Corey O’Soup says he made a mistake by referring to an Indigenous hockey team as the “Beerhawks.”
The speech error made twice this month during a large First Nations hockey tournament in the province was one of two incidents that cost him his job as the director of sports for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous (FSIN).
“The recent termination of Mr. O’Soup was not only in regards to comments about the Beardy’s U9 hockey team but an issue of inappropriate harassment external to this issue,” said FSIN vice-chief Heather Bear.
“We have a zero-tolerance at the federation for that.”
In a release, the FSIN promised the incident would be “robustly investigated,” but didn’t release any details about the allegations.
O’Soup’s firing came days after he made a public apology for mispronouncing the name of the Beardy’s and Okemasis Blackhawks during the banner and trophy presentations at the 2022 Youth FSIN Hockey Championships in Regina.
“This was not intentional nor a joke,” O’Soup said in a Facebook video on April 11.
“I understand with all the issues facing us today around mental health and addictions that our communities suffer though, that this has caused hurt and pain for you and your young people. For this, I am truly sorry.”
This isn’t the first time O’Soup’s behaviour has cost him a job.
In the summer of 2019, he resigned as the province’s advocate for children and youth after multiple complaints of harassment against him.