Distinguished Service Award
Is intended to recognize any present or recent CASSA member who has demonstrated outstanding ability and leadership. The executive will consider the suitability of candidates based on the responses to the items contained in the Nomination Form. Nominations will be received between October 1st and May 16th for awards to be presented at the Annual Leadership Conference in July each year.
Download the Nomination Form from the Awards Application Forms page.
Distinguished Service Award: 2025
Dr. Souhail Soujah CASSA Distinguished Service Award Recipient
SOUHAIL SOUJAH
Northwest Territories Superintendents Association
Dr. Souhail Soujah is the superintendent of education for the South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC), based in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He has been in this role since 2022.
Dr. Soujah’s previous roles in education leadership include superintendent of education for Yukon Education, based in Whitehorse; assistant deputy minister with the Yukon Department of Education; and school principal in various communities in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Yukon.
He began his career in public education as an educational assistant in British Columbia. He is known for his commitment to equity, inclusion, Indigenous language revitalization, and student well-being. His work in these areas have made a lasting impact across the Northwest Territories and beyond.
Among his accomplishments as a system leader, Dr. Soujah is noted for his advocacy for Indigenous and Northern education through programming and initiatives targeting literacy, numeracy, and social responsibility. He is a champion of the ConnectedNorth network, partnering with TakingitGlobal to provide genuine and relevant educational content for remote communities across the North.
Dr. Soujah also developed and implemented a regional strategy for mental health advocacy and support for students, staff, and school communities. He has empowered, mentored, and promoted grassroots administrative leadership from within community.
He has developed and implemented administrative mechanisms, protocols, and policies to support efficiency, effectiveness, and fiscal responsibility. This has included leading the way to adopt software, AI-powered entities, and cross-platform technologies to better support school communities.
To support well-researched and strong decision-making at the local level, Dr. Soujah has promoted the use of analytical tools and data collection. He has shared his learnings and expertise through a number of publications and presentations over the last two decades, including in the Leaders & Learners magazine and at CASSA’s national conference.
Dr. Soujah has been a member of CASSA for five years. He is the recipient of both the 2025 NWT Superintendents’ Association
Distinguished Service Award and the 2025 CASSA-ACGCS Distinguished Service Award.
[A longer profile on Dr. Soujah appeared in the January 2025 issue of Leaders & Learners.]