Sheena Muirhead Koops is seeking federal office for the first time as the NDP candidate for Souris–Moose Mountain. A lifelong educator with 30 years of classroom experience and deep family roots in the Lampman area, Koops says her candidacy is about love, courage, and community.
She shared her thoughts on why she’s running, what she hopes to bring to Ottawa, and how she believes people in the Southeast are ready for a new kind of leadership.
Why are you running in Souris-Moose Mountain?
"I’ve believed in the movement of taking care of people since I was young. My grandpa ran for the NDP in the Tommy Douglas days, so it’s always been in my heart. I’m an educator, so of course, education is important to me. But I’ve been a career person in education for 30 years, and I didn’t have time for politics. However, in November, while I was driving home from Estevan to the farm, I was hearing a lot on the radio about the new guy that got elected down there. As I could see the lights from the farm, I felt this fear — all this crazy talk, and I wondered what it was all about. But then, I quickly felt a surge of energy and love. When my people — my grandkids, my daughters, my community, my students — are threatened, something rises up in me. I got the courage, and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I wonder who’s running for the NDP down here, and maybe I can help. Maybe it’s my turn."
What makes you want to run for your specific riding?
“Well, I love the land. I had a pasture that’s never been broken, and I used to ride my horse to school. I show my grandchildren where I tied up my horse, and it’s those small things that make me love being home. I’ve been back living on the farm for two years now."
"On a more serious note, I love the people here. I was at the Macoun Co-op AGM a couple of days ago, and the next day there was a barbecue. It was perfect. Watching the children of people who were my parents’ colleagues — my family has taught all over the place in Macoun, Estevan, Torquay, Frobisher, Alameda, and Oxbow. I love the communities and all their stories, and the humor of the people. These are my people. But it’s been conservative down here for so long, and even though we believe in cooperatives and credit unions and working together, politically, we tend to think through the Poilievre lens. I want to bring back the old-school voice of where we come from — the cooperative movements. In Bienfait, people died for union rights, and that’s important. I want us to stand up for workers, kids, daycares, and education.”
What are your top priorities if you get into office?
“My top priority would be healthcare and an expansive understanding of what healthcare means. The more money we invest in children, the fewer complications they face in life. I believe that the more educated a population becomes, the better their health indicators will be. I believe in expansive universal healthcare. Our folks in Ottawa have pushed for dental care, and now 3.5 million people have dental care who didn’t have it before. If my teeth aren’t good, I’m not healthy — it’s like having a broken leg. People who don’t have coverage should not be left behind. We need to care for people because caring for people is economically responsible. Universal healthcare originated in Saskatchewan. The doctors were on strike, and the government said healthcare would be the end. But it turned out to be the opposite."
"Fear is a bad motivator, and it leads to poor decisions. We can address these issues head-on by being who we are, digging into our deep roots, based on love, kindness, and generosity."
American tariffs and their effects are a big issue. How would you address that?
“I’m loving what I’m seeing across Canada. It’s a grassroots movement, people coming together. It’s non-partisan. We’re remembering who we are and where we’ve come from, and that we’ve dealt with difficult things before. Like my mum said about the doctor strike — it was very fearful. The other day, I was at the Tommy Douglas statue in Weyburn, and I did a selfie with Tommy. I said, ‘We’re dealing with existential threats, but I know you did in your time too. I wonder what words you would have for us because you dealt with it with compassion and conviction.’ And that’s what I want us to do — to be strong together. We’re not alone."
"In Macoun, at that AGM, there were two or three hundred people. I thought, as the little socialist who had just returned to my hometown, that there wouldn’t be much interest. But it was packed. And people from all around, like Weyburn, were talking about the Macoun store. That’s people coming together with a common vision. Mr. Poilievre has people muzzled in Ottawa, just saying what he says. My question is: is that really a voice for the Southeast? Do we need another blue voice in Ottawa, just parroting what Poilievre says? I wouldn’t be that voice. I would speak from my heart for the people, my descendants, my grandchildren, and my treaty relatives. Working together is our only way forward. And I’m excited to be part of that."
How would you address rural crime rates?
"When we know our neighbours, and our neighbours introduce us to the next neighbors over, pretty soon you’ve got a community that knows each other. And then there's overlap. That happens across communities, and pretty soon we know what's going on."
"That's the answer for rural crime — we just watch out for each other, but not in an ugly way. It's in a neighbourly way. If a kid is getting into trouble, or even if it's a 30-year-old who's running around on some scheme, that person is a bit lost, right? We kind of care about that person because they're doing something that isn't helpful for our community. And like my Indigenous treaty relatives, the grandmothers deal with those people, right? If there's a problem in the community, the grandmothers take that young one aside. You don’t want to mess with your grandma, right? But that’s such a beautiful way of thinking about it. We say crime, and we think, ‘Well, it's those people over there,’ no matter what town we’re from."
