U of Manitoba Cree instructor with single student says opportunity to pass language on makes class worthwhile

A Cree language class at the University of Manitoba was nearly cancelled this past semester after only one person registered for the course. 

But instructor Ken Paupankis insisted it go on, even if the low enrolment meant he wouldn’t be paid his full amount, because passing on the language is more to him important than making money, he says.

“Language surrounds us more than we realize,” he said. “There is so much historic and geographic significance — why places are named what they are — and a lot of those are Cree names.”

However, Statistics Canada’s 2021 census says only about one per cent of the