Fascinating Facts About the Cree
- The Cree language is still widely spoken today, and it is one of the few First Nations languages that has not started to die out or is considered at risk in any way.
- The Cree still have populations in much of Canada and even some of the USA.
- The Cree call white men “whem-stook-ooshoo”, and this means from the wooden island when roughly translated. It is believed that this is the name used because the Europeans arrived in wooden boats and ships.
- As one of the 3 largest tribes still thriving in North America the Cree population numbers may be surprising. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Cree are still living today.
- The Metis people in Canada are descendants of Cree and the French Canadian explorers who visited the area. The estimated population of Metis people today is over 100,000.
- Cree may be referred to as Woodland Cree or Plains Cree, but this does not designate two different tribes. These names were started by English explorers and refers to how the native population lived. Plains Cree are simply Cree that live in the prairie regions, especially those in the Alberta and Manitoba regions. The Woodland Cree were named because they prefer the woodland areas further north. Both types of Cree follow the same customs and speak the same language, they just live in different environments.
- Woodland Cree utilized birch bark to build homes while Plains Cree used the hide of buffalo in order to create teepees used for living.