Neethan Shan

Neethan Shanmugarajah (born December 24, 1978) 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.

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 (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. He later received a master of education (MEd) in sociology and equity studies in education from OISE in 2012. In 2001, aged 22, he became executive director of Canadian Tamil Youth Development Centre (CanTYD), a social service agency. In 2007, he became executive director of Council of Agencies Serving South Asians. 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.

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 (Scarborough—Rouge River) 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.

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.

Personal life Shan is married to Thadsha Navaneethan and has two sons.

Electoral record

Public school board trustee Shan unsuccessfully ran for York Region District School Board (YRDSB) 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 (TDSB) 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.

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 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.

Ontario Legislative Assembly

Toronto City Council 2025 Ward 25 Scarborough—Rouge Park municipal by-election

Toronto City Council election, 2018Ward 25 (Scarborough—Rouge Park) 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, 2017Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River) 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, 2014Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River) 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, 2010Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River) 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, 2016Ward 21 (Scarborough—Rouge River) 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, 2006Area 4 (Wards 7 and 8) 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, 2003Area 4 (Wards 7 and 8) Candidate Votes %Tessa Benn-Ireland Neethan Shan Kumar Nadarajah Total