Who are the members of the executive committee?
Executive committee
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Robert Comeau
President
APTS president Robert Comeau worked as a medical imaging technologist at the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Trois-Rivières from 1992 until 2004 when he was elected as a political liaison officer in the newly formed APTS.
Even before the APTS was created, Robert served as a local union representative, board member and vice-president of the STRQ (Syndicat des technologues en radiologie du Québec), which was affiliated with the CPS (Centrale des professionnelles et professionnels de la santé). The CPS was one of the founding unions of the APTS.
Before taking the plunge in the early 2000s to devote himself to full-time union work and be released from his regular duties, he was also a member of the Board of the Ordre des technologues en imagerie médicale et en radio-oncologie et en électrophysiologie médicale du Québec from 1995 to 1999.
Robert joined the APTS executive committee in 2010 and took on a number of responsibilities, including provincial contract talks, training, and union organizing. He was elected president of the APTS in 2021 and reelected in 2023.
With years of experience in decision-making positions at the APTS and a keen awareness of issues involving union democracy, Robert’s contribution when it comes to union organizing, raiding, contract talks and other core issues is invaluable.
Robert’s commitment over the years has always been driven by the desire to improve the working conditions of professionals and technicians and build a broad consensus on the best ways to accomplish that.
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Josée Fréchette
1st vice-president
Employed as a social work technician for intake, assessment and referral in the Laurentians from 1988 to 1990, Josée Fréchette was hired as a social worker in general social services, including psychosocial intake and short-term follow-up, at the CLSC Bordeaux-Cartierville.
Her union activity began during the 1989 strike, and she became grievance officer at the CLSC in 1990. In 2004, she was elected president of the local executive for the CSSS Bordeaux-Cartierville-Saint-Laurent. A member of the APTS Provincial Council since May 2008, she has sat on a number of committees and covered several regions. She was elected APTS 1st vice-president at the November 2021 Convention and was reelected to this position in November 2023.
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Émilie Charbonneau
Vice-president
Émilie Charbonneau began her career as a social worker in 2011 and has been employed in psychosocial intake, emergency measures and home support missions. At the time when she moved to full-time union activity, she held a psychiatry position at the CISSS de la Montérégie-Est.
In over ten years’ experience with the APTS, she was director and then vice-president of her local executive, info-mobilization officer (AMI), and APTS provincial representative for Montérégie-Est. She was particularly active in organizing the last union allegiance campaign.
Émilie Charbonneau was elected to the executive committee by the General Council in June 2021. She became 2nd vice-president at the APTS Convention in November of that year, and was elected for a second term in November 2023.
Émilie Charbonneau has also actively fought for causes that are important to her such as the environment, and has supported various political campaigns.
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Sandra Etienne
Vice-president
With a diploma from a medical laboratory technology program, Sandra Etienne has 17 years’ experience in medical labs in the health and social services system. A committed activist, she hopes to strengthen members’ participation and sense of belonging to the union. Bringing the union closer to members at the local level is, for her, a key way of achieving this.
The APTS supported her when she faced discrimination from her employer at the time she was pregnant, and she was able to win her case without having to go to arbitration. That was when she caught the union bug. She joined the MUHC local executive as secretary-treasurer in 2014 and was elected president the following year, holding office for six years. She became a provincial representative in 2021, and was elected 4th vice-president at the APTS Convention in November of that year. In 2023, she was reelected as vice-president.
She is a strong advocate for a public health and social services system and is also committed to fighting every form of discrimination, in particular by serving on the provincial committee on cultural diversity.
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Joël Bélanger
Vice-president
Joël Bélanger earned a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2001, and worked in community settings – especially with people living with disabilities — before moving to the health and social services system in 2015.
While his experience has chiefly been gained in psychosocial intake in the general social services program at the CLSC Gaston-Bélanger in Sorel-Tracy, he has also worked in other missions, including homecare support, emergency measures, and services to families, children and young people.
Joël Bélanger was elected vice-president of the Montérégie-Est local executive in 2008 and became president in 2009. He held this office until June 2021. Over this twelve-year period, he fought to keep local services going after the creation of the integrated centres (CISSS and CIUSSS). As an active participant in the last union allegiance campaign, he created a local structure that attracted members from various different certification units. He became a provincial representative for Montérégie-Est in June 2021, then APTS 5th vice-president at the Convention in November of that year. He was reelected as vice-president in 2023.
