Neethan Shan

Neethan Shanmugarajah (Neethan Shan) (Tamil: நீதன் சண்முகராஜா, romanized: Nītaṉ Caṇmukarājā; born December 24, 1978), is a Canadian politician who represented Ward 42 Scarborough—Rouge River on Toronto City Council from February 2017 to November 2018. Shan was the first Tamil Canadian to sit on Toronto's City Council. Shan is currently the Chair of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Shan was elected to the TDSB in 2016 and again in 2022. Shan has sought public office 13 times since 2003; 8 of which were municipally and provincially, 5. He won 4 times: YRDSB Trustee in 2006, TDSB Trustee in 2016, Toronto City Councillor in 2017 and TDSB Trustee in 2022.

Neethan Shan
நீதன் ஷான்
Toronto District School Board Trustee for Ward 17 Scarborough Centre
Incumbent
Assumed office June 22, 2022
Preceded by	David Smith
Toronto City Councillor for Ward 42 Scarborough—Rouge River
In office February 13, 2017 – December 1, 2018
Preceded by	Raymond Cho
Succeeded by	Ward dissolved
Toronto District School Board Trustee for Ward 21 Scarborough—Rouge River
In office January 25, 2016 – February 13, 2017
Preceded by	Shaun Chen
Succeeded by	Abdul Hai Patel
York Region District School Board Trustee for Wards 7 and 8
In office December 1, 2006 – November 30, 2010
Succeeded by	Juanita Nathan
Personal details
Born	Neethan Shanmugarajah (1978-12-24) December 24, 1978 (age 46) Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka
Citizenship	Canadian
Political party	New Democratic
Other political affiliations	Independent[note 1] (2017–2018) Liberal Party of Canada (2003-2007)
Spouse	Thadsha Navaneethan
Residence(s)	Toronto, Ontario
Alma mater	University of Toronto (BSc, 2001) Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (BEd, 2003; MEd, 2012)
Occupation	Youth worker politician
Website	neethanshan.ca

Early life and family

Shan was born on December 24, 1978, in Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka.^[1] His father was from Neduntivu and his mother from Analaitivu.^[2][3] He moved to Canada as a refugee in 1995 aged 16.^[1][2][4]

Shan is married to Thadsha Navaneethan and has two sons.^[4][5] She was a candidate for the Ontario NDP in 2023.

Education and early career

Shan completed an honours bachelor of science (BSc) from the University of Toronto in 2001 and a bachelor of education (BEd) from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) in 2003.^[1][5][6] He later received a master of education (MEd) in sociology and equity studies in education from OISE in 2012.^[6]

Shan began his career as a youth outreach worker in Malvern, Toronto.^[3][7] In 2001, aged 22, he became executive director of Canadian Tamil Youth Development Centre (CanTYD), a social service agency.^[6] He then became manager of youth programs at Malvern Family Resource Centre.^[6][8][9] In 2007, he became executive director of Council of Agencies Serving South Asians.^[1][6]

Shan was vice-chair of the National Council of Canadian Tamils and chair of the Tamil Heritage Month Committee, which he founded in 2009.^[2][4][10] He has served numerous other community groups including Better Ballot Initiative; Boreal Institute for Civil Society (project director); Canadian Tamil Congress; Community Use of Schools Council; Malvern Community Coalition; Parent Action on Drugs (project coordinator); Scarborough Youth Task Group; Tsunami Relief Coordinating Committee; and the Youth Gang Work Group.^[1][6] He is also involved with Canadian Multicultural Radio and Tamil Vision International.^[1][3][6]

Political career

Public school trustee

Shan unsuccessfully ran for York Region District School Board (YRDSB) public school trustee for wards 7 and 8 in the 2003 Markham elections.^[1][11] He was later elected to the school board following the 2006 Markham election.^[1][12]

In January 2016, Shan was elected in a by-election to be the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) public school trustee for Ward 21 Scarborough—Rouge River.^[13] Shan assumed the trustee seat for Ward 17 in June 2022 after David Smith became the MPP for Scarborough Centre.^[14]

Provincial politics

Shan took a leave of absence from the YRDSB to run in the 2007 provincial election as the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in Scarborough—Guildwood but failed to get elected and returned to the school board.^[1][15] He sought the Scarborough—Rouge River seat in the 2011 Ontario general election.^[1][16]

In April 2012, Shan was elected president of the Ontario New Democratic Party.^[1][2][17]

Shan ran in the 2014 Ontario general election as the NDP's candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River.^[1] He contested the Ontario provincial by-election in Scarborough—Rouge River held in September 2016 as the NDP's candidate but again failed to get elected.^[18]

Shan was nominated as the Ontario New Democratic Party candidate in the provincial riding of Scarborough Centre for the 2022 Ontario general election, but again failed to win.

