Category: Cree

Categories: First Nations | Tribes | Algonquian Peoples


Language Algonquian

The Cree (Cree: Nēhiyaw; French: Cri) are one of the largest groups of First Nations in North America, with over 200,000 members living in Canada. The Cree- French Explorers called them 'Cristaux', an Ojibwa word meaning 'band south of James Bay,' which soon shortened to 'Cri.' (You will see this as last names in scrip files- this means that their surname is not "Cri", they are Cree peoples). The Cree have many localized names for themselves. Peoples included the Plains Cree, Woods Cree and Swampy Cree.

Due to the many dialects of the Cree language, there is no modern collective autonym. The Plains Cree and Attikamekw refer to themselves using modern forms of the historical nêhiraw, namely nêhiyaw and nêhirawisiw, respectively. Moose Cree, East Cree, Naskapi, and Montagnais all refer to themselves using modern dialectal forms of the historical iriniw, meaning 'man.' Moose Cree use the form ililiw, coastal East Cree and Naskapi use iyiyiw (variously spelled iiyiyiu, iiyiyuu, and eeyou), inland East Cree use iyiniw (variously spelled iinuu and eenou), and Montagnais use ilnu and innu, depending on dialect. The Cree use "Cree," "cri," "Naskapi, or "montagnais" to refer to their people only when speaking French or English.

Location Settlement: Plains Cree lived in Alberta and Saskatchewan; Woods Cree in Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and Swampy Cree in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

The major proportion of Cree in Canada live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. About 38,000 live in Quebec. In the United States, this Algonquian-speaking people historically lived from Lake Superior westward. Today, they live mostly in Montana, where they share a reservation with the Ojibwe (Chippewa).

The documented westward migration over time has been strongly associated with their roles as traders and hunters in the North American fur trade

The Cree are generally divided into eight groups based on dialect and region. These divisions do not necessarily represent ethnic sub-divisions within the larger ethnic group:

  • Moose Cree – Moose Factory in the Cochrane District, Ontario; this group lives on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, at the southern end of James Bay.
  • Swampy Cree – this group lives in northern Manitoba along the Hudson Bay coast and adjacent inland areas to the south and west, and in Ontario along the coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Some also in eastern Saskatchewan around Cumberland House. It has 4,500 speakers.
  • James Bay Cree – Grand Council of the Crees; approximately 18,000 Cree (Iyyu in Coastal Dialect / Iynu in Inland Dialect) of Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik regions of Northern Quebec.
  • Woods Cree - group in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
  • Plains Cree - 34,000 people in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Montana.
  • Naskapi and Montagnais (together known as the Innu) - are inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan. Their territories comprise most of the present-day political jurisdictions of eastern Quebec and Labrador. Their cultures are differentiated, as some of the Naskapi are still caribou hunters and more nomadic than many of the Montagnais, but the Montagnais have more settlements. The total population of the two groups in 2003 was about 18,000 people, of which 15,000 lived in Quebec. Their dialects and languages are the most distinct from the Cree spoken by the groups west of Lake Superior.
  • Atikamekw - are inhabitants of the area they refer to as Nitaskinan (Our Land), in the upper St. Maurice River valley of Quebec (about 300 km north of Montreal). Their population is around 4,500.

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