Defending the rights of visible minorities is another cause to which he is deeply committed, and the APTS provincial committee on cultural diversity is one of the places where he acts on this commitment.
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Pascale Leclair-Gingras
Vice-president
Pascale Leclair-Gingras was elected APTS vice-president in November 2023 after serving as the provincial representative for Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec.
With a dozen years’ APTS experience to draw on, she has a deep understanding of local and provincial issues.
Her mantra is the need to combine a high degree of local autonomy with strong and coherent provincial representation.
To achieve this goal, she believes in the optimal use of shared resources with a focus on listening, communications, and training.
Pascale is a medical technologist and has also studied communications. Her approach emphasizes dialogue, transparency, and awareness of our members’ day-to-day reality.
For Pascale, solidarity is the key to success and the basis of our collective strength, and that strength must be nourished, from the bottom up, by committed activism grounded in listening.
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Caroline Marquis
Secretary
Caroline Marquis obtained an occupational therapy degree in 2010 and became secretary-treasurer of her local executive in February 2014, the year Bill 10 came into force. At that point, she felt that defending the rights of health and social services workers had become crucially important as the public system was hit by wave after wave of reorganization.
Caroline is a fervent advocate of universal access to care and services, and she knows that the survival of the public system largely depends on the well-being of those who work for it on a daily basis. Her passion for union activism developed over time, and she was involved at the local level until June 2020 when she became a provincial representative for the Chaudière-Appalaches region.
At the APTS Convention in November 2021, she was elected secretary to the provincial executive committee, and she was reelected to this position in November 2023. She continues to stand for a union that is based on strong participation and close contact with members.
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Sébastien Pitre
Treasurer
Trained as a special education technician, Sébastien Pitre worked in youth centres, and particularly in rehabilitation units, for more than 15 years. Defending the interests of APTS members will always be at the heart of his priorities.
He became an APTS member when integrated centres were established and youth centres became part of them. He joined his APTS local executive in the Gaspé, acting as treasurer, and then became a member of the Monitoring Committee before being elected treasurer on the provincial executive committee in February 2021. He was reelected to this position at the APTS Convention in November 2023.
Who are the members of the provincial council?
Our provincial council is made up of members of the provincial executive: Robert Comeau, president, Josée Fréchette, 1st vice-president, Émilie Charbonneau, vice-president, Sandra Etienne, vice-president, Joël Bélanger, vice-president, Pascale Leclair-Gingras, vice-president, Caroline Marquis, secretary, Sébastien Pitre, treasurer, and provincial representatives from the various regions served by our members.
For province-wide contract talks, these members of the Provincial Council and the national and local bargaining coordinators form a national bargaining committee.
Another body, the Monitoring Committee, makes sure that the union’s financial management is sound and complies with decisions adopted by the Convention and the General Council. It is composed of four members elected at the Convention from among the delegates, excluding members of the Provincial Council.
PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES BY REGION
Carl Verreault, provincial APTS representative for Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Simon Dubé, provincial APTS representative for Bas-Saint-Laurent
Steve St-Onge, APTS provincial representative for Capitale-Nationale (CHU de Québec)
Caroline Letarte-Simoneau, provincial APTS representative for Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal
Mélanie Lapointe, provincial APTS representative in Chaudière-Appalaches
Nathalie Chalifoux, provincial APTS representative at the CHUM
Kevin Newbury, provincial APTS representative for Côte-Nord
Danny Roulx, provincial APTS representative for Estrie
Jenny Tardif, provincial APTS representative for Gaspésie
Steve Garceau, provincial APTS representative for Lanaudière
Marie-Ève Meilleur, provincial APTS representantive for Laurentides
Natacha Pelchat, provincial APTS representative for Laval
Manon Hamel, provincial APTS representative for Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec
Ariane Beauchemin-Pépin, provincial APTS representative at CUSM
Isabelle Mantha, provincial APTS representative for Montérégie-Centre
Joëlle Lavoie-Vigeant, provincial APTS representative for Montérégie-Est
Tasmine Esmail, provincial APTS representative for Montérégie-Ouest
Sabrina Caty, provincial APTS representative for Nord-de-l'Île-de-Montréal
Josée Asselin, provincial APTS representative for Montréal West Island
Christine Prégent, provincial APTS representative for Outaouais
Karine Ferland, provincial APTS representative for Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Teresa Muccari, provincial APTS representative for Centre-Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal