Hundreds attend funeral for labour leader Danny Légère [video]

The funeral of New Brunswick labour leader Danny Légère brought together hundreds of people on Saturday, including prominent union officials, politicians, family, and friends.

The funeral for Légère, who was president of the NB Federation of Labour when he died on Dec. 26, took place at St-Thomas de Memramcook Roman Catholic Church, just outside of Moncton.

A ceremonial unit from the Correction Service of Canada, where Légère got his start in the labour movement as a shop steward, served as an honour guard.

Following the service, mourners sang “Solidarity Forever” outside the cathedral before gathering for a reception in the church basement.

The NB Media Co-op spoke to 18 people in attendance about their memories of Légère and his significance for the labour movement in New Brunswick.

Attendees included officials from organized labour and the NDP – Légère was a longtime New Democrat – along with various social groups that Légère championed, including the NB Common Front for Social Justice.

Read more: Union leaders, activists mourn the loss of Danny Légère

Political dignitaries in attendance included Liberal Premier Susan Holt, Green Party Leader David Coon, and Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc, MP for Beauséjour.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, described Légère as “extremely humble but so knowledgeable about the issues facing workers in New Brunswick and quite frankly across Canada.”

One union member recalled how Légère managed to organize an early morning solidarity picket to support striking postal workers in the middle of winter years ago.

“Danny called upon a few guys and said, we need a picket line at 4:30 in the morning, in January,” said Jean-Louis Robichaud of CUPE 821, a local representing workers at the Dumont Hospital in Moncton. “I said Danny, you’ve gotta be out of your mind, we can’t do that. He says, ‘Oh yes we can.’”

Many of the mourners who spoke to the NB Media Co-op described Légère as a mentor who encouraged them to become involved in the labour movement. He was known as an avid gardener, but he also “grew activists, and he mentored them,” said Serge Landry, regional representative for the Canadian Labour Congress.

Sandy Harding, CUPE’s regional director for the Maritimes, said that Légère played an important role in encouraging women to take on leadership positions in the New Brunswick labour movement. “It really evolved from a board where it was almost all men, to now – our CUPE NB executive is almost all women,” she said.

Others who shared their memories of Danny Légère in this video include (in order of appearance) Paula Doucet, president of the NB Nurses Union; Carl Pursey, president of the PEI Federation of Labour; Norma Robinson, president of the NB Council of Hospital Unions; Steve Drost, president of CUPE New Brunswick; Brian Arseneault, president of CUPE 188 (Dalhousie Municipal Workers); Mackenzie Thomason, former New Brunswick NDP Leader; Green Party Leader David Coon; Danny Kavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour; Yvon Godin, former MP for Acadie—Bathurst; Matt Hiltz, executive director of the NB Nurses Union; Patrick Colford, former president of the NB Federation of Labour; George Leaman of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, Local 406; author and activist Jean-Claude Basque; and NB ACORN co-chair Peter Jongeneelen.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. Susan O’Donnell is a member of the NB Media Co-op board of directors and is the principal investigator of the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).