Steven Shulman

Origins and early life

Steven Shulman came up through BBYO, the Jewish youth movement, in Eastern Canada, where he was a member of Raome AZA, served as regional Aleph Godol of the Lake Ontario Region and won the AZA's Max Baer International Oratory Contest in 1982. He took a degree in political science at York University and graduated from its Osgoode Hall Law School, is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and of the New York bar, and spent eleven years in private legal practice.

Work and career

From 1993 to 1997 he was national associate director for community relations and assistant counsel of the Canadian Jewish Congress, and from 2005 to 2007 its Ontario regional director and national general counsel, working against antisemitism and all forms of racism. He then spent a decade as campaign director and counsel of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, beginning with an annual campaign in the economic meltdown of 2008 and leading six consecutive years of growth.

As its senior vice-president for corporate affairs, community relations and counsel, he led its strategic planning in 2021 and the launch of UJA Community Security, and spoke for the community in times of crisis. He is now president and chief executive of Jewish Federations of Canada – UIA, which connects the country's Jewish federations with Israel and the Jewish world and works through the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, its advocacy agent.

In 2023 the Jerusalem Post named him among its five Jewish Community Guardians, at number 47 on its list of the fifty most influential Jews, for strengthening the connection between Canadian Jews and Israel.

Recognition

In June 2026 BBYO Eastern Canada gave him its first Mark Silverstein Alumni of the Year Award for his lifelong commitment to the Jewish community, and in September 2026, after the attack on a synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, he urged governments to protect Jewish institutions better.