Cree Moccasin

Hudson’s Bay Company employee George Simpson McTavish Jr., the son of a Scottish fur trader, brought back a pair of moccasins from Fort Churchill around 1887.

Posted August 17, 2010
The Manitoba Museum, HBC Museum Collection

Hudson’s Bay Company employee George Simpson McTavish Jr., the son of a Scottish fur trader, brought back a pair of moccasins from Fort Churchill around 1887. The moccasins were of northern Cree or Cree-Métis production and had been adopted by European fur traders as an essential form of footwear.

Indigenous women were well-known for producing sturdy, practical, and beautifully decorated moccasins that they would trade for European goods.

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