Aleem Bharmal, KC
Lawyer
Human Rights Clinic – HRC
604-673-3126
abharmal[AT]clasbc.net
Aleem Bharmal, KC is a lawyer with the BC Human Rights Clinic at CLAS. He has practiced law at CLAS since late 2002 and was its Executive Director for just over twelve years from late 2007 to the end of 2019. Prior to that, he was an associate lawyer practicing employment law with a large firm in Toronto.
Aleem graduated from Trinity College, University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1991 and obtained his law degree from the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia in 1994. He was called to the Bars of both BC and Ontario in 1995 and 1997, respectively.
Aleem has been a presenter on human rights, social justice and access to justice issues and is also a volunteer mentor at the Allard School of Law, UBC. He has also served on various sections and committees of the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBABC) over the years including Co-Chairing the Human Rights and Social Justice Sections for several.
In late 2015, Aleem and his co-counsel, Clea Parfitt, won a very lengthy, high-profile racial discrimination case involving Indo-Canadian veterinarians: Brar v. BCVMA and Osborne (No. 22), 2015 BCHRT 151. In early 2016, Aleem was involved with other non-profit legal groups and concerned lawyers in the launch of an Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline.
In June 2016, Aleem was awarded the CBABC President’s Medal in recognition of his contributions to the legal profession. In May 2017, he was elected to CBABC Provincial Council as a representative of Vancouver County. In June 2018, he was elected as an Officer to the CBABC Executive Committee. In February 2019, Aleem received the designation of Queen’s counsel (QC) by the British Columbia Attorney Generala distinction of honour awarded to select members of the legal profession for their contributions to the justice system.
In June 2020, Aleem was acclaimed Second Vice-President of the CBABC Board and served as President for the 2022-2023 term. The Canadian Bar Association is the professional organization representing 37,000 lawyers, judges and law students across Canada with over 7,300 members in BC.
Part of Aleem’s passion for human rights comes from his previous work abroad. As a young lawyer in the mid-nineties, he worked as a Human Rights Officer for the U.N. High Commission of Human Rights, where he assisted in reporting on the administration of justice and ongoing human rights violations in Rwanda.