Office expands to better serve First Nations children

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Shaun Soonias and Elaine Thomas are working to help ensure the voices of Aboriginal children and youth across Saskatchewan are being heard.

As the two newest members of the Saskatchewan Children's Advocate Office, it's their job to advocate on behalf of the provinces' children. And as members of Saskatchewan First Nations-Thomas is from Beardy's and Okemasis, while Soonias is from Red Pheasant First Nation-the two will be working to help the office form closer ties with Aboriginal communities and service providers across the province.

"This office has been in existence for about six years. And all along, I think we've known that we wanted to hire First Nations people to work as advocates with us," said Children's Advocate Debra Parker-Loewen. "But two years ago we conducted a review of the needs of children living in foster care. And in our province, at least 70 per cent of the children in foster care are a member of a First Nation, and another 10 or 15 per cent are Aboriginal children-either Metis children or non-status children. And so a large percentage of the children that we serve are members of a First Nation."

The role of the Children's Advocate Office is to advocate on the behalf of children who are under the care of the provincial government, or are receiving services from a provincial government department or agency. "Our office looks at, reviews and investigates any matter related to government services affecting a child or group of children," Soonias explained. "So that can be young offender systems, social services, mental health. And basically we negotiate, if we can, a non-adversarial way, a resolution, to whatever that matter is. We can also do more of a formal investigation into things that aren't able to be solved just through a meeting with some of the key stakeholders."

Thomas brings a background in service provision and education to her role as advocate. In 1991, she received a Bachelor of Indian Social Work, and in the 10 years since has worked with Child and Family Services at Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation, as well as with Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. She also worked as a liaison officer within the school system, providing a link between parent and school, and working with children and their families.

That experience, Thomas explained, has served her well in her new role as advocate.

"It has actually helped me a great deal, because I've seen what the child welfare system can do to children and their families," Thomas said. "And I feel by being here, not necessarily as a First Nations advocate, but an advocate for the general population, I can help protect the rights of children, and to ensure that their voices are heard, and the their rights are respected. And also to work more with the First Nations communities, because there's not very much in terms of information out there regarding the Children's Advocate Office in First Nations country. So that needs to be explored further. And by having Shaun and I in this office, that can take place."

Soonias' previous experience has also served him well in his new role. He spent seven years working with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) in a number of positions, the most recent in the areas of education and justice. Prior to joining the Children's Advocate office, he'd spent just under a year as manager of Aboriginal human resources at the University of Saskatchewan.

Both his work at the FSIN and the university provided him with a good understanding of First Nations governance, and the direction First Nations are going in terms of providing social services to their members, he said.

With two new advocates now on staff, reaching out more to First Nation's communities is one of the goals of the Children's Advocate's Office, Parker-Loewen explained.

"I think, really, essentially, we've doubled our front line advocate staff. We had two advocates travelling throughout the province up until Shaun and Elaine joined us, andnow there are four. And so, just virtually by increasing the concentration of our service, I think we're hoping, all four of the advocates will be making increased contacts with various First Nations agencies, particularly those that deliver services to children, such as child welfare services."

Increasing awareness of what the Children's Advocate Office is and does is another priority. In an effort to try to increase that awareness in the north, the office is joining forces with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and the Provincial Ombudsman to do a tour of northern Saskatchewan.

"I think all three of our offices recognized that the north is an area that certainly requires our services, but also they need to be introduced to our services, because we certainly don't get the kind of calls from the north as we do from the south. And I think we all know that there are certain issues up north that can certainly utilize advocates, as well as provincial ombudsman and human rights representatives," Soonias said.

"This is kind of, I think, the first year that this office has been starting to travel in an extensive manner in the north. So I think we've recognized that the north is a priority area for our office to introduce our services and to help advocate for the kids up north."

Representatives from the three offices will hold public meetings in Stony Rapids on Oct. 1, Fond-du-Lac on Oct. 2, Sandy Bay and Pelican Narrows on Oct. 3, and in Creighton Oct. 5.

Although a special effort is being made to reach out to First Nations communities in the northern part of the province, that doesn't mean that the south is being left out, Soonias explained.

"Even in the south, I don't think that they know about our office enough. So part of what we're doing is contacting different group homes, and Indian Child and Family Services (ICFS) throughout the province. We're going to provide presentations to the staff and any youth in their group homes or treatment centres, just t make sure that our office has the kind of exposure that we need in order to serve the province."

"I think the functions of our office are such that organizations that provide direct services to children need to understand that we are, as they are, wanting to have high quality services provided to children," Parker-Loewen explained. "We also have a fair amount of authority to review complaints about those organizations, which would include some of the First Nations operated agencies. And so there's lots of educating we need to do with each other, so that we understand what their goals and objectives are and they understand what ours are."

The fact that the office does have the authority to review complaints and make recommendations can make developing good relations with service providers a challenge.

"I feel there is a bit of, I guess, kind of being fearful, because of the power and authority of the office," Thomas conceded. The way to try to put those fears to rest, she said, "is going out there and increasing public awareness that we are also here to help, and not to work against any provincial organization or ICFS agencies. And just to let them know that we want to work hand-in-hand with them, and to improve the system for the children."

"My experience, having been here now for the full six years, is that once they fully understand that our goals are not dissimilar to theirs-we really want children to receive quality services, that their rights are respected, that their entitlements are in place-that most organizations are actually quite happy to have us involved." Parker-Loewen said. "If they've done something that's contrary to their policies or their legislation, they usually want to improve their own situation, too. I really think that organizations do truly want to provide a quality service, and they are often strapped for resources. They don't have the capacity to provide the services that they would themselves like to provide. Our office can help the in that regard, because we can make a very formal recommendation that they have to provide these kinds of services, which gives them leverage to advocate on their own behalf as well."

"We're not here to try to, if we investigate, to try and place blame with a worker or some other staff that might have been involved with the youth. Our primary concern is to advocate on behalf of that youth, to ensure that their rights are being respected," Soonias said."We're not here to get people fired. I don't think that's ever been an issue with this office. We're just here to make sure that the youth are being respected within the system, that they're being listened to. And we're just trying to get them what they need and what they want. It doesn't always work, but certainly other agencies, I think, respect our office enough and usually know about our office-what we do-enough, to try and work with us for the benefit of the child."

"We don't believe we're the only advocate for children," Parker-Loewen emphasized. "The reality is that families and communities need to be advocates for their own children. We're only here as a last resort, when it comes to specific kinds of issues related to children. But the real advocacy work, the day to day advocacy work, needs to come from every family and every community, and all of the people that care about these children on a daily basis. Because it's not just an advocate's office like this that's going to make changes for children. It really has to come from the community."

"It's just like that saying," Thomas added. "It takes a whole community to raise a child."

For more information about the Saskatchewan Children's Advocate Office, visit the office's Web site at http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/childadvocate, or call the office at 1-800-322-7221.