National Executive

The National Executive is the highest authority of the National Union between conventions. It carries out the instructions of the convention. It conducts the affairs of the National Union. With the Constitution as its guide, it shall take all action necessary to carry out the aims and objectives of this
National Union.

The COPE National Executive is composed of:

Annette Toth – National President
Pierrick Choinière-Lapointe – National Secretary-Treasurer
Loïc Breton – Vice President, Region 1
Maryeve Boyer – Vice President, Region 1
Lorrie Vandersluis – Vice President, Region 2
Tanya La Rush – Vice President, Region 2
Stephanie Kerr – Vice President, Region 3
Preston Smoke – Vice President, Region 3
Christy Slusarenko – Vice President, Region 4
Anderson Charles – Vice President, Region 4
Kathia Narcisse – Chair, Canadian Equity Council

Annette toth,
National President

Annette Toth was elected as President of COPE in June 2022 after 4 years as Regional Vice President. She brings with her decades of experience as a labour leader and progressive activist. Annette is in her fourth term as Vice President at MoveUP (Local 378), the largest local in COPE. Annette serves on the board of directors for both the Union Protein Project and the Columbia Institute. She is a member of the Executive Committee at IndustriALL and serves on the Provincial Council for the BCNDP. She is a member of the BCFED Political Action Committee, is the labour co-chair for the United Way campaign at ICBC and serves as a pension plan trustee. Annette resides in Victoria BC and holds a B.A. from the University of Victoria.

Pierrick Choiniere-Lapointe
National Secretary-Treasurer

A lawyer by training and member of the Québec Bar Association, Pierrick Choinière-Lapointe also holds a Master’s degree in international law from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

Specializing in labour law he was hired by SEPB-Québec in 2006 as a union representative. In that role, Pierrick represented and defended workers and their bargaining units before all judicial and administrative tribunals. On top, he has negotiated many collective agreements in both the public and private sectors. He was named deputy director for SEPB-Québec in 2016 and also legal counsel to the National President. In 2019, he was elected National Secretary-Treasurer and became Executive Director of SEPB-Québec.

Loïc Breton,
Vice President, Region 1

Introduction to the Union started for Loïc Breton when he joined Tele-Direct (now Yellow Pages) in 1990 and went straight on an eight and a half months strike! A few months after returning to work he became a floor rep, later on he was elected secretary-treasurer and finally became president of the bargaining unit in 1996. He took part in the renewal of five collective agreements.

Right from the beginning, Loïc got involved in the larger union that was SEPB-57, and afterwards SEPB-Québec, as a volunteer union organizer, trainer and local representative for the labour-sponsored fund Fonds de solidarité FTQ. In 2003, following the advent of SEPB-Québec, he becomes president of composite local 574, which is made up of over 2400 members spread across sixty or so bargaining units. A member of the SEPB-Québec executive board, he is the elected official in charge of the organization social and political action committee and he sits on various standing committees at the Québec labour federation (FTQ).

Loïc was named interim president of SEPB-Québec when Chantal Dumoulin announced her retirement in November 2016. He was officially elected president during the Conseil Québécois in March 2017.

Maryève Boyer,
Vice President, Region 1

In 2011, after living through a 10-week long lockout and strike at the Commission de la Construction du Québec, Maryève’s colleagues encouraged her to get involved in her Local and to become a SEPB-573 delegate. Elected in 2013, she began her activism through the Women’s Living and Working Conditions Committee of SEPB-Québec (CCVTF), but mostly through the SEPB-Québec Youth Network. She is also involved in the social delegates network of the FTQ and has taken several training courses related to this support service set up by the federation.

Interim member of her Local’s executive board in 2015, Maryève was elected vice-president in 2018. She was elected secretary-treasurer of SEPB-573 at the triennial convention in October 2021. At the SEPB-Québec convention in November 2021, she was elected to the seat reserved for women and now sits on the executive board of the Council. In addition, she acts as the political representative of the CCVTF. Maryève Boyer has been elected to one of the three (3) positions of Vice President representing Women on the QFL Executive Board at their Convention in January 2023.

As a woman, as a person from Reunion Island who has chosen to live in Québec and as a racialized person, Maryève fights for the rights, justice, equality and fairness for all.

