The Union of Health and Environment Workers’ National Council consists of a full-time National President, a National Vice-President (one full-time), and fifteen Regional Vice-Presidents from the following regions: Atlantic, Newfoundland/Labrador, Scotia-Fundy, New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island, Quebec, National Capital Region, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prairie/Northern, Alberta/B.C./Yukon and British-Columbia/Yukon. This structure was decided upon following the merger between Union of Environment Workers and National Health Union.
The National Council meets twice a year for two or three-day business meetings. At these meetings, new policies are developed, the Policies and Regulations endorsed at Convention and/or at National Council meetings are followed and the operations of the organization are monitored.
UHEW National Council Committees
Rae McCleave
National President
Marc Blanchard
National Vice-President
Marc Blanchard
×National Vice-President
Marc’s first role within the Union was as a shop steward back in 2008. Since then, he has served as both Local Vice President and Local President, eventually being elected as RVP for Scotia Fundy Region in 2017. Marc has been a strong advocate for many issues within the Component including Harassment and Workplace Violence, Staffing, and Health and Safety at both the Regional and National levels. He has also been active in the PSAC and the broader labour movement having served as Area Council President, a member of the TC Bargaining team and also a PSAC representative on the Executive of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour. He continues to be a strong advocate for environmental issues in his region and sits on the UHEW Environment Committee as well as the UHEW Health and Safety Committee and the UHEW Bylaws, Regulations and Policies Committee.
Robert Chafe
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Newfoundland and Labrador (ENV)
Robert Chafe
×Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Newfoundland and Labrador (ENV)
Robert Chafe has been involved in the Union since 2006 when he became a Shop Steward in his Local. This was followed by two years as Chief Shop Steward and then Local Vice-President and President of his Local. He has been a strong advocate for Health and Safety at the local and regional levels and has co-chaired the departmental Labour Management Consultation committee for many years. He is active in the Respectful Workplace Committee and in working with management to ensure that members receive the necessary Covid protection and PPE. He has also been active in the PSAC Area Council in his region and has been UHEW Regional Vice-President for Newfoundland and Labrador since 2017.
Tyler Augustine
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - New Brunswick / Prince Edward Island (ENV)
Lynn Collier
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Scotia-Fundy (ENV)
Sarah Oakley
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Atlantic (H/S)
Diane De Berardinis
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Quebec (H/S)
Aline Vignola
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Quebec (ENV)
Rubin Kooner
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - National Capital Region (ENV)
Rubin Kooner
×Regional Vice-President (RVP) - National Capital Region (ENV)
Rubin became involved with the Union in 2013 after being part of the WFA process and wanting to ensure fellow members did not have the same experiences. She started as Local Chief Steward and 2 years later moved into the role of Local President. Since 2017 she has served as Regional Vice-President for the NCR Region. Throughout her union career, Rubin has been involved as an advocate in many of the challenges facing UHEW members. Her accomplishments include representing members nationally in Job Descriptions, Classification, Contracting Out, Health & Safety and many other issues. She is active in the Union at the Local, Component and PSAC levels. Rubin also serves as a member of the UHEW National By-Laws Committee.
Diane Girouard
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - National Capital Region (H/S)
Diane Girouard
×Regional Vice-President (RVP) - National Capital Region (H/S)
Diane has been a union activist since the early 2000s through many rounds of negotiations and picket line activities. In 2014 she took a formal leadership role as a Shop Steward, then becoming Co-Chair of the PSAC Education Committee, a member of the Health & Safety Committee and the Ottawa Regional Women’s Committee. She also worked with the PSAC NCR Office, assisting in the development of training material. That prompted her to become a Joint Learning Program facilitator, mostly focusing on delivering Mental Health in the Workplace workshops. Over the years she has successfully completed dozens of courses to improve her skills as a union representative. In 2017 she was elected as Local Secretary and Alternate Regional Vice-President for the Component. In 2018 Diane became the Regional Vice-President for over 3000 members. Diane is the PSAC NCR Treasurer and was elected as the first alternate of the PSAC Bargaining Team’s PA Group. She continues to be a strong advocate for Young Professionals, Occupational Health and Safety, DOHS Policy and Mental Health in the Workplace. She created a “Safe Person Program” at her workplace to help members and management resolve very sensitive issues.
