1. Best known for years of volunteer efforts to build a "fair and comprehensive" system for workers injured on the job, 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 and nationally by co-founding the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance.
Steve Mantis was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Workers Compensation Board from 1991 to 1994.
Steve Mantis was nominated as a candidate in the provincial electoral district of Thunder Bay-Superior North in the 2011 Ontario general election.
Steve Mantis is a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party.
In September 1978 Steve Mantis was injured in an industrial accident, losing his left arm.
Since 2004, Steve Mantis has been the community co-lead in the Community-University Research Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury with McMaster University.
Steve 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, which led him to co-found the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance.
Steve Mantis was elected national coordinator of CIWA from 1996 to 2002.
Steve Mantis was appointed to the board of directors of the Workers Compensation Board from 1991 to 1994, and currently serves on the board of the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, a WSIB-funded network of clinics providing comprehensive occupational health services to injured workers across Ontario.
Steve Mantis is founding chair of the board of directors of the Speakers School in Thunder Bay.