Waswanipi ( cr, ᐙᔂᓂᐲ or Wâswânipî) is a

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

community in the

Eeyou Istchee territory Eeyou Istchee , crj, ᐄᔨᔫ ᐊᔅᒌ or , all meaning 'The People's Land'; ) is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) of Quebec that is represented by the Grand Council of the Crees. On July 24, 2012, the Quebe ...

of central

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, located along Route 113 and near the confluence of the

Chibougamau Chibougamau () is the largest town in Nord-du-Québec, central Quebec, Canada. Located on Lake Gilman it has a population of 7,504 people (2016 Canadian Census). Chibougamau is surrounded by, but not part of, the local municipality of Eeyou Istc ...

and

Waswanipi River The Waswanipi River is a tributary of Matagami Lake. The Waswanipi River flows in the Municipality of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James in the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, in Quebec, Canada. Geography The main hydrographic slopes adjacent t ...

s. It has a population of 459 people (

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

). ''Waswanipi'' is a

compound word In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or sign) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when ...

composed of ''wâswân'' (a place to fish at night using a torch) and ''-pî'' (lake), meaning "torch-fishing lake" but colloquially translated as "light over the water" referring to the traditional night-time fishing method of luring fish to light by using torches. The original location of the village was on an island in

Lake Waswanipi Lake Waswanipi is a lake located in municipality of Eeyou Istchee Baie-James (municipalité), in administrative region of Nord-du-Québec, in Quebec, in Canada. Waswanipi Lake extends into the townships of Bergères, Bossé, Nelligan, Bellin and ...

(). It was the site of a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

trading post until 1965 when the post was closed. Its residents dispersed until 1978 when the new village of Waswanipi was built about 47 km upstream the Waswanipi River from the former location.

Languages Spoken

Waswanipi is a trilingual community, the majority of its residences speaking the Southern

East Cree East Cree, also known as (Eastern) James Bay Cree, and East Main Cree, is a group of Cree dialects spoken in Quebec, Canada on the east coast of lower Hudson Bay and James Bay, and inland southeastward from James Bay. Cree is one of the most spok ...

dialect of the

Cree language Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is th ...

. Aside from the elderly people, who tend to be monolingual Cree speakers, the majority of the population speaks, in addition to Cree, either

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

or French, some speaking both.

Education

The Cree School Board operates two schools: Willie J. Happyjack Memorial School (ᐧᐃᓖ ᒉᐄ ᐦᐋᐲᒑᒃ ᒋᔅᑯᑕᒫᒉᐅᑲᒥᒄ) and Rainbow Elementary School (ᐲᓯᒧᔮᐲ ᒋᔅᑯᑕᒫᒉᐅᑲᒥᒄ), along with Jolina Gull-Blacksmith Memorial School. Happyjack has 536 students.Willie J. Happyjack Memorial School and Rainbow Elementary School
" Cree School Board. Retrieved on September 23, 2017.

References

External links

Official Site of Waswanipi
Cree villages in Quebec Innu communities in Quebec Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Eeyou Istchee (territory) {{Quebec-geo-stub

Languages Spoken

Education

See also

References

External links