Homer Stevens was born on August 2, 1923, at Port Guichon, near Ladner, British Columbia. He began fishing on the Fraser River as early as 1936, at 13 years old. He began work as a full-time union organizer for the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union in 1946, and was elected secretary-treasurer of that organization two years later, a position he held until 1970. Stevens was known for his steadfast role in this union, as well as for his affiliation with the Communist Party of Canada, and he was heavily involved in the fisheries on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. In 1967 he was prosecuted for criminal contempt of court while involved in a labour dispute in Prince Rupert, and subsequently spent a year incarcerated at the Mt. Thurston Prison Camp in Chilliwack, alongside UFAWU president Steve Stavenes. Stevens was later elected president himself, although he stepped down from that position in 1977, and returned to the life of a fisherman. Homer Stevens married Grace, his wife of 54 years, in 1948 and together they had four children, a daughter named Barbara and three sons named Bruce, John and Nick. Homer died in October 2002 at the age of 79.