David Shannon, CM, OOnt (born August 29, 1963) is a Canadian disability/human rights activist, lawyer, politician, actor, university lecturer, author, and adventurer. After breaking his neck in a rugby scrum at the University of Waterloo in 1981, he was rendered a quadriplegic. Subsequently, Shannon finished law school and became a disability rights activist. His Dave Shannon Cross-Canada Tour in 1997 gained national media attention as he became the first quadriplegic to trek across Canada in a motorized wheelchair. Shannon has held positions in academia, law, social services, and human rights in both Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the late 2000s, Shannon became the first quadriplegic to reach the North Pole and to parachute out of an airplane at an altitude of over 25,000 feet. Shannon has won numerous prestigious awards and honours, such as the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada for his work advancing the rights of the disabled and other minority groups in Canada and abroad.
Early life, 1963–1981 David Shannon was born in Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) on August 29, 1963, to William (Bill) and Lorraine Shannon. He spent the first eight years of his life in the city with his two sisters, Janice and Liana. His father Bill decided to pursue a Ph.D. in health education; therefore, the family moved in the early 1970s to Greeley, Colorado. Once his father finished his doctorate, the family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Bill accepted a position at Temple University.Daryl Rock, Making a Difference: Profiles in Abilities (Toronto: Canadian Abilities Foundation, 2001), 215-225 In 1975, Shannon’s family moved again, this time, to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, as Bill took on a faculty position with the School of Physical Education at Dalhousie University. Shannon was twelve at the time and enrolled in Ellenvale Junior High School where he became active in drama and sports. In the late 1970s, Shannon attended Prince Andrew High School where he continued to excel in drama and rugby. Prior to his last year of high school, Shannon’s parents moved to Mississauga, Ontario, where his father, who had at the time become "disenchanted with academia", accepted a job with the city of Toronto Health Care Unit.Monty Charness, "Sports Heart or Hammer Comments," The Reporter, October 10, 1981. Shannon decided to stay in Dartmouth for his final year of high school; in fact, Shannon’s high school rugby team won the provincial championship that year.Ibid; "Rugby Champions," Dartmouth Free Press, June 10, 1981. During Shannon’s graduation in June 1981, he won awards in sports and drama as well as a medal for the student most involved in extracurricular activities."Social Achievements," Dartmouth Free Press, June 10, 1981; Charness, "Sports Heart…". The summer after completing high school, Shannon represented Nova Scotia in rugby at the 1981 Canada Games in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In September 1981, Shannon enrolled in the University of Waterloo to pursue an undergraduate degree in drama. The move allowed Shannon to be closer to his parents, and the university offered him a scholarship to play rugby for their varsity team, the University of Waterloo Warriors.Charness, "Sports Heart…".
University of Waterloo rugby injury and stay in Lyndhurst Hospital, 1981–1982 Three weeks into his university career, Shannon suffered a life-changing sports injury playing rugby at the University of Waterloo. During a practice, the scrum he was involved in collapsed with Shannon’s head being driven into the turf resulting in the breakage of his neck at the 5th vertebra (c 4.5 break). The accident rendered Shannon a quadriplegic. Shannon spent the next month in the Kitchener/Waterloo General Hospital, later being moved to Lyndhurst Rehabilitation Hospital in North York, Ontario, for rehab.David Kendall, "Pain may mean hope for injured teen rugby play: Athlete fighting to beat paralysis," Toronto Sun, September 28, 1981; Susan Craig, "Rugby mishap paralyzed him man tells trial," Toronto Star, April 17, 1985; Ian Hutchinson, "A Christmas Story: His son comes homes," Mississauga News, December 22, 1981. A month after the accident, the University of Waterloo Warriors and the University of Toronto Blues dedicated all the proceeds of an October 1981 rugby match to Shannon.Robert MacLeod, "Blues-Warriors game to aid injured player: Shannon vows to walk again," Globe and Mail, October 23, 1981; "Look! In the Sky!" Toronto Sun, October 25, 1981. Shannon overcame some early difficulties during his recovery, such as losing 35 lbs, suffering from a severe bladder infection, and experiencing temperatures as high as 104 degrees F. However, he was able to visit his parents’ home in Mississauga that Christmas, which received local media attention.Hutchinson, "A Christmas Story…"; Jackie Smith, "Quadriplegics win tough fight over wish to die: 3 paralysis victims tell how time, grit, tears and laughter helped them adjust to drastically altered realities," Toronto Star, March 08, 1982. After his rehabilitation at Lyndhurst, Shannon wanted to continue his education and moved to Thunder Bay in 1982 to pursue an undergraduate degree.
