The mission of the Union of Health and Environment Workers (UHEW) is to serve our members. UHEW fosters a culture that sets the highest standard of integrity, professionalism and ethical behavior.
UHEW promotes standards among its representatives and employees which provides members information about what they can anticipate from the services UHEW provides.
Service Standards
Shimen Fayad
National President
Shimen Fayad
×National President
Shimen has always been a workplace activist for the fair treatment of all employees. Shimen started as a contract worker for the federal government in 1994. When she realized that contract workers were treated unfairly and against Revenue Canada determination of an employer/employee relationship, she filed a complaint against the employer and in 1996, contract employees were made indeterminate public service employees. A few years later, she led a classification grievance which ended with her and her co-workers being reclassified from a CR-03 to a CR-04. In 2002, Shimen started on the local executive as the Treasurer of her Local. Later, she served as both Local Vice-President and President. From 2008 through 2011, she was an alternate Regional Vice-President and moved up to Regional Vice-President in 2011. In 2014 she was elected as National Vice-President, re-elected in 2017 as NVP and in February 2020 she assumed the role of National President of the Union of Health and Environment Workers following the resignation of the former National President.
In 2021 Shimen became the first woman elected as the National President of the Union of Health and Environment Workers. In this role she is the chief spokesperson for the UHEW and represents the Union on the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Board of Directors. She also presides over meetings of the UHEW National Council and all sessions of the UHEW National Convention. She interprets the By-Laws of UHEW and is responsible for the overall management of staff and finances of the Union.
Shimen is a strong advocate for trade union principles and for social justice and equality in the workplace and throughout society. She has been and continues to be a mentor and supporter of union women at the local and national levels and she works every day to creating a safe and healthy workplace for all members of the Union of Health and Environment Workers. Shimen believes in fairness and honesty and transparency and is committed to ensuring that she and the Union are open and accountable to the membership.
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.
Benoît Thibault
Regional Vice-President, Quebec
Benoît Thibault
×Regional Vice-President, Quebec
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.
Karla Levangie-Connor
HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President
Karla Levangie-Connor
×HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President
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.
Robert Chafe
DFO, ECCC, Regional Vice-President
Robert Chafe
×DFO, ECCC, Regional Vice-President
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.
Todd Davies
DFO, ECCC, CFS, NRCan (CFS only), Regional Vice-President
Todd Davies
×DFO, ECCC, CFS, NRCan (CFS only), Regional Vice-President
Todd Davies has been active member of the Union since 2001. He was elected as a Shop Steward for his Local in 2014. In 2016 he was elected as Local President and in 2017 assumed the office of Alternate Regional Vice-President for NS, PE and NB. In 2020 he became the Regional Vice-President. Todd has a long history of community involvement with the NB Crime Stoppers and the New Brunswick Peace Officer Memorial. For the last five years he has been a strong advocate for members facing the impact of the Phoenix Pay fiasco.
Diane De Berardinis
HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President
Quebec • Rubin Kooner
DFO, ECCC, NRCan (CFS only), CEAA, Regional Vice-President
Rubin Kooner
×DFO, ECCC, NRCan (CFS only), CEAA, Regional Vice-President
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
HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President
Diane Girouard
×HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President
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.
Janine Etherington
DFO, ECCC, NRCan (CFS only), Regional Vice-President, NCR
Janine Etherington
×DFO, ECCC, NRCan (CFS only), Regional Vice-President, NCR
Regional Vice-President, NCR
Kevin Lundstrom
HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), some Six Nations, Regional Vice-President
Kevin Lundstrom
×HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), some Six Nations, Regional Vice-President
Kevin Lundstrom has been a union activist and leader since 1992. He has been President of two different Locals, President of the PSAC Area Council and has served multiple terms as Region 1 Representative on the PSAC Ontario Regional Council. He has been a member of the PSAC TC National Collective Bargaining team and has held Local Health and Safety Representative positions for years. He has also been involved with two different District Labour Councils and been an Executive member of one of them. He is currently A/President of a PSAC Members with Disabilities Committee, is an Alliance Facilitator, and a PSAC Area Council Delegate. He has been on the UHEW National Council for the last four years as Ontario Regional Vice-President.
Darlene Lewis
HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President, BC and Alberta
Darlene Lewis
×HC, PHAC, ISC (FNIHB only), Regional Vice-President, BC and Alberta
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
DFO, ECCC, NRCan (CFS only)
Richard May
×DFO, ECCC, NRCan (CFS only)
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.
