Law Commission of Canada - Biographies

The Law Commission of Canada is an independent body that provides non-partisan advice to the federal government on matters relating to the improvement, modernization and reform of Canadian laws.

Shauna Van Praagh is the President of the revived Law Commission of Canada, Sarah Elgazzar and Aidan Edward Johnson are the Commissioners. The Commissioners will hold office for a term of four years, with the President holding office for five years, all effective June 6, 2023.

Shauna Van Praagh, President

Shauna Van Praagh is a Full Professor of Law at McGill University. She has been a member of the Faculty of Law since 1993 and served as Associate Dean (Graduate Studies in Law) from 2007 - 2010. Professor Van Praagh’s areas of teaching, research and writing include children and law, social diversity and law, legal education, civil liability, comparative legal traditions, and storytelling in law. Intensively involved in the design and implementation of innovations in programmes and pedagogy, she received the John W. Durnford Teaching Excellence Award early in her career, and chaired the 1995-96 committee that produced the blueprint for a revised and unique program of legal education at McGill University. Her recently published book, Building Justice: Frank Iacobucci and the Life Cycles of Law (2022), explores and illustrates engaged citizenship through law.

Shauna Van Praagh served as President of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (2013-2014); in 2015, she was appointed as one of two academic members of the National Requirement Review Committee under the auspices of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. She has been actively involved in transdisciplinary research teams, networks and centres, including McGill’s Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and the Centre de recherche en droit public at l’Université de Montréal.  Her service to community includes public lectures, primary school workshops, contributions to literary journals, podcast interviews, opinion pieces in newspapers, and the organization of public symposia. In 2017, her contributions to community and outreach were recognized in the form of the One World Award given by Montreal’s Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom.

A graduate of the University of Toronto (Bachelor of Science 1986, Bachelor of Laws 1989) and Columbia University (Master of Laws (LLM) 1992, Doctor of Juridical Science (JSD) 2000), Shauna Van Praagh clerked for The Right Honourable Brian Dickson, Chief Justice of Canada, in 1989-1990. Born in Toronto, she grew up in New Delhi, Singapore and Ottawa. For the past 30 years, she has called Montreal home.

Aidan Johnson, Commissioner

Aidan Johnson is a staff lawyer at Niagara Community Legal Clinic, where they also serve as executive director.  Mx Johnson provides representation at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. NCLC is a not-for-profit agency funded by Legal Aid Ontario. The clinic provides access to justice for poverty-affected people in the Region of Niagara. 

Previously, Mx Johnson was a criminal defence staff lawyer for Legal Aid Ontario and a city councillor in Hamilton.  They served in a quasi-judicial capacity as chair of the City of Hamilton Planning and Economic Development Committee, which adjudicates appealable land use and zoning decisions.

They hold a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago and were a Fulbright scholar.

Sarah Elgazzar, Commissioner

Sarah Elgazzar is an experienced policy advisor and civic trainer specializing in the use of behavioural sciences in policy design, communication strategy, and inclusive community engagement.

A graduate of McGill University, Sarah Elgazzar holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Psychology and Middle East Studies. She received her Masters in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore.

She is a policy and communications professional, who is currently an advisor and civic trainer at Research for Impact in Singapore. Prior to that, she served as a lecturer at Cambridge Muslim College in the United Kingdom, where she developed and delivered courses in such areas as community development and strategic communications. She also served as national spokesperson and regional director of communications for the National Council of Canadian Muslims in Montreal, where she directed public communications campaigns and advised local and national institutions. She received the Scarlet Key for her excellence in leadership and her extracurricular contributions, including having co-founded the first Muslim women’s centre in Montreal.