Steve Mantis: Difference between revisions

| image birth_place = [[Reading, Steve Mantis.jpgPennsylvania]]

| image_size nationality =

| alt citizenship = [[Canadian]]

| birth_nameeducation = [[Phillips Exeter = Academy]]<br/>

| birth_place alma_mater = [[Reading, Pennsylvania]]

| residence employer = [[Kaministiquia, Ontario]]

| nationalityoccupation = Small businessperson, community = organizer

| ethnicityyears_active = over 30 = years

| citizenship title = [[Canadian]]

| other_namesterm =

| education successor = Standford University,

| alma_materparty = [[Ontario =New Democratic Party]] (ONDP)

| employer opponents =

| years_active spouse = over 30 years

| home_town partner =

| title children =

| term parents =

| predecessor relations =

| successor callsign =

| partyawards = Judge George Ferguson Award, Credit Union Central =of [[Ontario New DemocraticSocial Party]]Responsibility (ONDP)Award

| opponents signature =

| religion website = www.stevemantis.ca

| spouse footnotes =

'''Stephen Arthur "Steve" Mantis''' (born January 18, 1950) is a Canadian advocate for injured workers and people with disabilities. Best known for years of volunteer efforts to build a "fair and comprehensive" system for [[Workers' compensation|workers injured on the job]],<ref>[http://www.chroniclejournal.com/content/news/local/2010/12/11/injured-workers-deserve-more-protesters-say "Injured workers deserve more, protesters say"], Chronicle-Journal</ref> Mantis organized injured worker self-help groups locally in Thunder Bay, then regionally in Northwestern Ontario by co-founding the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups<ref name="injuredworkersonline.org">[http://www.injuredworkersonline.org/Organizations/oniwg.html Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups]</ref> and nationally by co-founding the [[Canadian Injured Workers Alliance]].<ref name=CIWA>[http://www.ciwa.ca/content/history-ciwa History of CIWA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917104033/http://www.ciwa.ca/content/history-ciwa |date=2011-09-17 }}, Canadian Injured Workers Alliance</ref> Mantis was appointed to the Board of Directors of the [[Workplace Safety & Insurance Board|Ontario Workers Compensation Board]] from 1991 to 1994.<ref>[http://www.wsib.on.ca/en/community/WSIB#main Workplace Safety & Insurance Board]</ref>

Mantis was nominated as a candidate<ref>[http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/152850/Mantis-wins,-becomes-NDP%27s-Thunder-Bay---Superior-North-candidate Steve Mantis wins, becomes NDP's candidate]</ref> in the [[List of Ontario provincial electoral districts|provincial electoral district]] of [[Thunder Bay—Superior North (provincial electoral district)|Thunder Bay-Superior North]] in the [[Ontario general election, 2011|2011 Ontario general election]].<ref>[http://netnewsledger.com/2011/07/29/steve-mantis-as-you-know-im-running-to-be-your-next-mpp/ “As"As you know, I’mI'm running to be your next MPP…"], netnewsledger.com</ref> He is a member of the [[Ontario New Democratic Party]].

In his professional life Mantis has worked as a [[Carpentry|carpenter]], founded and operated his own [[construction]] company, and managed vocational training for the Northwestern Ontario March of Dimes. In September 1978 Mantis was injured in an industrial accident, losing his left arm.<ref>[http://www.injuredworkersonline.org/Stories/steve.html Injured Workers Online “Steve"Steve's Story”Story"]</ref> Before 1996, Mantis was an Employmentemployment Servicesservices Managermanager in the Thunder Bay Regional Office of the [[Ontario March of Dimes]] during a time of transition for the organization into one providing modern vocational training. Since 2004, Mantis has been the Communitycommunity Coco-lead in the Community-University Research Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury with [[McMaster University]].<ref>[http://www.consequencesofworkinjury.ca/partners/smantis.htm Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury]</ref>

=== Community Engagementengagement ===

After serving on local area roads boards in the 1980s, Mantis went on to represent rural residents on the Lakehead Planning Board.

Mantis has spent 30 years in efforts to build a "comprehensive, fair system for all workers injured on the job."<ref>[http://www.cos-mag.com/Legal/Legal-Stories/WSIB-takes-steps-to-curb-stigma.html WSIB takes steps to curb Stigma]</ref> After organizing locally,<ref>[http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/99324/Injured-workers-program-gets-axed "Injured workers program gets axed"], TBNewsWatch</ref> Mantis organized regionally by forming self-help groups and undertaking ongoing government lobbying through a provincial group he co-founded - the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups.<ref name="injuredworkersonline.org"/> Mantis then used links built with organized labour and injured workers groups in other provinces to create the first National Injured Workers Conference in 1990,<ref name=CIWA/> which led him to co-found the [[Canadian Injured Workers Alliance]] (CIWA). Mantis was elected Nationalnational Coordinatorcoordinator of CIWA from 1996 to 2002.<ref>[http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=2446934&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=1&Language=E Evidence of the House Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities]</ref>

Mantis was appointed to the Boardboard of Directorsdirectors of the Workers Compensation Board (now called the [[Workplace Safety & Insurance Board|WSIB]]) from 1991 to 1994, and currently serves on the Boardboard of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, a WSIB-funded network of clinics providing comprehensive occupational health services to injured workers across Ontario.<ref>[http://www.ohcow.on.ca/about_us/board_of_directors.html Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers Inc., Board of Directors]</ref>

More recently, Mantis has developed and taught a Speakers School for vulnerable adults, such as people living in poverty, single moms, [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis]] people, people with disabilities and the unemployed, in order teach skills the disadvantaged may use to have more control over their lives and address social inequities. Steve MantisHe is founding Chairchair of the Boardboard of Directorsdirectors of the Speakers School in Thunder Bay.<ref>[http://www.speakersschool.ca/2011/06/graduation-spring-2011/ Speakers School "Graduating class of 2011"]</ref>

[[Category:PeoplePoliticians from ThunderReading, BayPennsylvania]]