SASKATOONEXPRESS - November 28-December 4, 2016 - Page 1
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Volume 14, Issue 46, Week of November 28, 2016
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
Bob Pringle
From humble beginnings to public servant Over the past 40 years, Bob Pringle has been a champion for adults in disadvantaged circumstances and for children and youth. Also in the photo are his wife, Tanya, and their daughter, Rachel. (Photo by Sandy Hutchinson)
B
ob Pringle learned some often stepped up to the plate and hit heart-wrenching lessons home runs for community-based about life when he was agencies. He’s made a difference. growing up in the SaskatcheHe was a regional director in wan community of Carnduff. Saskatoon for Saskatchewan’s The lessons served him Department of Social Services, an well because, for most of his executive director of the Saskatoon working life, he has understood Housing Coalition, the Saskatchesome of the shortcomings in wan Association for Community society and has taken a special Living, Cosmopolitan Industries, understanding and appreciation the Saskatoon Food Bank and into many challenging roles. Learning Centre, and an interim In just over 40 years of director for Habitat for Humanity. People managing Saskatchewan huHe answered the call under even man services, Pringle has been deeper scrutiny in public life with a champion for adults in disadvantaged cir- his terms as a Member of the Saskatchewan cumstances and for children and youth. He’s Legislative Assembly in Regina from 1988
NED POWERS
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until 1998, a Saskatoon city councillor from 2006 until 2011, and then as the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth from 2011 until just recently. “I always was humbled and honoured by each position and challenge I ever faced,” said Pringle, who resigned as the Advocate for Children and Youth in October after the provincial government indicated he wouldn’t be re-appointed. “I was disappointed. I had made it clear that I would have been honoured to stay and continue the good work we had done. I respect the decision and I know it is the prerogative of the legislative assembly.” The irony of the story is that Pringle introduced the bill in the Saskatchewan assembly
in 1996, so the province would be the first in Canada to have an independent advocate. His bill was unanimously passed. And then 15 years and two advocates later, Pringle became the voice for Saskatchewan children and youth. As harsh as his circumstances were during his youth in a system that wasn’t very kind, Pringle learned some important values. “My mother, Norma, had grown up in a family of 20,” said Pringle. “And at 15, she discovered she was going to become a teenaged mom. She was taken into Regina to a home for girls who were about to have children. She had been told by her father to give up the child. Among the eight girls in the home, seven gave up their children, but my mom wouldn’t. When her father saw the perseverance in his daughter, he relented and we went to live them for eight years. “Mom and I moved into an area above a garage for seven years. There was no running water, no inside toilet, and I’d carry water from a neighbour’s house every day. My mom was gassed three times by the carbon monoxide fumes. I didn’t know until just three years ago that she never paid any rent for that place. “My grandfather was rough and gruff. Of all his children, only two ever got out of high school. I failed in Grade 3 and again in Grade 9. One year, I was going to drop out and take a job two weeks before exams. Grandfather told me that if I tried to drop out, he was going to come sit beside me each day in school. I graduated from high school when I was 20. “My mother married Norman Duncombe. When my stepfather drank, bad things happened. He’d beat me up on occasion. He finally quit drinking and we became close. He kept pushing me to go to school. Life wasn’t easy for my mom either. She was sexually assaulted in the workplace, something I didn’t find out until she was 70. “There was a time when I stole a little toy car from the grocery store. My mother marched me right back. Later on, John Sanders, the grocer, offered me a job as a delivery boy. He took a chance on me and I never broke that trust.” Pringle also saw first-hand the effects of bullying. “My best friend was John Swazy and he had three fingers missing on one hand. He was teased and bullied all the time. (Continued on page 16)
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