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Niki Sharma
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| Attorney General of British Columbia | |
| Assumed office December 7, 2022 | |
| Premier | David Eby |
| Preceded by | Murray Rankin |
| Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Hastings | |
| Assumed office October 24, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Shane Simpson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1979 or 1980 (age 43–44)[1] Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada[2] |
| Political party | New Democratic |
| Other political affiliations | Vision Vancouver (municipal) |
| Residence(s) | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Alberta |
| Profession | Lawyer |
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Niki Sharma KC MLA 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)[3] and serves as Attorney General of British Columbia.[4]
Born in Lethbridge, Alberta,[2] Sharma grew up in Sparwood, British Columbia with her three sisters.[5][6] Her parents immigrated from India; her father Pal ran a small business in Sparwood, while her mother Rose ran for municipal council three times without being elected.[7][8]
After graduating from the University of Alberta Faculty of Law,[7] she joined Vancouver law firm Donovan & Company in 2005, specializing in aboriginal law.[2][9] Prior to her election to the legislature, Sharma served as vice-chair of the board of directors for Vancity since 2016,[10] and Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner[11] for Stand.earth, an environmental organization founded in 2000.[12]
She ran as a Vision Vancouver candidate in the 2011 Vancouver municipal election and was elected a commissioner of the Vancouver Park Board,[2] at one point serving as chair of the board.[8] 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,[13][14] and won the seat with 60.6% of the vote.[15] On November 26, 2020, Sharma was named Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits by Premier John Horgan.[16]
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.[7]
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 [17][18]
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[19]
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Niki Sharma | 13,362 | 60.56 | +0.58 | $23,640.61 | |||
| Green | Bridget Burns | 4,312 | 19.54 | +1.87 | $3,816.71 | |||
| Liberal | Alex Read | 3,885 | 17.61 | −3.88 | $4,639.54 | |||
| Libertarian | Gölök Z Buday | 321 | 1.45 | – | $550.68 | |||
| Communist | Kimball Cariou | 184 | 0.83 | −0.03 | $123.40 | |||
| Total valid votes | 22,064 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 192 | 0.86 | +0.08 | |||||
| Turnout | 22,256 | 51.37 | −8.22 | |||||
| Registered voters | 43,322 | |||||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | −0.65 | ||||||
| Source: Elections BC[20][21] | ||||||||
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Current members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
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| New Democratic |
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| BC United |
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| Conservative |
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| Green |
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| Independent |
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Membership per the 2020 British Columbia general election on October 24, 2020, and subsequent by-elections. | |
