Speaker Bios > Nathan Shaw

Nathan Shaw has spoken for the dead. The 23-year-old Ancaster native was a driving force behind 2007 compensation legislation for fallen firefighters.

The impetus for his foray into political policy came after watching cancer kill his father, Bob, at 55.

Bob Shaw was a captain with the Hamilton Fire Department who battled the massive Plastimet fire in the summer of 1997. Considered one of the nation's worst industrial fires, Shaw spent days fighting flames in a thick chemical haze caused by burning plastic.

His father's health deteriorated as a result, and he died from esophageal cancer in 2004.

Following repeated denials for compensation by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, Nathan Shaw and his mother vowed to change the policy.

"Myself and others fought so hard to turn something negative like my father's illness and passing into something positive."
Shaw wrote the premier and battled until the legislation was passed in May 2007.

He interned with CP24 while in high school, and now works full-time with the Toronto news channel in administrative and production roles.

Though the McMaster University political science graduate is unsure what he wants to do next, he knows he wants to make a difference. "I could see myself getting involved in political issues and things that affect people," he said. "It's a tremendously powerful thing to witness."

- Jackson Hayes The Hamilton Spectator (Oct 28, 2008)

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