UFCW 401 member Stephannie Leach is awarded the 2025 Carol McGregor CLC Disability Rights Award
Edmonton – December 3, 2025 – UFCW Canada is pleased to congratulate Local 401 member Stephannie Leach on winning the 2025 Carol McGregor CLC Disability Rights Award.
Every year on December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Canadian Labour Congress will recognize a union member for their disability rights activism.
This award is named in honour of Carol McGregor, an outstanding disability rights activist, member of NUPGE and the CLC Disability Rights Working Group―and who was much loved by all those who worked with her. Carol passed away in 2006.
In 2025, the award recognizes the UFCW Local 401 activist Stephannie Leach.
Stephannie is an inspiring leader in our labour movement who has tirelessly advocated for the rights of workers with disabilities in Alberta and in the Northwest Territories. Stephannie’s leadership in this area spanned both her involvement in her workplace and in UFCW 401.
As an employee of Vision Loss Rehabilitation Alberta, and a vision impaired worker herself, Stephannie travelled across the province and in the Northwest Territories to provide education to remote and rural communities about vision loss and accessibility awareness, as well as education about guide dogs and service animals. She also trains people with vision impairment to work with their service animals, to access public transit, and to get around their own homes.
Stephannie serves on her local bargaining committee, and she is the health and safety representative for UFCW 401 in northern Alberta. Thanks to her successful advocacy efforts, the company agreed to bereavement days for the loss of service animals.
As a trailblazing advocate, she also took the initiative to translate the collective agreement into braille, the first of its kind at UFCW 401.
As a dedicated champion for disability rights and inclusion of people with disabilities in her union, in her workplace, and in her communities, Stephannie perfectly embodies the spirit of this award.
In the words of her nominator, UFCW 401’s Ashley Speer, “[Stephannie] is a true advocate, her contributions at work, in her personal life and within our union have been above and beyond and she wholeheartedly deserves recognition!”
Congratulations to Stephannie and thank you for your leadership and activism for disability rights and inclusion!
