David Shannon Law Office, Thunder Bay, ON

David Shannon, LL.M. is a graduate of Lakehead University, Dalhousie University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. The common theme throughout his work involves advocacy and empowerment for disenfranchised individuals and communities. He has a private law practice in Thunder Bay that centres primarily on legal advocacy for persons who need their rights and freedoms protected at what may be the most vulnerable times in their lives. As a result, he frequently appears before the Consent and Capacity Board and Trial or Appellate level Courts in mental health or child protection matters.

David is the author of Six Degrees of Dignity: Disability in an Age of Freedom, a past CEO of the Nov Scotia Human Rights Commission, former part-time member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, special advisor to Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, and in 2009 he became the first quadriplegic to reach the North Pole.

David has received the Order of Ontario and Order of Canada.