Barry O'Neill

Barry O'Neill is president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees of British Columbia. He was elected in 1997, and has been re-elected six times. In addition, O’Neill was re-elected General Vice President of CUPE National’s Executive Board in 2009. He was first elected to the National Executive Board as a Regional Vice President in 1998 and as General Vice President in 2005.

An active CUPE member since 1976, O’Neill’s first elected position was with Local 606, representing mid-Vancouver Island education workers.  O’Neill is a director of Working Enterprises (WE), the Columbia Foundation, the Working Opportunity Fund, and Camp Jubilee, underscoring his strong commitment to communities and making them work better.  As a director of WE, O’Neill was instrumental in the start-up of Cool Works (www.cool-works.ca), a firm dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He is an alumnus of the Governor-General's study conference where he led a group of business and labour leaders on a six-week study of Central Ontario on the topic “Bettering Labour Relations in Canada.” 

Born on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, O’Neill lives in Lantzville on Vancouver Island with Charmaine, his wife of 35 years. They have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. Barry enjoys tennis and fishing, and has a passion for golf.

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