Indians, Cree
Indians, Cree
The largest Indian tribe of Canada , whose former territory was Manitoba, Assiniboia, and Saskatchewan. Of Algonquian stock, they were good-natured, honest, without clan system, and polygamous. The French Jesuits first evangelized the Crees, c.1731 . Later missionaries were Oblates, assisted by the Grey Nuns. Among Protestant missionaries was Reverend James Evans who invented the Cree syllabary. The tribe now numbers 15,000, two-thirds on Manitoba reservations. The majority of the Christian portion is Catholic .