Derwyn Spencer Shea (September 1, 1937 – August 15, 2015) was an

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

clergyman and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He was a municipal politician in the city of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

for 12 years, and sat as a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1995 to 1999, representing the riding of High Park—Swansea.

Background

Shea was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, but moved to Toronto at the age of two. He was educated at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

, and

Laurentian University Laurentian University (), officially Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Laurentian offers a variety of undergr ...

receiving a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree (''magna cum laude''), a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in urban history and structure, a Dip.Th (Huron College), a Th.B (American Divinity) and a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

(Canada College), honoris causa. His pastoral clinical studies were taken at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

. Shea was ordained in 1966 as an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest, and worked in the dioceses of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, Algoma and Toronto. He founded the Eastview Neighbourhood Association for latchkey youth in Toronto's east end, and was co-author of the benchmark East Toronto Deanery Study. He was the first Canadian to receive a Fellowship from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was involved in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

n relief efforts.

Municipal politics

Shea was a member of the city of Toronto's Planning Board from 1972 to 1982 including 4 years as chairman, when he was elected in his first attempt as senior alderman in Toronto's ward 1. From 1985 to 1994, he represented Toronto-High Park on the

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and villages that surrounded Toronto, whic ...

council. As a member of council he served with a number of agencies, boards and commissions. He was variously a

police commissioner A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...

and a commissioner of

Toronto Hydro Toronto Hydro Corporation is an electric utility that operates the electricity distribution system for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of 2018, it serves approximately 772,000 customers and delivers approximately 19% of the electricity ...

as well as president of the

Canadian National Exhibition The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), also known as The Exhibition or The Ex, is an annual fair that takes place at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the third Friday of August leading up to and including Labour Day (Canada), ...

, governor of

Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, ...

and chair of the O'Keefe Centre and served on a number of hospital boards including Toronto General, Toronto Western,

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

and Runnymede Chronic Care.

Provincial politics

In the 1995 provincial election, Shea defeated

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

cabinet minister and incumbent Elaine Ziemba by about 1,500 votes. He was a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

supporter of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

's caucus for the next four years, serving as

parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...

for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and then as parliamentary assistant for the Citizenship, Culture, and Recreation.

Later life

He retired from the legislature in 1999 and returned to his position as rector of St. Clement's (Riverdale) Anglican Church. In 2000, Shea initiated and was later elected founding chair of the Ontario Association of Former Parliamentarians. In 1999 Shea was inducted as rector of St Hilda's parish in Toronto and Chairman and CEO of St Hilda's Towers, a 500-bed independent and assisted living seniors residence including extended convalescent care facilities. In 2002 he was installed as a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

in the Diocese of Toronto. In 2004, Shea endorsed Frank Klees's bid to lead the Ontario PC Party. In 2007 Shea was appointed by the government of Canada to the 9 member National Seniors Council and in the same year he completed his training with the International Elections Monitoring Institute. A friend of Mike Harris's, he officiated the former Premier's wedding to Laura Maguire in 2005. Shea died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue (Toronto), ...

on August 15, 2015, at age 77. He was predeceased by his wife, Julia, and survived by his partner, Christine Schubert.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, Derwyn 1937 births 2015 deaths Canadian Anglican priests Laurentian University alumni Metropolitan Toronto councillors Politicians from Hamilton, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Toronto city councillors University of Toronto alumni University of Western Ontario alumni Clergy from Hamilton, Ontario 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors