Union and political leaders, friends and allies to pay tribute to labour giant Leo W. Gerard
TORONTO, March 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Union and political leaders and friends and allies from Canada and abroad will gather in Toronto on March 12 for a memorial tribute to Leo W. Gerard, the late International President of the United Steelworkers union (USW), Companion of the Order of Canada and giant of the international labour movement.
The memorial will be held Thursday, March 12, from 2 to 5 p.m., in the Sutton Hall of the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel, 950 Dixon Rd.
News media are invited to attend the memorial in person, or to follow the event online, via livestream, at: https://usw.ca/leo.
Speakers at the event will include:
- Roxanne D. Brown, installed as USW International President on March 1, becoming the first woman and first Black person to lead North America’s largest industrial union
- Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada
- David McCall, USW International President Emeritus
- Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the largest American labour federation
- Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, General Secretary of Mexico’s Los Mineros union
- Ken Neumann, former USW National Director for Canada
- Ray Hammond, President, USW Local 6500
- Carole Landry, former USW International Vice-President
- Alan Kestenbaum, CEO and founder, Bedrock Industries
- Raymond Gerard, brother of Leo W. Gerard
- Jamie West, NDP MPP, Sudbury
Leo Gerard was the USW’s longest-serving International President, leading the union for 18 years before retiring in 2019. His career of more than five decades as a labour and social justice activist began in his hometown of Sudbury, Ont., where he took a job with mining giant Inco Ltd.
Leading North America’s largest industrial union, with 1.2 million members at its height, Gerard had a profound impact on workplace health and safety, gender equality, labour rights, decent pay, pensions, global solidarity, fair trade and social justice. He built the union’s bargaining and political power in Canada and the U.S., while forging strategic alliances with unions and labour federations around the world to combat the forces of globalization.
Gerard’s remarkable legacy was recognized in 2023 when he was awarded his country’s highest civilian honour – Companion of the Order of Canada. The highest of the three levels of the Order of Canada, it is bestowed for “outstanding achievement and merit of the highest degree, especially in service to Canada or to humanity at large.”
Leo Gerard, C.C., died Sept. 21, 2025, at the age of 78.
About the United Steelworkers union
The USW represents 225,000 members in nearly every economic sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
Each year, thousands of workers choose to join the USW because of the union’s strong track record in creating healthier, safer and more respectful workplaces and negotiating better working conditions and fairer compensation – including good wages, benefits and pensions.
Contacts:
Denis St. Pierre, USW Communications, 647-522-1630, dstpierre@usw.ca
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