Native peoples known as Woodland Indians trace their beginnings back 3000 years. Their culture grew out of an earlier period known as the archaic phase which extends back even further from three to seven thousand years ago. It was in the archaic period that the woodland lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering emerged.

Both Cree and Ojibway Indians inhabited the woodland area of Manitoba, central and northern Ontario, and Quebec. The Cree and Ojibway are members of the larger Algonkian linguistic family. In Canada, they inhabit an Eastern woodland environment north and west of the Great Lakes extending from Manitoba to Quebec. Both Cree and Ojibway hunted, fished and gathered food in the richly forested and plentifully endowed lake region. The men hunted alone or in small groups while the women gathered the food.

They lived in small family groups during the winter months and gathered together in villages during the summer months. Their residences often were dome-shaped dwellings covered with sheets of birchbark. For transportation, they used birchbark or dugout canoes, snowshoes, tumplines, and toboggans. Tools included bone knives, a form of crooked knife, stone scrapers, wooden fire drills, and mallet and pitch spreaders for canoe-making.

The socio-political organization was loose. The largest unit was the band, linked by language, kinship and clanship. The most basic unit, however, was the extended family hunting group, each of which had its own recognized hunting territory. Although each band designated a chief, his power was relatively limited.

Contact with Europeans occurred as early as the 16th century. Directly or indirectly, the Cree and Ojibway traded fur in exchange for rifles, steel knives and manufactured goods. As this trade developed, inter-tribal warfare became more intense. The Ojibway moved southward displacing their longstanding enemy, the Sioux, and eastward where they came into conflict with the Iroquois. Bands tended to settle and hunt near trading routes and centres. From 1760 to 1820, a common Indian-European material culture emerged. This culture was heavily dependent upon European supplies.

After 1820, game began to grow scarce. The new English settlers were more interested in land than furs. The Cree and Ojibway, once important middle men, were left dependent upon European goods and now lacked a trade item. Gradually, the bands passed under treaties and were relegated to reserves. The intensity of European influence and the progress of assimilation varied from reserve to reserve. Each reserve developed slightly different adaptations to the new environment of European culture. Initially, much of the social and economic life of the native community focussed upon the trading post. By mid-19th century, the mission with its school and a new corps of government administrators, teachers and doctors, became central to the community. Hunting and trapping had become less and less profitable and old ways were lost. Employment on the reserves was scarce and gradually the welfare system, as it exists today, took a firm grip on Indian life.

Crafts played an important role in Cree and Ojibway life. Both Cree and Ojibway finger-painted and used the loom to create a variety of woven items such as bands, sashes, garters and straps. Geometric designs used in weaving ranged from stripes and triangles to zigzags and saw-tooth. By the 20th century, traditional weaving techniques had largely disappeared. Currently, however, there is a revival of interest in weaving in Ontario native communities. White birchbark was a vital construction material in Cree and Ojibway crafts. With its varying thickness, it could be torn off easily and straight. It was durable and provided protection against weather. The strongest bark, called winter bark, was collected in spring. Summer bark was thinner and easier to remove. The thinnest bark was used as wrapping. The largest pieces of sturdy bark were set aside for the construction of large canoes. Smaller pieces of bark were shaped into containers of varying shapes, which could be made water-tight. To make these makuks, a single piece of bark was bent while it was being steamed over a hot fire. Seams were sewn with roots or fibres. Gum or pitch was used to seal openings.

Makuks were often decorated with scratched or peeled designs. These design figures were outlined on the container and the background peeled off to reveal a lighter inner bark. This process could be reversed, subtracting the main design figure and leaving the background a darker contrasting bark. Few decorated makuks have been made in Ontario since the turn of the 20th century. Quilled decorated bark containers are still being produced in a few locations in Ontario, most notably on Parry Island and Manitoulin Island. These boxes display rich adornment and dyed quills painstakingly applied to the lid and sides.

Birchbark designs and quillwork, both traditional and contemporary, may be said to demonstrate a propensity for dramatically contrasting figure and ground. This contrast was achieved through the use of positive/negative space of peeled design, sharply varying textures of quill and bark, and bright primary colours. Designs were both freehand and traced, as in beadwork. Often ideas were taken from birchbark bitten patterns or transparencies. Depending upon how many times a piece of bark was folded over, a symmetrical design of two, four, or more units would be produced. These thin transparent pieces were used as a means of design experimentation or as models for actual work in another medium. Bitten patterns frequently displayed geometric and floral designs simultaneously. Moose hair embroidery bore great resemblance to quillwork and was often used in conjunction with it, or alone. Techniques and style of embroidery on birchbark or clothing were much the same as those of quill design. Today the skill has disappeared.

Clothing was very important and much time was devoted to its ornamentation. Clothes, well-decorated, became a matter of prestige Hides of deer, moose, caribou, bear and elk were carefully tanned and tailored into pouches, moccasins, leggings, breechclouts, and vests. All techniques were employed: embroidery, quillwork, beadwork, ribbon applique.

Soon after contact with European culture, broadcloth became available and quickly supplanted hides. Colours of red, deep blues and black were preferred by the Cree and Ojibway as backgrounds for a colourful array of applied design. In the 19th century, the Ojibway adopted dark velveteen, usually black, despite its higher price. Black velveteen dramatically accentuated the now predominantly beaded patterns of leggings, vests, sleeves and bandoliers, and moccasins. By the late 19th century, Ojibway design reached a rococo frenzy of undulating lines and bright and contrasting colours.