Neethan Shan


Neethan Shanmugarajah is a Canadian politician and youth advocate. He currently represents Ward 25 Scarborough—Rouge Park on Toronto City Council, and is Toronto's first Tamil-Canadian councillor
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Early life and career

Shan was born on December 24, 1978, in Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka. He was born Neethan Shanmugarajah. His father was from Neduntivu and his mother from Analaitivu. He moved to Canada as a refugee in 1995 aged 16.
Shan completed an honours bachelor of science from the University of Toronto in 2001 and a bachelor of education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2003. He later received a master of education in sociology and equity studies in education from OISE in 2012.
He began his career as a youth outreach worker in Malvern, Toronto. In 2001, aged 22, he became executive director of Canadian Tamil Youth Development Centre, a social service agency. He then became manager of youth programs at Malvern Family Resource Centre. In 2007, he became executive director of Council of Agencies Serving South Asians.
Shan was vice-chair of the National Council of Canadian Tamils and chair of the Tamil Heritage Month Committee, which he founded in 2009. He has served numerous other community groups including Better Ballot Initiative; Boreal Institute for Civil Society ; Canadian Tamil Congress; Community Use of Schools Council; Malvern Community Coalition; Parent Action on Drugs ; Scarborough Youth Task Group; Tsunami Relief Coordinating Committee; and the Youth Gang Work Group. He is also involved with Canadian Multicultural Radio, Tamil Vision International, the Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action, and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. He was also a professor at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology.

Political timeline

Shan was elected in 2006 to the York Region District School Board representing Wards 7 and 8 in Markham.
He later served with the Toronto District School Board in 2016 until 2017.
While trustee, in 2016 Shan ran in a Provincial by election for Scarborough Rouge River (provincial district) coming in third behind the winner, Raymond Cho.
In 2017, Shan won a municipal by-election to represent Ward 42 on Toronto City Council.
Shan was defeated in the 2018 Toronto municipal election losing to Jennifer McKelvie
He returned to the Toronto District School board's Ward 17 in the 2022 General Municipal Election
In a September 2025 municipal by election he was elected to represent Ward 25 Scarborough—Rouge Park on Toronto City Council.

Personal life

Shan is married to Thadsha Navaneethan and has two sons. He was a candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party in Scarborough—Guildwood in 2023 and Scarborough North in 2025, placing third in both attempts.

Electoral record

Public school board trustee

Shan unsuccessfully ran for York Region District School Board public school trustee for wards 7 and 8 in the 2003 Markham elections. He was later elected to the school board following the 2006 Markham election.
In January 2016, Shan was elected in a by-election to be the Toronto District School Board public school trustee for Ward 21 Scarborough—Rouge River.
Returning to elected politics, Shan was elected as the trustee for Ward 17 in November 2022 after incumbent David Smith became the MPP for Scarborough Centre. After Rachel Chernos Lin's resignation from the school board, Shan was acclaimed board chair; he was acting chair since July 2024. He was previously vice-chair.

Provincial politics

Shan took a leave of absence from the YRDSB to run in the 2007 provincial election as the Ontario NDP candidate in Scarborough—Guildwood but failed to get elected and returned to the school board. He sought the Scarborough—Rouge River seat in the 2011 Ontario general election.
In April 2012, Shan was elected president of the Ontario NDP.
Shan ran in the 2014 Ontario general election as the NDP's candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River. 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.
Shan was nominated as the Ontario NDP 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. He ran again in the 2014 Toronto municipal election.
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, becoming the first Tamil-Canadian to serve on the council. 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 defeated by Jennifer McKelvie by 154 votes. He endorsed Olivia Chow in the 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election.
After McKelvie's resignation in 2025, Shan announced his candidacy for the seat. He was elected on September 29, defeating fellow trustee Anu Sriskandarajah.

Toronto City Council

;2025 Ward 25 Scarborough—Rouge Park municipal by-election
CandidateVote%
Neethan Shan5,17426.86
Anu Sriskandarajah3,37417.52
Shawn Allen2,93415.23
Reza Khoshdel1,8349.52
Zakir Patel1,5217.90
Shean Sinnarajah1,4417.48
Darrell Brown6013.12
Anita Anandarajan5072.63
Brian Matthews3972.06
Dianna Robinson3771.96
Zia Choudhary2951.53
Ashan Fernando1820.94
Jamil Kerr1760.91
Jose Moreno Garcia1540.80
Walter Alvarez-Bardales1010.52
Donna LaRush590.31
Shemar Shirley400.21
Gregory Rodriguez350.18
Huy Lieu350.18
Kevin Cheatley230.12