"It's just being in relationship, respecting our systems, and doing things in a good way. It's about taking care of each other. And again, that's not the easy way. The easy way is just pointing fingers and blaming, and then forgetting. But that doesn’t solve anything; it causes more problems. I’m into ways of doing things that bring us together as good humans."
What other issues specific to the riding would you like to see addressed?
"This is my first time running, so I’m listening to people, and I think they’re excited that I’m excited. Because usually, we think of politics as a dirty word, and it's not polite to talk about it. But I’m having a blast talking with people because, all of a sudden, I have a reason to talk to that guy who's hosing down his truck. We had a really good talk, and I listened to what he was saying because he wasn’t planning on voting for me. But I heard his ideas, and he had a bunch of solutions that I thought sounded like the way we think in the NDP party. It was just being human together."
"People here are happy when they hear courage. And it’s not just me — this is something happening across the country. There’s a time of change, and while people are sometimes scared of change, I get giddy because it means something is happening. The status quo isn’t good enough for us. We're Saskatchewan people. We care about our neighbor. If our neighbor is suffering, that’s not good enough for me just because I’m not. I believe that. So, I think in this election, digging into my own sacred teachings, we’re grounded in a path that’s human and economic — good economics. We have everything we need right in front of us. We’re always looking for solutions elsewhere, but the people of Saskatchewan — like Medicare — that’s spread across Canada now because of brave rural leadership."
"I think the people here would like us to come together more often in a non-partisan way, in a neighbor-to-neighbor, brother-to-brother, sister-to-sister way. And then, we do those community things, like the street dances. That’s actually political. Politics just means the people, the people coming together. Taking that same spirit and solving the things we’re concerned about, we can do it together. We’re a very rich province, but how do we do this in a way that cares for our climate? And climate doesn’t just mean the land; it means the people. Climate care is a way of thinking, as though our land is living. We need to listen to the way our Indigenous brothers and sisters talk about the land, as a relative too. So, think of all our climates, all our circles. How are we caring for those in good, positive, loving, and hard decision-making ways? I think this is the season for that kind of leadership. And if we can just be, you know, the ‘elbows up’ stuff, I think we can do some things. Given the threat, it can be a positive thing."
How would you work with the provincial and municipal levels of government?
"When you put a group together, and everyone has different strengths, things can happen. I’m thinking about Reeves and Mayors, farmers and ranchers, treaty relative to treaty relative. All our different ways of governing ourselves. When we come together and think about win-win solutions, things can happen because we don’t know exactly what’s happening in the other person’s mind or in their resource package. But when I bring my dream to them, and they bring theirs to me, what if we can add something to that? That’s called synergy."
"I think about it like a project. If we think a little, instead of being territorial, we see how we are actually overlapping — like Venn diagrams. One circle and another circle, and what’s in the middle — that’s where the unity is. It doesn’t mean you’re the same, but it means you have overlapping interests. We use those together to make something good."
"I think that’s our way forward — collaborating, not being territorial. We’re a small population, but we’ve got land, dreamers, and a history that can help us understand what we could be down the road. Any problems we’re in right now, we can also look at and say, ‘We made that mistake or that mistake,’ but let’s not dwell on it. I remember a little phrase: off the problem and onto the solution. Let’s own our stuff, but then figure out how we can step forward together."
How would you like to see the country grow over the next few years?
"These three things I’m passionate about: First, economic hope through rural revitalization. Look at these little towns we have. There are people all over the world who dream about being in places like Hitchcock or Macoun or Gravelbourg. What if there’s something? If we have hope and think economically, we have the space and infrastructure for rural revitalization. Second, reclaiming and reimagining universal healthcare through brave rural leadership. Reclaiming and reimagining won’t happen because people from cities are telling us about emergency rooms and problems. I feel it’s my birthright as someone who grew up in the movement Tommy Douglas started. And if we go back to Indigenous ways of knowing, they were way ahead of us on universal healthcare. I’m connected with those folks, and they have ideas that would benefit everyone, but it will come down to brave rural leadership."
"Third, climate care through truth-led reconciliation. I spoke before about climate care. I mean that all of these climates — land, weather, and our relationships — we can only care for the climate if we’re truthful and making plans for reconciliation. When people hear truth and reconciliation, they think of Indigenous relationships, as they should. But I want us to think of it more as a principle. Let’s back up and look at where that idea comes from: climate care. Take care of land, people, and all our circles, but we have to first be honest about what’s going on. Every family I know is dysfunctional in some way. Why are we so precious about not having any problems? There are things we’ve done, but I’m proud of my family because we address our dysfunctions. So, truth before reconciliation. That’s how we can reconcile with the land and each other. That’s what I’m in it for. I’m in it for the people."