Soop hired as executive director

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Oliver Soop, originally from the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta, has been hired as the new executive director of the Bonnyville Indian and Metis Rehabilitation Centre.

Soop is the sixth person to fill this position since the beginning of 1986.

He says being a "total stranger in this area" is a benefit to his position in that he can work with issues rather than personalities. "Personal interests can't enter in," he says, since he knows virtually no one in Bonnyville or the surrounding district.

Soop says the interim board is working on changes to the centre's by-laws and will give their recommendations for changes to the new directors, to be elected at the upcoming (April) annual assembly. The new board will decide which recommendations to implement.

One of the recommendations will be that anyone considering a position with the centre must have a minimum of one year's sobriety.

Soop has six years of sobriety behind him and over 20 years of administration and management experience. He has worked with the Indian Association of Alberta, Syncrude Canada, the Blood Tribal Administration, and more recently, put in five years at the St. Paul Treatment Centre on his home reserve.

Soop's first job at Bonnyville is to work out an organizational chart.

"There was a chart in place" he explains "but nobody was following it. This created tension between staff and board and resulted in conflict. But now, with a new chart in place, everyone will have clear direction and proper channels to go through. It'll make for better lines of communication at all levels."

He says another area he will tackle is changing the structure of the treatment program, with emphasis on Native cultural values and tradition.