The Neil Menard Roast

Thanks Brother. You've made a difference!

Thanks Neil
for all

you ve done!

Union and others mark
former officer’s many
decades of service

= The guest of honour enjoyed
many a good laugh as speaker after
speaker took friendly pot shots.

= IWA national first vice
president Harvey Arcand
was one of the speakers.

ii
(Hatton

= National union president Dave Haggard
(above) gave a humourous speech and
creative slide presentation on the life and
times of Brother Neil.

PHOTOS BY JOHN MOUNTAIN

= The union’s Gerry Smith presented
the United Way’s Mervin Van
Steinberg a cheque for $10,000,
donated on behalf of Neil and those
in attendance.

= Above: MC and national secretary-treasurer David Tones introduced Brother Menard (with
his trademark cowboy hat) and his wife Olga to the audience, which they thanked for
attending and donating money to a worthy cause.

Neil Menard roasted in honour for United Way

He couldn’t ride off into the sunset without his
union Brothers and Sister and colleagues taking
some good humoured pokes at him. On February 7
over 200 people got together in Burnaby, B.C. to

roast the newly-retired Neil Menard.

Brother Menard, a union member for over 44
years, and the longest-standing regional and then
national officer of the IWA, retired in December of
2002, witnessed a barrage of stories, one-liners and
genuine affection as a testimony to his decades of serv-

ice to the union movement and community.

Included in the friendly assault on Neil were
national IWA president Dave Haggard, first vice
president Harvey Arcand, longtime colleague and
fellow EFAP pioneer Jim Stimson, former Canadian
Navy colleague Mike Mitchell, former Local 1-184
president and fellow Saskatchewan native Dennis
Bonville, Marie DeCaire of the Hotel Workers Local
40, and Gordie Larkin of the Canadian Labour
Congress. The event was MC’d by the IWA national
secretary-treasurer David Tones assisted by the
national office’s Ron Corbeil and Gerry Smith.

Brother Haggard says the evening was another
opportunity to thank Neil for so many years of dedi-
cation to IWA members all over the country.

At the end of the evening, Brother Smith present-
ed a cheque to the United Way of the Lower
Mainland’s Mervin Van Steinberg for $10,000 on
behalf of Neil and those in attendance.

Brother Neil, accompanied by his wife and chil-
dren, says it was “a fantastic evening to be there with
family and so many friends — and the connection to
the United Way made it all the more worthwhile.”

20 [ THE ALLIED WORKER APRIL 2003