Cree

Lower Fort Garry, Manitoba, July 30th, 1871

Sir,–I have the honor to inform you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor-General, that I arrived in this Province on the 16th instant, and, after consultation with the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, determined upon summoning the Indians of this part of the country to a conference for the purpose of negotiating a treaty at Lower Fort Garry, on Tuesday, the 25th instant, leaving for a future date the negotiation with the Indians westward of and outside of the Province of Manitoba. Proclamations were issued, and every means taken to insure the attendance of the Indians, and on Monday, the … Read more

Winnipeg, October 10th, 1876. – Part A

To The Hon. Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor, Fort Garry. Sir,–Under instructions received from you, dated 14th July last, we were directed to proceed to the Dog Head Point and Berens River, on Lake Winnipeg, and there obtain the adhesion of certain Indians to the treaty that was made and concluded at Norway House last year, and we have now the honor to report…. With a fair wind and fine weather we reached the Narrows on Monday afternoon, the 24th, at half-past four. Mr. Howard called at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post to see about the provisions stored there, where he … Read more

Winnipeg, October 10th, 1876. – Part B

To The Honorable Alexander Morris, Lieutenant Governor, Fort Garry. Sir, –I have the honor to inform you that in compliance with your instructions, a copy of which I hereunto annex, I proceeded, accompanied by Mr. Reid, to the Dog Head and Berens River on Lake Winnipeg, and there successfully secured the adhesion of the Island and Grand Rapids of Berens River Bands of Indians to Treaty Number Five, and, having paid the annuities to the Berens River Indians, returned to the Stone Fort. As mentioned in the joint report submitted to you by Mr. Reid and myself, I had the … Read more

Treaty of 3 October 1873

Sir, –I have the honor to enclose copy of a treaty made by myself, Lieut. -Col. Provencher, Indian agent and S. J. Dawson, Esq., Commissioner, acting on behalf of Her Majesty, of the one part, and the Saulteaux tribe of Ojibway Indians on the other, at the North-West Angle of the Lake of the Woods, on the 3rd of October, for the relinquishment of the Indian title to the tract of land therein described and embracing 55,000 square miles. In the first place, the holding of the negotiation of the treaty had been appointed by you to take place at … Read more

The Treaties At Forts Carlton And Pitt – Morleyville, Bow River, Rocky Mountains

October 23rd, 1875. To His Honor Lieutenant-Governor Morris. Sir,–In accordance with my instructions, I proceeded with as little delay as possible to Carlton, in the neighborhood of which place I met with forty tents of Cree. From these I ascertained that the work I had undertaken would be much more arduous than I had expected, and that the principal camps would be found on the south branch of the Saskatchewan and Red Deer Rivers. I was also informed by these Indians that the Cree and Plain Assiniboin were united on two points: 1st. That they would not receive any presents … Read more

Winnipeg, October 14th 1876 – Part C

To The Hon. Alexander Morris, Lieut. -Governor. Sir, –Referring to your letter of instructions under date of the 14th of July, relative to the payment of the Norway House and Cross Lake bands of Indians, I have the honor to submit the following report: — Having, in co-operation with the Hon. Thomas Howard, paid the Indians of Berens River and successfully secured the adhesion of the Island and Upper Berens River bands of Indians to Treaty Number Five, on the morning of Saturday, the 5th of August, I left for Norway House, which place, owing to stormy weather and strong … Read more

Lower Fort Garry, July 20th, 1871

Sir,–I have the honor to inform you that on Monday last I came to this Fort with the Commissioner to meet the Indians called here, with a view to negotiate a treaty, intending to open the business on Tuesday morning. It appeared, however, on inquiry, that some bands of Indians had not arrived on Tuesday morning, and we were therefore obliged to postpone the opening of the meeting till Thursday. On that day the Indians from all the sections of the country to which the invitation extended were found present to the number of about one thousand. A considerable body … Read more

The Selkirk Treaty

This indenture, made on the eighteenth day of July, in the fifty-seventh year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King George the Third, and in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and seventeen, between the undersigned Chiefs and warriors of the Chippeway or Saulteaux Nation and of the Killistine or Cree Nation, on the one part, and the Right Honorable Thomas Earl of Selkirk, on the other part: Witnesseth, that for and in consideration of the annual present or quit rent hereinafter mentioned, the said Chiefs have given, granted and confirmed, and do, by these presents, give, grant … Read more

Houses of the Cree Tribe

dog travois

The Cree were referenced to the use of the bark-covered lodge, the skin-covered lodge of probably a different shape, the structure covered with earth or sod, and, lastly, the log cabin, by widely dispersed bands.

