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These tiles were painted by Wolfgang Baumann and Tim Rasmuson,
instructors at Mashwachees Cultural College, Hobbema, Alberta. 
We asked for and received premission for the project from the
Dean of Culture.

Cree Syllabics are the writtem form of the Cree language.  Their
exact origin is in dispute.  Some claim that an Evangelical
Missionary invented them so that the Bible could be read in the
language of the people while others claim that the Elders shared
the language with the missionary who then stole the credit.

You may notice that the last few tiles are different.  These
small marks are known as finishers in English and serve to add
extra sounds to the main sounds.  In is important to note that
the finisher is placed after the symbol BUT changes the initial
or starting sound of the main sound.  For example, the sound 'wa'
is made by adding the 'w' finisher after the 'a' symbol.  This
reversal of order, which is confusing to the European mind,
points at the aboriginal origin of the symbols rather than the
European creation of the syllabics.