It is a genuine pleasure to see Ken Paupanekis listed today among the newest recipients of the Order of Manitoba. In the many years I’ve known him, it’s also been an honour to personally witness the breadth, depth, and constancy of his commitment to his first language, Swampy Cree (n-dialect).
Ken learned Cree at his mother’s knee, at kinosêwi-sîpiy, now Norway House Cree Nation. Located at the northern tip of Lake Winnipeg, Norway House was a key location in the fur trade, and also in the creation of the first syllabic printing press and the generations of Cree literacy that it spawned. Ken’s own grandfather was an unacknowledged participant in this development – and some of us nurture the hope that we may yet gather some of Ken’s personal memories in Cree.
In a lovely written portrait published in the Winnipeg Free Press in 2023, Shelley Cook captures some classic glimpses of the Ken exactly as we know him: “His words are hugged by an accent that is a mixture of Cree and Scottish. It’s called the Red River Bungee accent, he says. Both his great-grandfathers were Scottish men who married Cree women, and both spoke fluent Cree.”
Ken began teaching in 1967, fresh out of high school. Beyond his long career commitment to teaching and administration of public schools, Ken has continued to mentor the next generation of students, speakers and teachers of Cree, especially at the University of Manitoba where Sam Robinson and Elora Cromarty – both former students – now carrying forward his legacy᙮
kimamihcihinân. tâpwê ê-kaskihtamâsoyan!
ᑭᒪᒥᐦᒋᐦᐃᓈᐣ. ᑖᐻ ᐁ ᑲᐢᑭᐦᑕᒫᓱᔭᐣ!
You make us proud. Truly you deserve this!
