Author's Biography
SHEILAGH STEWART, B.COMM., LL.B.

Sheilagh Stewart was an Assistant Crown Attorney for over 33 years. She specialized in provincial offences and criminal driving offences. During her career, she was an acknowledged expert in the Provincial Offences Act (POA), the Highway Traffic Act and the federal Contraventions Act. She spoke regularly to enforcement agencies, prosecutors and police on criminal and provincial laws.
Sheilagh also sat on numerous committees in regard to the POA and related projects and initiatives. She was a member of the Advisory Panel to the Law Commission of Ontario’s Project on the Modernization of the POA. She was a member of a variety of provincial law enforcement committees, including the Provincial Speed Advisory Committee and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Traffic Committee. In addition to Stewart on Provincial Offences Procedure in Ontario, she is the author of papers at the international level on a variety of topics related to road safety, including criminal drinking and driving offences.
She received the Award of Excellence from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police in 2011, the first non-police recipient. In 2013, Sheilagh was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her contributions to road safety in Canada. She is the recipient of a number of awards and recognition, including the Prosecutors’ Association of Ontario Award of Merit and Lifetime Membership Award, the Alpha Gamma Delta International Distinguished Citizen Medal for public service and the Amethyst Award – the highest award a civil servant in Ontario can receive. Most recently, Sheilagh was made a Member of the Order of St. John, an honour given on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen by the Governor General of Canada, in recognition of her work with the St John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program.
Sheilagh currently runs her own consulting company, in demand for her expertise relating to the enforcement of provincial offences and legislative reform. Sheilagh is also the Coordinator of the Toronto Therapy Dogs in the Courtroom Program and the proud handler of a therapy dog, Ringo Starr, a Wheaten Terrier.