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[Photo Credit : OFL Communications Department, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons]
He landed in Toronto from Guyana as a young man and took the first job he could get—heavy-truck mechanic on the factory floor. English wasn’t polished. The path wasn’t mapped. But he noticed something: when workers stood together, hard places got fairer. That observation became a life’s work. Wikipedia
✨ A Spark Becomes a Calling
Shop-floor organizing led him into the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), where he rose from plant chair to the union’s Human Rights Director—then to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) executive. In 2014, he made history as the first person of colour to lead the CLC; he served until 2021. Unifor+1
“Lead with respect. The numbers follow.”
In June 2021, after decades of advocacy, he was appointed to the Senate of Canada—proof that shop-floor wisdom belongs at the policy table. Canada PM+1
❤️ Building More Than a Résumé
Yussuff treated leadership like service: negotiating safer workplaces, pushing for fair wages and credential recognition, and helping steer Canada’s labour movement through trade shifts and a pandemic. Colleagues cite his bridge-building with business and community groups—coalitions that outlast headlines. Ivey Business School
🌍 Why His Story Inspires
- Immigrant beginnings → national leadership. Mechanic to CLC president to Senator. Canadian Labour Congress+1
- Representation that opens doors. The first person of colour to lead Canada’s labour movement. Canadian Labour Congress
- Service that scales. Local organizing → continental labour roles → national policy. Ivey Business School
