Norway House, Cree Spelling Book – Northwest Territories (Manitoba), James Evans, 1841

The story of Reverend James Evans (1801–1846), an English Methodist missionary, is one of great perseverance and ingenuity and must be one of the most compelling stories in the history of Canada.

Evans arrived in Norway House in April of 1840, located approximately 300 miles north of Winnipeg. Primarily a trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Norway House was remote and difficult to access; getting in supplies and type for a printing press was seemingly impossible. Evans had no choice but to use the resources at hand. He acquired tea chests from the fur traders who sold large quantities of tea to the Indigenous peoples. Using the thin sheets of lead that lined these chests, he managed to manufacture his own type. He meticulously carved out small models of his characters in oak and then made molds of them in soft clay. Melted lead was poured into these molds, and after many failures, he succeeded in producing type that suited his needs. He made his ink out of chimney soot mixed with sturgeon oil. Lacking paper, he employed birch bark as a substitute. He even devised his own printing press by adapting a jack screw used by the traders for packing furs into bales. This rudimentary setup provided enough pressure to make inked impressions, and with these simplest of tools, he began the collaborative work of providing the Indigenous peoples with samples of scripture and hymns printed in their own language.

Evans often clashed with the Hudson’s Bay Company, mostly over their treatment of the indigenous peoples. The Hudson’s Bay Company even went so far as to accuse him of sexual misconduct with the indigenous girls under his care. This was later proven to be an attempt to discredit and incarcerate him. In 1846, travelled to London to defend himself and was acquitted of the charges. While there, he passed away. His ashes where later returned to Norway House.

Cree Syllabics

Although Evans has often been credited by historians with the creation of syllabics—the characters he cast in lead to print the Cree language—recent studies have raised doubts about the extent of his role in their development. Oral tradition holds that it was a Cree who gave the syllabics to his people on a piece of birch bark. There were also two Cree linguists working with Evans at Norway House, and it is highly probable that they would have collaborated in developing syllabics.

A more in-depth look at the creation of the Cree syllabics can be found at CBC. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/a-question-of-legacy-cree-writing-and-the-origin-of-the-syllabics