Toronto City Councillor

Shan ran in the 2010 Toronto election as a candidate for Ward 42 Scarborough—Rouge River on Toronto City Council but failed to get elected.^[1][19] He ran again in the 2014 Toronto municipal election.^[1][20]

In February 2017, following the resignation of Councillor Raymond Cho, the Scarborough—Rouge River seat became vacant. Running in the subsequent by-election and was elected to Toronto City Council,^[21][22] becoming the first Tamil Canadian to serve on the council.^[4][21] He ran for re-election in the 2018 municipal election in the new Ward 25 Scarborough—Rouge Park after the province aligned Toronto's 44 wards to match the federal and provincial electoral divisions. He was ultimately defeated by newcomer Jennifer McKelvie by 154 votes.^[23]

Electoral record

Ontario Legislative Assembly

v t e 2022 Ontario general election: Scarborough Centre
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Progressive Conservative	David Smith	11,471	35.99	−2.46	$20,592
	Liberal	Mazhar Shafiq	9,678	30.37	+8.23	$96,601
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	8,358	26.23	−7.14	$59,477
	Green	Fatima Faruq	892	2.80	+0.48	$381
	Libertarian	Serge Korovitsyn	392	1.23	−1.39	$84
	New Blue	Hidie Jaber	355	1.11		$1,292
	Ontario Party	Raphael Rosch	297	0.93		$887
	Independent	Kostadinos Stefanis	196	0.62		$0
	Independent	Paul Beatty	156	0.49		$579
	Moderate	Maria Tzvetanova	74	0.23		$0
Total valid votes/expense limit			31,869	99.22	+0.33	$109,001
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots			251	0.78	−0.33
Turnout			32,120	41.25	−11.94
Eligible voters			77,114
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		−5.34
Source(s) "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21.

Ontario provincial by-election, September 1, 2016: Scarborough—Rouge River Resignation of Bas Balkissoon
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond Cho	9,644	38.58	+10.92
	Liberal	Piragal Thiru	7,257	28.91	-9.79
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	6,905	27.40	-3.91
	Independent	Queenie Yu	575	2.32
	Green	Priyan De Silva	216	0.86	-0.51
	Libertarian	Allen Small	146	0.58
	None of the Above	Above Znoneofthe	133	0.54	-0.42
	Freedom	Wayne Simmons	59	0.30
	People's Political Party	Dwight McLean	45	0.22
	Pauper	John Turmel	37	0.15
	Trillium	Ania Krosinska	36	0.14
Total valid votes			25,182	100.00
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+10.36
"Vote Totals Report from Official Tabulation (F0243) - 2016 By-election Scarborough-Rouge River (083)". Elections Ontario. p. 7.

2014 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Rouge River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bas Balkissoon	16,095	38.71	-3.17
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	13,019	31.31	-4.66
	Progressive Conservative	Raymond Cho	11,500	27.66	+8.87
	Green	George B. Singh	571	1.37	+0.12
	None of the Above	Amir Khan	398	0.96
Total valid votes			41,583	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			479	1.14
Turnout			42,062	47.48
Eligible voters			88,592
	Liberal hold		Swing		+0.75
"Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate - June 12, 2014 General Election" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2017.

2011 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Rouge River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bas Balkissoon	15,237	41.87	-23.18
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	13,088	35.97	+22.29
	Progressive Conservative	Ken Kim	6,837	18.79	+4.32
	Libertarian	Felix Liao	457	1.26	-0.16
	Green	George Singh	455	1.25	-2.47
	Family Coalition	Raphael Rosch	166	0.46	-1.20
	Freedom	Daniel Walker	150	0.41
Total valid votes			36,390	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots			215	0.59
Turnout			36,605	42.89
Eligible voters			85,338
	Liberal hold		Swing		-22.73
"Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate - October 16, 2011 General Election" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-06.

2007 Ontario general election: Scarborough-Guildwood
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Margarett Best	14,430	42.52	-10.03
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Grant	9,503	28.00	-1.99
	New Democratic	Neethan Shan	7,441	21.93	+9.23
	Green	Glenn Kitchen	1,811	5.34
	Libertarian	Sam Apelbaum	484	1.43
	Family Coalition	Daniel Carvalho	267	0.79
Total valid votes			33,936	100.0
Difference			4,927	14.52
Total rejected ballots			376	1.10
Turnout			34,312	51.28
	Liberal notional hold		Swing	-4.02
"Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for Each Candidate - October 10, 2007 General Election" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. xxiii. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2017.

