A history of success
The Eenou and Eeyou have lived in harmony with the cycles of nature for millennia.
Ancient laws and customs guided the Crees’ shared stewardship of a vast territory called Eeyou Istchee. When Europeans arrived, our people integrated some of the European technologies and ways – assets that would later prove invaluable. We developed a reputation as skilled negotiators and intermediaries with other nations. The Cree system of land and resource management began to shift in the early 1600s.
With the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company (1670), we expanded our traditional trapping practices in order to participate in this fur-trading economy.
Like First Nations across the continent, we gradually lost control of our lands, rights, and resources. During some darker periods, families were uprooted from their homes and lands. Poverty became a way of life, and many of us lost our children to the infamous residential school system, whose long shadow haunts Canada and its indigenous people to this day.
