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Governor General Mary Simon names union leader a Companion of the Order of Canada
Leo W. Gerard, the Sudbury miner who went on to lead the United Steelworkers union, has received this country’s highest civilian honour – Companion of the Order of Canada.
Governor General Mary Simon, who bestows the Order of Canada, said in a release that Gerard is being recognized “for his vast and influential work in labour advocacy, notably as the seventh International President of the United Steelworkers union.”
Companion of the Order of Canada is the highest of the three levels of the Order of Canada. It is awarded for “outstanding achievement and merit of the highest degree, especially in service to Canada or to humanity at large.”
Along with others appointed today to the Order of Canada, Gerard will be invited by the Governor General to attend an investiture ceremony at a later date to receive his insignia. “I am honoured and overwhelmed to be appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada,” Gerard, 76, who retired in 2019 after serving 18 years as USW international president, said in a statement released on Friday.
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