Jean Okimāsis

Dr. Jean L. Okimāsis (born Jean Lillian Littlechief) is a Cree linguist who has worked on teaching and documenting the Plains Cree language.

Career In 1982, Okimāsis started work on Cree language programs at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated college (now the First Nations University of Canada). She published a textbook, workbook, and teaching grammar of the Cree language called Cree, Language of the Plains,

Okimāsis has been instrumental in developing and promoting the use of the standard Roman orthography for writing the Cree language. In 2008, she cowrote How to Spell it in Cree (The Standard Roman Orthography) with Arok Wolvengrey.

Recognition Okimāsis received the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in 2000, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Regina in 2005.

In 2019, a park was named after Okimāsis in Regina.