The Cree in Alberta, Canada

I dont' think you can get away from the residential schools. Systematic removal of religion, culture and language coordinated with physical, sexual and emotional abuse was the name of the game at that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system

I grew up in Calgary and there are a number of Cree reservations in the area. Seebe and Exshaw are towns near one. Seebe is actually the Cree word for River.

Here are lists of reservations and Nations in Alberta, and includes treaty numbers. Each treaty set out land etc. and you should be able to get dates from them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alberta_Indian_reserves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Nations_in_Alberta

Jenn's right. I was also going to say something about the schools. My MIL is Metis, with direct Cree ancestry, and she has several books on the topic with actual testimonies from adults who survived the abuse in the schools.

We're living out near Wabamun now, west of Edmonton, and the Paul Nation is quite close. The Alexis are a little north of that.

The treaties allowed them movement - they were not specifically quarantined to the reserves. However, they were to respect Crown Land and private property as any normal citizen. The Cree often carried trade between the reserves, some of them being able to farm and grow stuff on their reserves. However, the treks were often carried out with either limited resources or by traditional methods. By that, I mean that if they tried to make the shipments by carriage or truck, there was often the chance of them running out of food and hay or, in later years, gas. My grandfather used to help out the Cree people when they became stuck by his farm because they ran out of gas, food and money - this being the 1950's and 1960's.

One thing to keep in mind if you're writing this from a Canadian perspective, is Canada has reserves. America has reservations. (You'll see that just from comparing Xelebes' post with the others )