Our Mandate

The New Brunswick Advocate ensures that the rights of children, youth, vulnerable, and older adults are understood, protected, and promoted. We are independent of any department of the New Brunswick Government and operate under the guidance of the Child, Youth, and Senior Advocate Act.

About Us

The Office of the New Brunswick Advocate is dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of children, youth, vulnerable adults, and older adults. We operate independently to ensure that those we serve have a strong voice in decisions that affect their lives.

How We Help

Meet the Advocate

ADVOCATE

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Our Team

Led by the Advocate, our team includes specialists in public affairs, legal affairs, investigations, government relations, community outreach, and individual case advocacy. With dedicated professionals in research, policy, and communications, we work to advance systemic change while providing direct support to individuals.

Our work is centered around three key roles:

Individual Case Advocacy: Our team of X Individual Case Specialists provides direct advocacy and support to individuals, ensuring their rights and needs are recognized and addressed.

Systemic Reports and Reviews: Through research, reviews, and public reporting, we analyze systemic issues and make recommendations to improve laws, policies, and services.

Education and Outreach: We engage with communities, service providers, and government partners to promote awareness of rights and best practices in advocacy.

Gavin Kotze

Deputy Advocate, Legal Affairs and Advocacy Services

Legal Affairs

Sarah Wagner

Deputy Advocate, Public Affairs

Public Relations

Justine Estey

Director of Communications and Policy Advocacy

Public Relations

Amélie Brutinel

Director of Community Outreach

Public Relations

We develop recommendations based on individual case investigations and systemic reports. These recommendations aim to address complaints about service delivery and promote the rights and interests of the people we support.

In April 2022, the Advocate launched a recommendation monitoring process to help influence government decisions. This process allows us to track how authorities respond to our recommendations and ensures we have the data needed to report to the Legislative Assembly.

Quick Resolution

Many requests can be resolved by providing information, support, and guidance to empower individuals to self-advocate, or other short-term interventions to address issues and barriers.

Complex Advocacy

Complex advocacy cases arise when issues span multiple systems or resources are lacking, requiring government follow-ups, policy reviews, mediation, case conferences, or formal recommendations.

Sometimes when people call us for support, it's because they don’t know how to address a problem they are facing. They may not know their options, who to talk to, or what steps to take.

Individual Advocacy at our office falls into two categories.

If we notice trends in the advocacy cases we are receiving, we may open a Systemic Advocacy Case and conduct a Systemic Review.

The goal of a Systemic Review is to make recommendations aimed at broad change in policy, practice, and legislation.

Recommendations can be made to various authorities (such as Departments of Government, Regional Health Authorities, District Education Councils, long-term care facilities).

Read our Systemic Reviews

5

Advocating for Rights

1

Protecting Rights

2

Amplifying Voices

4

Advising Authorities

3

Ensuring Service Access

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Read the Act

Get a better understanding on the full scope of the Office of the New Brunswick Advocate.

Read Online

Download PDF

Our Mandate

About Us

The Office of the New Brunswick Advocate is dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of children, youth, vulnerable adults, and older adults. We operate independently to ensure that those we serve have a strong voice in decisions that affect their lives.

How We Help

Meet the Advocate