Lorrie Vandersluis,
Vice President, Region 2

Lorrie’s labour career began in the workplace at London Health Sciences Centre, where she first became involved in the Job Rating Committee, then the Bargaining Committee, then the Grievance and Labour Management Committee, then the Pay Equity Committee and then several others. She was hooked! During this time Lorrie acquired extensive labour education, including the Labour Studies Program at McMaster University. She work in Palliative Care and have been a labour leader at the hospital for several years. Her parallel passion is political action. Lorrie have been heavily involved in political action municipally, provincially and federally. She is active with the Ontario and London Health Coalition. Without a doubt the highlight of her political action was her participation in Occupy, over 10 years ago now.

Lorrie is currently the elected President of Region 2, COPE Ontario.

tanya la rush,
Vice President, Region 2

As a member of COPE/SEPB (and formerly OPEIU) for over 29 years, Tanya has held many roles within our union from bargaining unit steward to current roles as Vice President of Region 2, Local 343 and COPE Ontario. She’s been an active and involved participant on the Canadian Equity Council (CEC) for the past few years and enjoyed the collaboration and great work its achieved for our members as seen in the last Convention. In addition to her activism and union involvement she’s a proud mother of two women who share her advocacy for many social justice issues.

Stephanie Kerr
Vice President, Region 3

Stephanie Kerr was elected in 2021 to a 3-year term as President of COPE local 397. She was first elected on December 2018 as 2nd Vice-President after serving a one year term as Recording Secretary and a brief term on Prairie Council. Stephanie has been a committed and dedicated member. Stephanie has been a COPE 397 activist for 8 years, first beginning her leadership career in healthcare and further moving into a career with Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI).

Stephanie lists her parents and grandparents, as the greatest inspirations in her life.
Growing up in a small community on the farm, she was shaped by the stories of the hardships endured by the people of Saskatchewan to build the Crown
Corporations that the people of the province have become to rely upon.

As President of COPE Local 397, Stephanie represents a diverse group of public employees in AB, SK and MB. The Local represents over 1,700 members with hundreds of occupational titles.

preston smoke
Vice President, Region 3

Preston Smoke (He/Him/His) is a gay, Anishinaabe (Saulteaux) from Fishing Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan, located on Treaty 4 territory. He was first elected as region 3 Vice President in June 2022. In 2016, he and 3 other people started the Pride Committee at his place of work, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) and has been involved since its inception. Since 2019, he has served as a trustee for his reserve and is developing other projects for them. He is on the chair for the equity committee for COPE local 397. Additionally, he is also on the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) Indigenous committee and on the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Indigenous Rights Working Group and Solidarity and Pride Working Group. Preston has always known how important unions are and has been hooked ever since becoming involved. Being indigenous and Gay, the values of the union align with his, to be fair, equitable and to look out for their members. He resides in Regina, Saskatchewan and received his Chartered Insurance Professional Designation (CIP) in 2017.

Christy Slusarenko,
Vice President, Region 4

Christy was elected to the position of vice-president for Region 4 in June 2022. She has served as the Vice-President of Combined Units for MoveUP (Local 378) since February 2018.

Prior to becoming a full-time officer of the local, Christy was an early childhood educator at the Capilano University Children’s Centre in North Vancouver. She is a dedicated union activist and a champion for numerous causes including worker’s rights, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and for children with special needs.

Anderson Charles,
Vice President, Region 4

Anderson is a worker of colour who was first elected to the MoveUP (Local 378) Executive Board back in 2018 representing members in the Utilities group. He previously served as a Job Steward and Executive Councillor.

In addition to being the region 4 Vice-President for COPE/SEPB, he serves as co-chair of MoveUP’s Human Rights and Multiculturalism committee, sits on various other committees within the local and served as a regional representative on the Canadian Equity Council (CEC) since its inception.

Anderson is a union activist and is dedicated to ensure equity is achieved for seeking groups.

Canadian Equity Council

Valerie Roberts-Francis
chair, canadian equity council (INTERIM)

Bio will be available soon

Region 1

Tamarah Banks
Kinda Hanna
Karl-Michel Cyrius
Kathia Narcisse

Region 2

Rachel Roberts
Michelle Stankevicius
Valerie Francis-Roberts
Donna Carnegie

Region 3

Lindsey Stephenson
Nathan Markwart
Nicole La Riviere

Region 4

Colin Sanderson
Khaleel Jessa
Steve Thind
Melissa Ieraci