Cree Tribe

Cree Indians, Cree First Nation (contracted from Kristinaux, French form of Kenistenoag, given as one of their own names). An important Algonquian tribe of British America whose former habitat was in Manitoba and Assiniboin, between Red and Saskatchewan rivers. They ranged northeastward down Nelson river to the vicinity of Hudson Bay, and northwestward almost to Athabasca lake. When they first became known to the Jesuit missionaries a part of them resided in the region of James Bay, as it is stated as early as 1640 that “they dwell on the rivers of the north sea where Nipissing go to trade … Read more

Cree Indian Research

Cree (contracted from Kristinaux, French form of Kenistenoag, given as one of their own names). An important Algonquian tribe of British America whose former habitat was in Manitoba and Assiniboin, between Red and Saskatchewan rivers. They ranged northeastward down Nelson river to the vicinity of Hudson Bay, and northwestward almost to Athabasca lake. Archives and Libraries Cree Indian Biographies Bureau of Indian Affairs Cree Indian Cemeteries Cree Indian Census Cree Indian Culture/Customs Cree Culture and Customs (hosted at Cree Nation Culture) Federally Recognized Cree Communities, Canada Recognized Tribes from Indians and Northern Affairs-Canada Genealogy Help Pages Cree Indian History Cree … Read more

Maskegon Tribe

Maskegon Indians, Maskegon First Nation, Maskegon People, Swampy Crees (Mŭskīgōk, ‘they of the marshes or swamps.’- W. J. ). An Algonquian tribe so closely related to the Cree that they have appropriately been called a subtribe. According to Warren the Maskegon, with the Cree and the Monsoni, form the northern division of the Chippewa group, from which they separated about eight generations before 1850. The traders knew them as Swampy Crees. From the time the Maskegon became known as a distinct tribe until they were placed on reserves by the Canadian government they were scattered over the swampy region stretching … Read more

Blackfeet Tribe in War

The Blackfeet were a warlike people. How it may have been in the old days, before the coming of the white men, we do not know. Very likely, in early times, they were usually at peace with neighboring tribes, or, if quarrels took place, battles were fought, and men killed, this was only in angry dispute over what each party considered its rights. Their wars were probably not general, nor could they have been very bloody. When, however, horses came into the possession of the Indians, all this must have soon become changed. Hitherto there had really been no incentive … Read more

Blackfeet Religion

In ancient times the chief god of the Blackfeet their Creator was Na’pi (Old Man). This is the word used to indicate any old man, though its meaning is often loosely given as white. An analysis of the word Na’pi, however, shows it to be compounded of the word Ni’nah, man, and the particle a’pi, which expresses a color, and which is never used by itself, but always in combination with some other word. The Blackfoot word for white is Ksik-si-num’ while a’pi, though also conveying the idea of whiteness, really describes the tint seen in the early morning light … Read more

Blackfoot Tribe, Past and Present

Fifty years ago the name Blackfoot was one of terrible meaning to the white traveler who passed across that desolate buffalo-trodden waste which lay to the north of the Yellowstone River and east of the Rocky Mountains. This was the Blackfoot land, the undisputed home of a people which is said to have numbered in one of its tribes the Pi-k[)u]n’-i 8000 lodges, or 40,000 persons. Besides these, there were the Blackfeet and the Bloods, three tribes of one nation, speaking the same language, having the same customs, and holding the same religious faith. But this land had not always … Read more

Blackfeet Hunting Customs

The Blackfoot country probably contained more game and in greater variety than any other part of the continent. Theirs was a land whose physical characteristics presented sharp contrasts. There were far-stretching grassy prairies, affording rich pasturage for the buffalo and the antelope; rough breaks and bad lands for the climbing mountain sheep; wooded buttes, loved by the mule deer; timbered river bottoms, where the white-tailed deer and the elk could browse and hide; narrow, swampy valleys for the moose; and snow-patched, glittering pinnacles of rock, over which the sure-footed white goat took his deliberate way. The climate varied from arid … Read more