Who I Am

My name is Stephen Furmaniuk. I am currently the Teacher Librarian at Grand River Collegiate in Kitchener, after teaching Drama for the previous 12 years at GRCI and at Eastwood Collegiate. Prior to teaching, I worked as a professional actor, playwright, and theatre director in Canada and internationally, and served as Artistic Director of two theatre companies - Avera Theatre (Winnipeg), and Der Geist Theatre (Winnipeg, Copenhagen). And before all of that, I was born into a proud union family, each of us members of CUPE Local 500 working for the Winnipeg Public Library.

My experience with OSSTF is broad and varied. Most recently and significantly, I am currently T/OTBU Constitution Officer. I served as Chair for the Governance Review Committee for 2023/24 and 2024/25, steering through some important changes to the BU structure. For the District, I have been a strong contributor to the District Political Action Committee, creating media products for D24’s local political action campaigns, as well as serving on the District Human Rights Committee. I am a member of the T/OTBU Negotiation Prep Team, building the brief for the next round of negotiations. 

We know as teachers that our work as leaders and mentors in the classroom isn’t about us, but it’s about those we serve - our students. It is the same for the director who serves their actors through leadership and guidance in order to mobilize them to action, and it is the same for union leaders. My goal is to empower our district’s teachers to fight together for public education, through supporting each member, connecting teachers and worksites together, and using my position to push for the best we can possibly get at the bargaining table, the Board office, and in every school. 

Our community - our unity - is our strength.