Presenters

  • Don_Barnaby.jpgDon Barnaby is a First Nation Mi’gmaq originally from Listuguj, Quebec who now resides in Kahnawake with his wife Candia, a school teacher at Kahnawake Survival School.

    Together they own a custom Indigenous clothing and design company called Healingstitches.

    Don also works with various Indigenous agencies in the Montreal area facilitating traditional healing  talking circles for those dealing with trauma and addictions.

    He has walked the Red Road to Recovery for over 25 years.

    Together they have 3 children and 2 grandchildren.



  • Elected as Unifor National President in 2022, Lana Payne brings the skills and experience gained from her work as Unifor’s former Atlantic Regional Director, first woman National Secretary-Treasurer, her time as President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour, and her history as a veteran print journalist.

    A proud feminist and activist, she found her home in the labour movement in 1991 with FFAW/CAW.

    A former journalist, she wrote a newspaper column for more than 20 years and was named one of Canada’s 23 Bold Women of Vision.

    As the first woman to be elected National President, it is no exaggeration to say that Lana is changing the world.

    Named the 4th most powerful person in Canadian Business in Maclean’s 2024 Power List, the magazine cited her willingness to play hardball against mammoth companies and noted that she is not one to take no for an answer.

    Maclean’s also acknowledged her work to build a culture of transparency and collaboration, as well as recent major bargaining wins, including negotiations that set a new wage standard for grocery workers and delivered the most significant pay increases in Canadian auto bargaining history with the Detroit Three. 

    She was named Automotive News All Star in 2023 and has twice been named among Toronto Life’s 50 most influential Torontonians, which recognizes people whose courage, smarts and clout are changing the world as we know it.

    In honour of her fight for workplace rights and broader political change, Lana received  Chatelaine’s 2023 Doris Anderson Award, which celebrates Canadians Who Made the World a Better Place.

    She has challenged the Bank of Canada governor on interest rate hikes, taken on grocery giants on price gouging and better jobs for workers, and continues to call out corporations and governments alike to take action on the affordability crisis.

    Lana led the fight for anti-scab legislation in all jurisdictions across Canada and celebrated a major victory when it passed into federal law in 2024. She continues to take CEOs and politicians to task and speak truth to power in her fight to improve working conditions and a better world for all Canadians and working people.

    To request an interview with Lana Payne, contact Kathleen O'Keefe. Media outlets can download Payne's high-res photo here.

  • Daniel_Clouthier_Final-1.jpg

    Daniel Cloutier was elected as Unifor Québec Director in April 2022. Cloutier first got involved with the union in 1989, during a labour dispute at Purolator that lasted four months. Upon returning to work, he was elected as a steward for Local 146 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), one of the founding unions of Unifor.

    He served in various capacities, including as local president before being hired as a CEP service representative in 1997. Covering a broad range of sectors provided him the opportunity to work in several regions of Québec as well as in the rest of Canada.

    Cloutier has led numerous negotiations, including several at the national level, resolved strikes and arbitrations, and worked in the Health and Safety department. He also served as president of the Canadian National Representatives Union.

    Following the creation of Unifor in 2013, Daniel joined the Health and Safety Department, where he worked to make the Service de défense des accidentées et des accidentés du travail (SDAT) an effective tool for defending local unions and their members.

    To request an interview with Daniel Cloutier, contact Véronique Figliuzzi. Media outlets can download Cloutier's high-res photo here.

  • magali-picard1.jpgMagali Picard was elected president of the FTQ at its 33rd Convention in January 2023. She previously served as Vice-President of the FTQ and of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, National Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), as well as President of the Quebec Council.

    Ms. Picard is a proud member of the Wendat Nation and a long-time advocate for Indigenous and women's rights. Throughout her career, she has fought for greater social justice for workers so that everyone may live in dignity. She began her career as a union activist in 1999 with the PSAC-affiliated Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees (UVAE), where she was president of Local 10042. Thanks to her outstanding skills and enthusiasm, she quickly climbed the ranks of the PSAC, an FTQ affiliate.

    Magali Picard is currently First Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors and a member of the Executive Committee of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

    She also sits on the Canadian Council and the Executive Committee of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and on the General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

    In addition, Ms. Picard is a member of the Comité consultatif du travail et de la main-d'œuvre (CCTM) and sits on the Board of Directors of the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST).

  • Len_Poirier_Portrait-1.jpg

    Elected National Secretary-Treasurer at Unifor’s Constitutional Convention in 2022, Len Poirier formerly served as Assistant to the National President, Director of Road Transportation and long-time national service representative.

    Poirier first became a professional truck driver at Laidlaw Transport (Laidlaw Waste Systems) in 1986. Elected unit chairperson in 1988.

    Poirier has served as Unifor’s Road/Urban Transport delegate to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and has sat on the road section steering committee for many years. He is currently the Chairperson for Canada.

    From 1986 to 1994, he was a member of CBRT & GW, co-founding the Road Transport Council is recognized as one of Unifor’s industry councils.

    Poirier had been one of the longest serving Board of Directors under the Transport Health and Safety Association of Ontario (THSAO), and with the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association of Ontario (IHSA).

    In these roles, he has worked tirelessly to support the needs of the road transportation members of our union and the broader public as well.

    Since 2008, Len has been involved or co-led national bargaining for Loomis Express and DHL with local unions from every province.

    To request an interview with Len Poirier, contact Kathleen O'Keefe. Media outlets can download Poirier's high-res photo here.

  • Jennifer_Murray_Final-1.jpg

    Elected Atlantic Regional Director at the 2022 Unifor Constitutional Convention in Toronto, Jennifer Murray has led initiatives in the region to support mental health, to house the unhoused, and to improve the lives of Atlantic Canadian workers.

    Jennifer’s boots-on-the-ground approach is rooted in her firm belief that big things happen when people work together. Jennifer brings experience to the union from her early years as a teacher to more recent work at VIA Rail and as the elected Regional Representative for Local 4005, where she represented more than 1,000 workers in rail, road and marine transportation, hospitality and administration.

    In early 2024, Jennifer was on the picket line daily with CN Autoport members. She rallied support from Unifor members across the country and met with government officials in Nova Scotia, culminating with the tabling of much-needed provincial anti-scab legislation.

    Under her leadership, recent Atlantic Regional Councils have offered members access to occupational health and safety experts, hands-on training on the use of life-saving anti-overdose medication, and opportunities to take the union’s popular Mental Health Matters course that teaches members how to recognize, represent and support those who are struggling. 

    As Unifor led a national conversation around the need for fair pay for grocery workers, Jennifer was at the bargaining table with members from Dominion stores in Newfoundland and Labrador who secured the largest wage increase they’ve seen in a generation.

    In her role as the Co-Chair of the Women’s Transport Committee at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), Jennifer’s expertise on the issues facing women at work and her knowledge of Unifor’s groundbreaking equity initiatives has bolstered the union’s reputation as a global leader in defending workers’ rights. She uses that same strength at home when confronting New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs for his government’s shameful attacks on trans and gender-diverse students and their families, and for stripping public sector workers of their rights. 

    Jennifer is passionate about building the union through action and education. Seeing workers realize and mobilize their power is a motivating force in her life and something she is proud to witness every day as Atlantic Regional Director.   

    To request an interview with Jennifer Murray, contact Shelley Amyotte. Media outlets can download Murray's high-res photo here.

     

  • Gavin McGarrigle was first elected as Unifor’s Western Regional Director in 2019, and was re-elected to this role as part of Unifor’s leadership team in 2022.  

    While working full-time as a student attending university in Victoria, Gavin helped organize his own workplace into the union more than 25 years ago and he hasn’t stopped since, working as a union organizer, local president, national representative and area director.  

    Over the past few decades, Gavin successfully led union members in many industries through collective bargaining, labour board and arbitration hearings, and organizing campaigns. 

    In 2014, Gavin’s leadership helping container trucker drivers through a Vancouver port work stoppage resulted in the historic withdrawal of back to work legislation and a negotiated resolution involving two levels of government. 

    Gavin’s continued activity to help clean up the BC drayage industry led to the creation of a safe rates system and new container trucking oversight offices which have heavily fined rogue trucking companies and returned millions in lost wages to truckers.  

    Gavin helped launch a global Safe Rates campaign in South Korea in 2023 with the International Transport Federation (ITF), a global federation of more than 690 trade unions across 152 countries. 

    Gavin McGarrigle has also helped lead many effective Unifor political action campaigns, helping to achieve successive progressive worker-friendly governments in several provinces while opposing anti-worker parties and policies in others. 

    These campaigns and McGarrigle’s strong belief in organizing helped with the push to return single-step card check certification in British Columbia and in Manitoba and he has been active in the campaign to help Amazon workers organize leading to Unifor’s first certification applications filed at Amazon in British Columbia in 2024. 

    Gavin has been on the front lines of many picket lines and he took a strong stand to help during the historic lockout at the Co-Op Refinery in Saskatchewan in 2019–2020. McGarrigle has helped lead Unifor’s efforts to secure anti-scab legislation federally and worked to ensure that Manitoba also recently introduced provincial anti-scab legislation. 

    Gavin has contributed to various government panels on behalf of the union including the Translink Mobility Pricing Commission, the BC Tourism Taskforce, the Climate Solutions and Clean Growth Advisory Council and the BC Forestry Worker Supports and Community Resiliency Council.   

    He has advocated for workers before elected premiers, cabinet members, and officials at all levels and has appeared with government at various announcements provincially and federally on economic justice, sustainability, climate change and workers’ rights. 

    Gavin has also served as a pension trustee, as a director with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC Office (CCPA-BC), as labour co-chair of the Better Transit and Transportation Coalition, and as a board member of the official campaign promoting a Yes vote for BC proportional representation. 

    Gavin graduated with distinction from the University of Victoria and holds an undergraduate degree in sociology and professional writing. 

    Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, McGarrigle lives in British Columbia and resides in Metro Vancouver with his wife and two children. 

    To request an interview with Gavin McGarrigle, contact Ian Boyko. Media outlets can download McGarrigle's high-res photo here.

  • kinew.jpgPremier Wab Kinew is the 25th premier of Manitoba. Kinew was first elected as the MLA for Fort Rouge in 2016 and was elected party leader and leader of the official opposition in 2017. He is the son of Dr. Tobasonakwut Kinew and Dr. Kathi Kinew and is from the Onigaming First Nation in northwestern Ontario. Before becoming an MLA, Kinew worked as a broadcaster and as an administrator at the University of Winnipeg. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Manitoba and a master's degree in Indigenous governance. Kinew is an honorary witness of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a bestselling author. He is a caring dad to three boys and a devoted husband to his wife Lisa, who is a doctor.

     

  • Samia_headshot.jpg

    Samia Hashi is Unifor’s Ontario Regional Director, elected at the 2023 Canada Council.

    Since her election, she’s taken a boots-on-the-ground approach to supporting members on picket lines, at rallies and demonstrations, and in their communities.

    Hashi began her tenure with a major health care campaign to raise awareness and take action on Ontario’s crumbling health care system, calling on all levels of government to provide adequate funding for necessary staffing levels and high-quality care. In a series of health care town halls, Samia heard firsthand from communities across the province on the critical issues impacting them and their families.

    Her work now focuses on further supporting committees of our union and mobilizing members around the upcoming election season.

    She brings a deep understanding of union organizing to her work—having rose through the ranks at Unifor as a member, an organizer of her workplace, Bell TV, and thousands of other new members, and as a staff member in Unifor’s organizing and human rights departments.

    As a member of Local 6006, Samia served as steward and represented workers across the province as a member of the Unifor Ontario Regional Council’s Young Workers’ Committee.

    Hashi’s family immigrated to Canada in 1991, arriving as Eritrean refugees. Upon arrival, her family found community support and solidarity in addition to the rights and freedoms that her parents had sought for Hashi and her siblings.

  • Fred_Cattroll_photos_-_September_2015.jpgMr. Phil Fontaine was born at the Sagkeeng First Nation (formerly known as Fort Alexander) in Manitoba, about 150 kilometers north of Winnipeg. His first language is Ojibway.

    In his youth he attended a residential school operated by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Sagkeeng. He also attended the Assiniboia Residential School in Winnipeg and he graduated from Powerview Collegiate in 1961.

    In 1973, Mr. Fontaine was elected Chief of the Sagkeeng First Nation for two consecutive terms. Upon completion of his mandate, he and his family moved to the Yukon, where he was a Regional Director General with the Federal government.

    In 1981 Mr. Fontaine graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. After graduation, he worked for the Southeast Resource Development Council as a Special Advisor, which was followed by his election to the position of Manitoba’s Vice-Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. Mr. Fontaine was one of the Manitoba First Nation leaders instrumental in the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord.

    In 1991, he was elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and served for an unprecedented three consecutive terms. In 1997, he was elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. After one term as National Chief, he was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission. Mr. Fontaine returned to the Assembly of the First Nations as National Chief, for two more terms, in 2003 and held the post until 2009. Among his many accomplishments as the longest serving National Chief, he will be most remembered for successfully negotiating the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which included financial settlements for survivors and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

    Since September 1, 2009, Mr. Fontaine serves as a Special Advisor to the Royal Bank of Canada. His mandate is to "provide advice and counsel to RBC's Canadian businesses to help the company deepen its relationships with Aboriginal governments, communities and businesses in Canada".

    Mr. Fontaine is owner and senior advisor of Ishkonigan Inc., a successful consulting company he founded in 2009 specializing in Aboriginal relations, negotiations, government relations, mediation and advisory services.

    He is a Member of Order of Manitoba and has received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Equitas Human Rights Education Award, the Distinguished Leadership Award from the University of Ottawa, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and most recently was appointed to the Order of Canada. Mr. Fontaine also holds twenty Honorary Doctorates from Canada and the United States.

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