Cree

This article is about the indigenous people; for the American corporation, see Cree Inc.

The Cree are an indigenous people of North America whose people range from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean in both Canada and the United States. They now constitute the largest group of First Nations people in Canada and are referred to as Native Americans in the United States. The Cree language is an Algonquian language and was once the most widely spoken in northern North America. Currently, however, not all Crees are fluent in it and English or French are more commonly used.

Skilled buffalo hunters and horsemen, the Cree were allied to the Assiniboine of the Sioux before encountering English and French settlers in the sixteenth century.

Presently the remaining Cree in the United States live on the Rocky Boys Indian Reservation, which is shared with the Chippewa.

Contents

1 The Cree in Canada
2 Cree beliefs
3 Cree facts
4 A brief timeline of the James Bay Cree
5 Cree First Nations
6 Cree text
7 Cree Prophecy
8 See also
9 External links

The Cree in Canada

The Cree are the largest group of First Nations in Canada with over 200,000 members. These large numbers may be due to the traditional Cree practice of being open to inter-tribal marriage. The largest Cree band, and the second largest First Nations Band in Canada after the Six Nations Iroquois is the Lac La Ronge Band in northern Saskatchewan.

The Métis are a group of mixed Cree and primarily French Canadian heritage, although it is generally accepted in academic circles that the term Métis can be used to refer to any combination of Aboriginal and European lineage. Some Anglo-Metis are also of Cree descent.

The Grand Council of the Crees in Quebec calls its homeland Eeyou Istchee (Cree for Land of the People). Its current leader is Grand Chief Matthew Mukash, formerly Deputy Grand Chief under Ted Moses and more recently CEO of the Whapmagoostui Eeyou Enterprise Development Corporation in Quebec’s northern-most Cree community.

Considered a traditionalist, he fought against the Great Whale Project alongside Matthew Coon Come and Billy Diamond in the 1990s. He was also a voice of opposition against the signing of the Paix des Braves with the government of Quebec in 2002, and he now plans to challenge the Rupert River Diversion which is undergoing environmental assessment since 2004. He hopes to convince the government of Quebec and Hydro-Québec to pursue wind power as an alternative source of economic development and energy. His other main goals for his incumbency are to finalize a Cree constitution, build sovereignty and encourage nation-building, and move Cree leadership back to Cree territory from Montréal and Ottawa. ([Source]: Canadian Geographic Online)

Cree beliefs

The tribes of the Cree Nation, living in the Canadian forests and U.S. plains, venerated the spirits of the hunt. The Earth Spirit was the mother of all animals, and there was also a less-defined Sky Being. Religion emphasized a close relationship with the tribes' ancestors or "old people", believed to be always near at hand. Tribal shamans frequently entered trances to visit the land of the dead. Nature was seen as an integrated whole, so that animals spoke and told tales, while legends of the winds and of the four directions were common. Close contact with European traders and white settlers, coupled with the adoption of agriculture, greatly altered the mythology of these tribes.

Cree facts

([Source:] Canadian Geographic)

Cree Girl (1928).

Cree are the largest group of First Nations in Canada with over 200,000 members.
There are 135 bands of Cree in Canada.
Cree cover the largest geographic area of any First Nations group in Canada.
The Quebec Cree Nation calls its homeland Eeyou Istchee, which means Land of the People, there are 9 communities in Eeyou Istchee.
The Cree language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algic linguistic stock.
The Cree were friendly with English and French fur traders, which connected them to the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company.

A brief timeline of the James Bay Cree

([Source]: Canadian Geographic)

1600s - As French explorers move westward in the early 17th century, they encounter the Swampy Cree, whom they call the ‘Cristinaux’, an Ojibwa word denoting a member of a band living south of James Bay. This term is later shortened and came to be used to refer to all Cree.

May 2, 1670 - The Hudson's Bay Company is incorporated. From the beginning, the Cree are closely related with the company. As hunters and prime suppliers of pelts the Cree are drawn into the fur trade with the French and the English, soon becoming middlemen by establishing treaties with other First Nations, notably the Plains Assiniboine and the Blackfoot.

