What Are the First Nations Tribes of the Plains?

Tribes

The First Nations of the Plains can be broadly categorized into four main groups, based on their linguistic heritage. The Blackfoot Confederacy includes the Blood, Peigan and Blackfoot tribes of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. There is also the Plains Cree Indians who traditionally inhabited parts of central Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, as well as the Plains Ojibwa, who occupied central Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. The fourth group, the Sioux, have traditionally inhabited parts of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.

The languages of the First Nations tribes are many and diverse. The two most widely-spoken languages of the First Nations are Algonquian and Athapaskan, which consist of numerous dialects, such as Cree and Ojibway. In contrast, lesser-spoken First Nations languages include Salish, Tsimshian, Wakashan, Haida, Tingit and Kutenai. European contact and displacement have, however, endangered many First Nations languages and have already made several extinct.

Traditionally, each First Nations tribe lived mainly from hunting and fishing, with seasonal migrations in search of food. Prior to European Contact, the First Nations had well-developed and established trading patterns and alliances with tribes across the Plains. The First Nations were self-governing tribes, led by a chief with an advisory council of elders. Today, the First Nations tribes are scattered among native reserves and urban areas. After a series of treaties and pieces of legislation, the First Nations have the right to self-govern but also work in collaboration with the Canadian Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, mainly in relation to land ownership, access to resources and protection of their cultural heritage.

Historically, the religious beliefs and practices of First Nations tribes centered on the god known as the Great Spirit. Oral traditions emphasize the spirituality of the natural world, celebrated in ceremonies, like the Sun Dance. The Christian missionaries who arrived in the Plains during the nineteenth-century achieved some success in converting First Nation Indians as have many New Age spiritualist groups and sects of the 20th-century. In contrast, there are groups of First Nation Indians that have abandoned religion entirely or have continued to worship the Great Spirit.