Oji-Cree

The Oji-Cree, Anishinini (plural Anishininiwag) or, less correctly, Severn Ojibwa or Northern Ojibwa, are a First Nation in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, residing in a narrow band extending from the Missinaibi River region in Northeastern Ontario at the east to Lake Winnipeg at the west.

The Oji-Cree people are descended from historical intermarriage between the Ojibwa and Cree cultures, but are generally considered a distinct nation from either of their parent groups. They are considered one of the component groups of Anishinaabe, and reside primarily in a transitional zone between traditional Ojibwa lands to their south and traditional Cree lands to their north. Historically, the Oji-Cree were identified by the British and Canadian governments as "Cree," as the Oji-Cree have identified themselves with the Cree and not with the Ojibwa located south of them. Traditionally, they were called either Noopiming-ininiwag (People in the Woods) or Ajijaakoons (Little Crane) by the Ojibwa; among the Oji-Cree, their autonym is Anishinini (Original Human); members descended from the former Osnaburgh House Band instead identify themselves as Ojibwe, thus generally are classified as such.

Their language and culture also derive from mixed Ojibwa and Cree traditions. Anishininiimowin (the Oji-Cree language) is more closely related to Ojibwa structurally, although its literary tradition more closely resembles Cree. Anishininiimowin has about 12,600 speakers.[1]

Oji-Cree Bands

References

  1. ^ Statistics Canada: Various languages spoken (147)

Further reading

  • Favel, Fred. Northern lights and satellites Kenina Kakekayash, Oji-Cree, director of radio, Wawatay Radio Network. [Ottawa]: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2001. ISBN 0662659457
  • Macfie, John, and Basil Johnston. Hudson Bay Watershed A Photographic Memoir of the Ojibway, Cree, and Oji-Cree. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1991. ISBN 1550020889
  • Triggs-Raine BL, et al. 2002. "HNF-1alpha G319S, a Transactivation-Deficient Mutant, Is Associated with Altered Dynamics of Diabetes Onset in an Oji-Cree Community". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99, no. 7: 4614-9.
  • Valentine, Lisa Philips. Making It Their Own Severn Ojibwe Communicative Practices. Anthropological horizons, 7. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN 0802006434
  • Valentine, Lisa Philips. "Work to Create the Future You Want" Contemporary Discourse in a Severn Ojibwe Community. 1990.