Early 1900s - The only non-Native presence in Cree territory in northern Quebec consists of the Hudson's Bay Company staff, missionaries and the federal department responsible for Indian Affairs.

1971 – The Quebec government announces plans for the James Bay Project in northern Quebec. The massive hydropower development plans to build a series of dams, reservoirs and power stations on the La Grande River that would flood about 11,000 km² of territory. The James Bay Cree, fearing the project will destroy their traditional way of life and damage the environment, lobby against the project.

15 November 1973 - The Quebec Association of Indians, an ad hoc political body of native northern Quebecers, wins an injunction, blocking the construction of the hydroelectric project until the province has negotiated an agreement with the First Nations. This judgement is overruled by the Quebec Court of Appeal seven days later. Nonetheless, the judgement confirms that Quebec is still legally required to negotiate a treaty covering the territory, even as construction proceeds.

1974 - The Grand Council of the Crees, representing nine Northern Quebec Cree communities, is created in opposition to the hydroelectric project and in order to better protect Cree rights during negotiations between the Cree and the governments of Quebec and Canada. The Grand Council, founded by Cree leaders, is intended to be the official channel of Cree communications.

November 11, 1975 – The governments of Canada and Quebec and representatives from each of the James Bay Cree communities and the most of the Inuit communities on Nunavik sign the first of the “modern treaties,” the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Under the agreement, the Crees and Inuit of Northern Quebec receive $225 million and in compensation and give up their claim to certain lands in northern Quebec. As part of the agreement, Cree communities also gain special hunting and fishing rights on about 177,000 km² of territory and greater opportunity for self-government.

1986 – Construction of phase one of the James Bay Project is completed.

1986 – The Quebec government announces plans for the Great Whale Project, which would dam and divert five rivers that flow into Hudson Bay and flood over 3,500 square kilometres of Cree and Inuit treaty land along the Great Whale River in northern Quebec. The power generated from the project would initially be exported to the United States, until it would be needed in southern Quebec. The James Bay Cree join environmental groups to launch a highly publicized campaign to stop the project.

1991 – Under the direction of Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come the Cree launch a protest of the Great Whale project. They take out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times and canoe from Hudson Bay to New York City to lobby potential U.S. electricity customers. The protest is highly publicized.

1994 – The Quebec government cancels the Great Whale Project, in part because of public concern over its potential impact on the environment and Cree and Inuit communities.

2002 - The Cree and the Government of Quebec sign the landmark Agreement Concerning a New Relationship, also known as Paix des Braves. Far more than an economic deal, this is seen as a "nation to nation" agreement. The agreement paves the way for the construction of a final element of the original James Bay Project, the Eastmain-1 power station.

2004 - The Cree and the Government of Quebec sign an agreement providing for the joint environmental assessment of the Rupert River Diversion.

Cree First Nations

Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
Opaskwayak Cree Nation
Enoch Cree Nation
Louis Bull Tribe First Nation
Nemaska First Nation
Bigstone Cree Nation
Beaver Lake Cree Nation
Little Red River Cree Nation

Cree text

Jesus my all, to heaven is gone, / He whom I fix my hopes upon; / His track I see, and I`ll pursue / The narrow way, till Him I view. ... (by John Cennick)

Jesus my hope / Who has gone on high / I see He went / Where I too shall go. ... (by James Evans)

Jesus net itayimoowin / Ispimik ka ke itotat / Weya piko ne mumisen / Nesta a we itootayan. ... (Cree)

Cree Prophecy

The so called Cree Prophecy: "Only after the last tree has been cut down / Only after the last river has been poisoned / Only after the last fish has been caught / Then will you find that money cannot be eaten" seems to be a shortened version of the Legend of Rainbow Warriors, that is sometimes reported as a Hopi prophecy, sometimes as a prophecy of an old Cree woman. The [complete version of this prophecy] speaks about trees, rivers, and fish, but not about money. Instead, it speaks about an Indian army of "Rainbow Warriors" that will appear to save the world. Thus, the sense of the prophecy differs from the wide-spread shortened version.

In Germany the Cree Prophecy is often mixed up with the famous speach of Chief Seattle in 1854. The Smith version of this speach closes with a prophecy that resembles the legend of Rainbow Warriors.

External links

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