, however, are at risk of disappearing because so few people use them.

Religion

The Plains Cree had a very complex spiritual worldview. It was a mixture of ancient beliefs dating from the period when they lived in the woodlands and newer beliefs that they acquired when they moved to the prairies. In the Plains Cree language, Atayohkan are the spirits (or Manito) that look after all of the living things that were created. For instance, there is a Manito that looks after the deer and one for the buffalo. Like the Woodland Cree in the north, the Plains Cree practised the vision quest. This meant that young men went off by themselves, without food or water, for several days, until they acquired a spirit helper. The Cree also used the conjuring lodge. This was place where a shaman, or spiritual leader, could speak to his Manito spirit helpers, to receive advice and to give it to others.

The Plains Cree practised an ancient ceremony called the sun dance. The people referred to it as Nipakwe Cimuwin, or "thirst dance." Some have also called it a rain dance. Whatever people called it, to complete this ceremony required personal strength and courage. A participant danced outdoors for four days without food or water. Another important ceremony took place in the smoking tipi. This was an all-night ceremony where participants, upon making a pledge, sang and smoked their sacred pipes in offering to a Manito.