Tracey Hanke
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Ontario (H/S)
Janine Etherington
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Ontario (ENV)
Dana-Lee Armstrong
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Manitoba (H/S)
Lorrie Bucknell
Regional vice-president (RVP) - Saskatchewan (H/S)
Jeremy Stewart
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Prairies / North (ENV)
Darlene Lewis
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Alberta and British Columbia (H/S)
Darlene Lewis
×Regional Vice-President (RVP) - Alberta and British Columbia (H/S)
Darlene Lewis has been involved with the Union since 2002 when she was elected as Vice-President of her Local and went on serve in other Local roles as Treasurer, President, and Chief Shop Steward. She has been active with the PSAC Prairie Region and has sat on their Council. She is currently Chair of the PSAC Edmonton Area Council, the political arm of the union and has been working on engaging and mobilizing members to support PSAC campaigns. In August 2017 she was elected as the Regional Vice-President for Alberta, BC and Yukon.
Richard May
Regional Vice-President (RVP) - British Columbia and Yukon (ENV)
Richard May
×Regional Vice-President (RVP) - British Columbia and Yukon (ENV)
Richard May has been involved in unions since he started working in the forestry industry in 1995. He is a former Shop Steward with the International Woodworkers of America and he joined the Executive of his Local as soon as he began his career in the federal public service in 2004. He ahs been actively involved in the Union ever since and has worked tirelessly to help improve the lives of his fellow employees. He has served as the PSAC North Vancouver Island Area Council President from 2016-2020 and been involved with the Nanaimo Duncan District Labour council for that same period. He is a member of the PSAC BC regional mobilization team and works with multiple Departmental Union Management consultation committees and Health and Safety committees. He has been UHEW RVP BC/Yukon since 2016.
Peter Butler
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Newfoundland and Labrador (ENV)
Jennifer Grondin
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - New Brunswick / Prince Edward Island (ENV)
Jennifer Grondin
×Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - New Brunswick / Prince Edward Island (ENV)
Zachary Branscombe
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Scotia-Fundy (ENV)
Karla Levangie-Connor
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Atlantic (H/S)
Karla Levangie-Connor
×Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Atlantic (H/S)
Karla has been a strong union supporter and activist for many years. She was first elected to her Local as Vice-President in 2007 and in 2009 she became President of her Local in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2014 she was elected as a Component Regional Vice-President and was subsequently elected a Regional Vice-President for UHEW in 2017. Karla has been involved in many UHEW committees and has been active in training at the PSAC and Component levels. She was part of the Committee that developed the first-ever RVP handbook for the Union of Health and Environment Workers.
Henri Wanda Njeutcha
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Québec (H/S)
Benoît Thibault
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Quebec (ENV)
Benoît Thibault
×Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Quebec (ENV)
Benoît has been involved with the Union since 2004 when he became a Shop Steward for Local 10052. A year later, he was elected Local President, position he kept until he was elected Quebec’s UHEW RVP in August 2017. Benoit was also the President for the Eastern Quebec Area Council, from 2012 to 2017. In March 2020, Benoît took on another challenge as he was elected National Vice President for the UHEW. His responsibilities at the national level include supervising the staff of the UHEW National Office, Chair of the Finance Committee, UHEW Lead for NJOHSP, and other National issues as directed by the National President. In addition to his UHEW files, Benoît has been involved with the Joint Learning Program (JLP) for the last 5 years, with more than 30 workshops to his credit and a dozen of the new JLP discussion series.
Jeannine Laing
Alternate Regional Vice-President (A/RVP) - National Capital Region (ENV)
Andrea Kelly-Legault
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - National Capital Region (H/S)
Tim Eddis
Alternate Regional Vice-President (A/RVP) - Ontario (H/S)
Francesco Lai
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Ontario (ENV)
Alyssa Ash
Alternate Regional Vice-President (A/RVP) - Manitoba (H/S)
Kelsey Churchill
Alternate Regional Vice President (A/RVP) - Saskatchewan (H/S)
William Staples
Alternate Regional Vice-President (A/RVP) - Prairies / North (ENV)
Eamon Miyagi
Alternate Regional Vice-President (A/RVP) - British Columbia and Yukon (ENV)
