Director, District 6
Ontario and Atlantic Canada
Kevon Stewart began as the District 6 Director in October 2024, representing more than 80,000 USW members across Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada.
Stewart was born in St. Thomas, Jamaica, and moved to Canada with his family when he was 7. He graduated from York University in Toronto after studying kinesiology and geography, intending to teach and open a community centre.
Instead, he took a job as a machine operator at Samuel Strapping, a steel plant in Scarborough, Ontario and joined USW Local 3.
Stewart’s participation in a USW education course sparked decades of union activism. Because of his interest in health and safety, he began training other workers on proper use of overhead cranes and forklifts. That experience led him to serve on his local’s grievance committee, as a steward and as his unit’s elected vice chair.
The union noticed Stewart’s leadership skills, and in 2004, then-District 6 Director Wayne Fraser began mentoring him for the role of Staff Representative. Stewart serviced local unions in Toronto, the Durham Region and Eastern Ontario, where members worked in sectors such as steel, manufacturing, nuclear energy, service and health care.
In 2019, Stewart accepted the position of District 6 Co-ordinator, overseeing District committees while supporting arbitration cases and bargaining committees. Three years later, he took on additional responsibilities as Assistant to the Director of District 6, becoming the first Black rank-and-file member to hold a USW district leadership role in Canada.
As Assistant to the Director, Stewart collaborated with staff on servicing USW members, oversaw District programs and worked with the union’s allies and USW employers. He also participated in the union’s international initiatives to build global worker solidarity and began serving on the Canadian Nuclear Workers Council—a body promoting nuclear literacy and the safe use of nuclear energy—on behalf of USW members in that industry.
Through his union activism, Stewart made the connection between workers’ rights and politics. He currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the Ontario wing of the New Democratic Party (NDP) – Canada’s only labour party co-founded by Steelworkers.