Cree Literacy Network

Sincere thanks to Cree teacher and blogger Charlie Venne at https://firstnationstories.com/ for writing this thoughtful and generous end-user assessment of the work we’ve been doing here since 2010. (Truthfully, we’re big fans of his, too!) Sometimes I think our highest goal is to be “really useful” – like Thomas the Tank Engine in the books I used to read my kids – so Charlie’s assessment is high praise indeed. We’re proud to support his work, too: quietly, consistently, finding ways and building tools to help restore some of what was taken, and return it to the people to whom it truly belongs. kinanâskomitinân, Charlie: âhkamêyimotân!

Here’s what Charlie wrote:

Across Treaty Six Territory — from La Ronge to Muskeg Lake, from Hall Lake to urban classrooms in Saskatoon and Regina — one truth has become harder to ignore:

Many of our young people can understand Cree…

…but cannot read or write it.

For generations, nêhiyawêwin lived comfortably as an oral language. It moved through stories, humour, prayer, land-based teaching, and everyday life. But today’s reality is different. Our communities are now largely English-speaking environments, especially for youth growing up surrounded by screens, apps, and social media.

Without literacy skills, even fluent speakers can struggle to pass the language on in ways that survive modern systems like schooling, government, and technology.

That is where the Cree Literacy Networksteps in.

Learning Cree in the Broadcast Era

Long before Zoom classrooms or language apps, many of us in Saskatchewan were first introduced to written Cree through television screens.

In my own case, my first university-level Cree teacher was Solomon Ratt, who taught through the University of Regina in partnership with the Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN). His lessons reached into homes across the province — including reserve communities — bringing Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) into everyday learning spaces where access to post-secondary education might otherwise have been limited.

For many learners, this was the first time Cree was presented not only as something spoken with family or heard at ceremony, but as something that could be:

✅ read
✅ written
✅ studied academically
✅ used in professional settings

Educators like Solomon Ratt helped normalize the idea that nêhiyawêwin belongs not only on the land and in the lodge, but also in classrooms, textbooks, and eventually — digital platforms.

Today, organizations like the Cree Literacy Network continue that same work in a modern format. Where SCN once delivered language lessons by satellite signal, the Network now supports learners through online dictionaries, reading resources, literacy workshops, and standardized writing systems that make Cree more accessible to new generations growing up in a largely English-dominant world.

In many ways, today’s Cree literacy movement stands on the shoulders of those early broadcast-era instructors who ensured the language could travel across distance without losing its form.

Language Warriors Behind the Scenes

Since 2010, the Cree Literacy Network has been working to support people committed to retaining, reclaiming, revitalizing, and restoring Cree as a living language — not just something spoken at ceremony or during special events, but something fully functional in the 21st century.

Their work builds on the legacy of respected Cree scholars who recognized that writing systems are not replacements for oral tradition — they are tools for survival in a world that demands documentation, curriculum, and digital communication.

Standard Roman Orthography (SRO), in particular, is promoted as a kind of linguistic technology — allowing Cree to exist in books, classrooms, dictionaries, and online spaces without losing consistency from one community to another.

Because when words look different every time they are written…

reading becomes guesswork.

And guesswork is the enemy of literacy.

Cree Literacy Is About More Than Reading

One of the most important ideas shared by the Cree Literacy Network is that literacy does not simply mean decoding letters on a page.

Cree literacy also means:

✅Understanding Cree history
✅ Knowing cultural teachings and living traditions
✅ Being aware of past harms to our language
✅ Recognizing political realities facing our Nations today
✅ Taking part in protecting this “home on Native land”

In other words — literacy is identity.

It connects language learners not just to vocabulary, but to worldview, land-based knowledge, and the deeper meaning behind our stories and ceremonies.

For those of us teaching Cree 10 or 20 — or even integrating Cree into courses like Science 10 or Environmental Science 20 at schools like Sally Ross — this matters. Students are not just learning words for “tree” or “water.” They are learning how Cree ways of knowing describe relationships between people, land, animals, and spirit.

Tools for Today’s Learners

The Cree Literacy Network website offers access to:

• Reading guides
• Cultural literacy lessons
• Audio-supported Cree texts
• Online dictionaries like itwêwina
• SRO-to-Syllabics conversion tools
• Teaching videos and language learning resources

These supports help bridge the gap between fluent speakers who may not read, and learners who may not yet speak confidently — encouraging speakers to become readers, and readers to become speakers.

For classroom teachers in northern or rural schools — where interaction opportunities for language instruction can be limited — these kinds of shared resources are especially important for keeping language learning integrated with other subjects instead of being pushed aside.

There Is Room for All of Us

The Network greets visitors with a simple word:

tawâw — “there is room.”

There is room for:

• Students
• Teachers
• Linguists
• Elders
• Storytellers
• Parents
• Community language champions

Anyone committed to ensuring that Cree does not go to sleep for future generations.

In an age where reconciliation is often discussed but rarely practiced, supporting Cree literacy may be one of the most meaningful actions available to educators, families, and community leaders alike.

Language is not just communication.

It is continuity.

And thanks to the Cree Literacy Network, there is still room to learn.