Toronto City Council

Toronto City Council election, 2018 Ward 25 (Scarborough—Rouge Park)[24]
Candidate	Votes	%
Jennifer McKelvie	11,624	40.21%
Neethan Shan	11,470	39.68%
Paul Cookson	1,897	6.56%
Amanda Cain	831	2.87%
Cheryl Lewis-Thurab	638	2.21%
Reza Khoshdel	548	1.90%
Daniel Cubellis	527	1.82%
Christopher Riley	456	1.58%
Joseph Thomas	428	1.48%
Jasper Ghori	337	1.17%
Dave Madder	151	0.52%
Total	10,432	100.00%

Toronto City Council by-election, February 13, 2017 Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River)[25]
Candidate	Votes	%
Neethan Shan	4,765	45.68%
Zuhair Syed	1,452	13.92%
Hratch Aynedjian	1,058	10.14%
Dipika Patel	474	4.54%
Punch Sockalingam	416	3.99%
Bev Dixon	354	3.39%
Knia Singh	324	3.11%
Kingsley Kwok	322	3.09%
Sarah Chung	241	2.31%
Ferduse Bari	220	2.11%
Virginia Jones	157	1.51%
David Nissan	105	1.01%
Amanda Cain	96	0.92%
Randy Washington	71	0.68%
Stella Kargiannakis	69	0.66%
Sohum Prashar	33	0.32%
Mark Balack	30	0.29%
John Kladitis	30	0.29%
Mohammad Shabani	30	0.29%
Deborah Dale	29	0.28%
Khamy Ganeshathasan	27	0.26%
Kevin Clarke	25	0.24%
Sandeep Srivastava	24	0.23%
Jobin Jose	18	0.17%
Chai Kalevar	14	0.13%
Arthur Smitherman	14	0.13%
Elizabeth Huff	11	0.11%
Aasia Khatoon	6	0.06%
Tebat Kadhem	3	0.03%
Total	10,432	100.00%

Toronto City Council election, 2014 Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River)[26]
Candidate	Votes	%
Raymond Cho	11,768	49.46%
Neethan Shan	7,393	31.07%
Ken Jeffers	1,074	4.51%
Gulam Mohamed	1,048	4.40%
Neethan Sabaratnam	911	3.83%
Sherri-Anne Williams	521	2.19%
Dwayne Chin	363	1.53%
Kabirul Mollah	279	1.17%
Somu Mondal	233	0.98%
Ganesh Kulasegarampillai	107	0.45%
Venthan Ramana	96	0.40%
Total	23,793	100.00%

Toronto City Council election, 2010 Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River)[27]
Candidate	Votes	%
Raymond Cho	10,811	52.93%
Neethan Shan	6,873	33.65%
Shamoon Poonawala	586	2.87%
Mohammed Ather	474	2.32%
Namu Ponnambalam	443	2.17%
Ruth Tecle	437	2.14%
George Singh	353	1.73%
Leon Saul	323	1.58%
Venthan Ramanathavavuniyan	125	0.61%
Total	20,425	100.00%

Toronto District School Board

Toronto District School Board by-election, January 25, 2016 Ward 21 (Scarborough—Rouge River)[28]
Candidate	Votes	%
Neethan Shan	4,197	53.63%
Jack Wang	1,258	16.07%
Kwesi Johnson	408	5.21%
George Lin	298	3.81%
Arjun Sahota	266	3.40%
Yama Arianfar	255	3.26%
Noah Ng	184	2.35%
Sonny Yeung	154	1.97%
Sharon Kerr	153	1.96%
Ron McNaughton	146	1.87%
Piravena Sathiyanantham	121	1.55%
Aasia Khatoon	103	1.32%
Kabirul Mollah	59	0.75%
Andy Nguyen	43	0.55%
Simone Si	41	0.52%
Dwight McLean	35	0.45%
Sahl Syed	29	0.37%
Austin Han	28	0.36%
Sandeep Srivastava	25	0.32%
Kuga Kasilingam	23	0.29%
Total	7,826	100.00%

York Region District School Board

York Region District School Board election, 2006 Area 4 (Wards 7 and 8)[29]
Candidate	Votes	%
Neethan Shan	8,230	66.23%
Susie Gotha	4,197	33.77%
Total	12,427	100.00%

York Region District School Board election, 2003 Area 4 (Wards 7 and 8)[30]
Candidate	Votes	%
Tessa Benn-Ireland
Neethan Shan
Kumar Nadarajah
Total