Sheldon Chumir

Sheldon Mervin Chumir (December 3, 1940 – January 26, 1992) was a lawyer and politician from Alberta, Canada.

Sheldon Chumir was born in Calgary. He studied law at the University of Alberta, from which he graduated in 1963 with the gold medal. He continued his education as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a Bachelor of Letters degree from Oxford University in 1965.

Chumir began his professional career as a tax lawyer with the federal Department of Justice in Toronto. In 1971, he joined a Calgary law firm. In 1976, he launched his own private practice focusing on civil liberties cases which on occasion provided representation on a pro-bono basis. He lectured on civil liberties and human rights at the University of Calgary Law School and founded the Calgary Civil Liberties Association. He was also an entrepreneur; he founded a small oil and gas company, co-founded the entertainment promotion firm Brimstone Productions and engaged in real estate.

In 1983, he ventured into activism by creating Save Public Education, an organization which opposed public funding of religious schools. The group ran a successful slate of candidates in a Calgary Board of Education election.

In the 1986 Alberta general election, he ran as a Liberal in the riding of Calgary Buffalo and defeated incumbent Brian Lee of the Progressive Conservative Party. He was among the first four Liberals elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta since 1969. In the Assembly, he advocated on legal affairs, human rights, energy, finance and community service, and he advocated legislation that supported human rights and civil liberties. He was re-elected in 1989.

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