Education and early activism in Thunder Bay, Ontario, 1982–1984 In 1982, Shannon moved back to his hometown and entered Lakehead University majoring in English literature and minoring in law and politics.Craig, "Rugby mishap paralyzed him…". At the time, Thunder Bay was a leader in accessible housing and transportation, and Shannon moved into an apartment in the fully accessible Castlegreen housing complex run by the Handicapped Action Group Incorporated (HAGI). While pursuing his undergraduate degree, he and his friend, Darlene Bruzzese (his future second wife), were influential in setting up a local chapter of the Spinal Cord Society, which was an international organization based in Fergus Falls, Minnesota."Students help set up spinal cord group," Chronicle Journal, August 30, 1984, 17. The organization was founded by Dr. Charles E. Carson in 1978 and focused on finding a cure for spinal cord injuries; indeed, its motto was "a cure not care".Gerry Poling, "Cure! Not Care! Motto of spinal cord society," Chronicle Journal, September 28, 1983, 21. The Thunder Bay chapter was the 5th in Canada and 120th in North America with Shannon becoming the project coordinator. He obtained a federal grant, which allowed the chapter to engage in public events becoming the most active in Canada."Students help set up…," 17; Poling, "Cure! Not Care!..," 21.
Graduation from Lakehead and move to Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1986–1991 Midway through his undergraduate studies, Shannon relocated to another accessible apartment in Thunder Bay, Glenwood Court where HAGI provided attendant services. However, the polling station he was assigned to was wheelchair inaccessible (having a flight of stairs), which left him "denied the right to vote".Jo-Ann Mihalich, "Poll site barred elector," Chronicle Journal, November 14, 1985, 1. The incident made headlines in Thunder Bay with Shannon petitioning the mayor, city council, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission to make all polling stations completely accessible rather than relying on advanced polls or voting by proxy. While in his last year at Lakehead, Shannon became the assistant regional co-ordinator of the Canadian Paraplegic Association where he organized peer interaction groups for those with spinal cord injuries.Bruce Langer, "Paraplegics find support from peers: Family, friends must adapt too," Chronicle-Journal, July 15, 1987, 19. Shannon graduated from Lakehead University in the spring of 1986 and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia to pursue a law degree in 1987 at Dalhousie University. At Dalhousie, Shannon developed a passion for human rights and constitutional law.Falk, Dan, "Unresolved questions: Foetus is a ‘legislative void,’" Chronicle Herald, 1990; Rob Mills, "Fetal tissue transplant laws sought," Chronicle Herald, 1990. In his final year, he became student union president and graduated alongside future Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter McKay.Rock, Making a Difference, 215-225.
Acting stint and early law career, 1991–1997 After graduating with a Bachelor of Law from Dalhousie in 1991, Shannon decided to take two years off to pursue his passion of acting in Los Angeles, California, and Toronto, Ontario. He moved to Los Angeles with some friends in early 1991 and took acting, advanced film, commercial, and television classes. Shannon also studied voice under Marjorie Taylor who is well known for her work with touring opera companies. It was during this time that Shannon created and performed his one-man stage play The Puck Dances Lovingly. The play was the story of a young man transitioning into adulthood. Shannon used a series of monologues and prose passages to explain this transition by imagining the young man alone on a hockey rink with the puck all to himself.Bob Hearn, "Courtroom Drama: A city man combines passions for acting and the law with a two-episode stint on TV’s Divorce Court," Chronicle-Journal, September 23, 17. Dave Shannon, Program for The Puck Dances Lovingly: A one person play presented by Dave Shannon, Thunder Bay: Magnus Theatre, May 11–13, 1996, 1-12. In the early 1990s, Shannon scored a series of small roles in television commercials, but his big break came in 1992 with a recurring role as hard-hitting family lawyer Shawn O’Donnell in the courtroom television drama Divorce Court.Hearn, "Courtroom drama…" 17. After Divorce Court, Shannon began work at the Kinnea-Aweya legal aid clinic; he was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1996.Bernie Bennett, "Quadriplegic driven by those before him," Evening Telegram, April 1, 1997. Shannon also started his L.L.M. at the London School of Economics in the fall of 1992, graduating in 1997. During this time, Shannon worked part-time as a lawyer and disability advocate in Thunder Bay while also planning a cross-Canada motorized wheelchair tour.
The Dave Shannon Cross-Canada Tour, 1994–1998