She/Her
Heather Smith is President of the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), which represents more than 35,000 Registered Nurses, Registered Psychiatric Nurses, and allied workers. She is a prominent advocate for safe staffing and improved working conditions for nurses, and Canada’s universal public health care system and a national pharmacare program.
Elected UNA president in 1988, she has served in that role ever since. She received the Spirit of Tommy Douglas Award in 2007 for her commitment to the dreams of the late Saskatchewan premier and creator of Canadian medicare.
Smith came to Alberta in 1976 after studying nursing in Ottawa, near her hometown of Cumberland. While working as an RN in Edmonton in 1980, Smith became active in the union. She was elected local president in 1983 and has served on every UNA negotiating committee since 1984. She was president when UNA joined the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions in 1999.