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Niki Sharma
Canadian politician (born 1979/1980) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Niki Sharma KC MLA (born 1979 or 1980)[1] is a Canadian politician and lawyer, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 British Columbia general election. She represents the electoral district of Vancouver-Hastings as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP)[2] and serves as Deputy Premier and Attorney General of British Columbia.[3][4]
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Early life and career
Born in Lethbridge, Alberta,[5] Sharma grew up in Sparwood, British Columbia, with her three sisters.[6][7] Her parents immigrated from India; her father Pal ran a small business in Sparwood, while her mother Rose, who is a botanist by trade, ran for municipal council three times without being elected.[8][9]
After graduating from the University of Alberta Faculty of Law,[8] she joined Vancouver law firm Donovan & Company in 2005, specializing in aboriginal law.[5][10] Prior to her election to the legislature, Sharma served as vice-chair of the board of directors for Vancity since 2016,[11] and Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner[12] for Stand.earth, an environmental organization founded in 2000.[13]
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Politics
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She ran as a Vision Vancouver candidate in the 2011 Vancouver municipal election and was elected a commissioner of the Vancouver Park Board,[5] at one point serving as chair of the board.[9] She then ran under the Vision banner for Vancouver City Council in the 2014 municipal election, but was unsuccessful.[1]
With incumbent Vancouver-Hastings Member of the Legislative Assembly Shane Simpson declining to run in the 2020 provincial election, Sharma was named the BC NDP candidate for the riding,[14][15] and won the seat with 60.6 per cent of the vote.[16] On November 26, 2020, Sharma was named Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits by Premier John Horgan.[17]
On December 7, 2022, she was appointed by Premier David Eby as Attorney General of British Columbia, and therefore, automatically became a King's Counsel. She became the first South Asian Canadian woman to serve in that cabinet post.[8]
In 2023, the bereavement counselling group Moms Stop the Harm wrote to Niki Sharma requesting a forensic audit into the recovery industry due to an untracked number of deaths and number of other recent abuses occurring at their sites.[18][19]
In 2024, Attorney General Sharma and the BC NDP unsuccessfully tried to appeal an injunction against Bill 34, The Restricting Public Consumption Act; notably, their team provided no evidence on how the injunction could be causing harm.[20][21]
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Electoral record
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References
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