American Indian Culture and Research Journal

From time immemorial groups of Cree Indians from the interior woodland regions travelled down the lowland rivers to the coast of James Bay every spring. They came to feast on fresh geese and to socialize with others who also came to intercept the migrating flocks. The Indians travelled down the rivers as families or groups of families, while the inland regions they left behind held shared hunting areas rather than carefully defined and defended individual or group hunting lands. Thus they were generally peaceful people, establishing kinship and friendship networks throughout the James Bay region. They lived simply with few material goods. A wigwam suited the housing needs of their nomadic lifestyle. They spent the goose hunting seasons near the shores of James Bay, on the flight path of the birds. Summers were spent along the rivers at the best fishing spots. In winter they moved into the woodlands in search of fuel, food, and protection from the elements. Fur bearing animals provided both food and clothing for the harsh winter months. The environment was fickle. Drought, floods, excessive cold or heat, and disease often disrupted the normal food supplies, bringing starving conditions to the people who relied on them. It was, however, a way of life that lasted for many thousands of years. Granted a charter from the British parliament in 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was given a monopolistic right to trade furs in the lands draining into Hudson and James Bays, an area it named Rupert's Land. By a single stroke of the pen many thousands of miles distant, a way of life was altered permanently by forces in many ways beyond the control of the Native inhabitants of the fur-rich lands.