New Child Advocate has long history of helping children
- EFN Staff | August 10, 2016
Corey O’Soup has a long record of working to better the lives of children and youth in Saskatchewan. His past work with school boards, with the then Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Ministry of Education has given him a skill set perfect for his new appointment as the Advocate for Children and Youth for Saskatchewan.
The posting makes O’Soup, a member of the Key First Nation, the first Children’s Advocate of First Nation descent in Saskatchewan. The distinction isn’t lost on O’Soup.
“Being the first means a lot to me but I think it means more to the youth,” said O’Soup at a press conference after his appointment was made public. “The youth can now see that they have someone to go to. A role model. That’s key for me. They need someone to look up to and identify with.”
O’Soup is married and has five children ranging in age from four to sixteen. He is excited for the job as he now gets to work closer to home. He used to commute to Regina from his home in Martensville.
“Having the office in Saskatoon will allow me to spend more time with my family which is really important.”
O’Soup knows the majority of the cases his agency will deal with will include Indigenous children and not in a good way. And he wants to change the numbers of Métis and First Nation children in care or dying or critically injured in care.
“In my whole career, I have built a lot of relationships,” said O’Soup. “That has been my role, to build trust between our government and First Nation and Métis people. But we have to focus on our numbers because they are pretty drastic.”
Related:
- Children's Advocate slams on- and off-reserve child welfare agencies in wake of inquest
- Children's Advocate calls on government to address number of child deaths
- Victim, perpetrator needed better services: Child Advocate's report
O’Soup’s background is as an educator. He has been a senior analyst for the FSIN, a provincial superintendant for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, a director of education/post secondary education and training for the FSIN as well as the First Nations and Métis Advisor at the Ministry of the Education. He also led the Incident Commander for the Government of Saskatchewan after the La Loche shooting.
“La Loche changed me as a person,” said O’Soup. “It showed me the challenges that our youth face and particularly the challenges our educators face. Lots of lessons learned there. The number one thing we need to do for our children is to learn to work together. Our agencies need to work better together and you do that by building trust and a better relationship.”
Corey O’Soup takes over from Bob Pringle the current Advocate for Children and Youth for Saskatchewan in November.