Shiva Olyaei

Chair of Policy Studies at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

As a Peter Allard School of Law alumni with a doctoral degree from UBC and a dedicated law and public policy instructor, Shiva Olyaei is honoured to serve her community through her unwavering devotion to social justice praxis. Shiva received training in diverse legal and policy fields including her master’s degree in international law and the LLM degree in common law. Prior to joining KPU, Shiva taught at Simon Fraser University. 

These academic backgrounds prompted her to bridge the gap between academia and civil society by further engaging with local politics as an elected ombudsperson at BC Greens and an incoming vice president at Farsi dar BC non-profit. 

Shiva's critical legal lens, as well as her extensive exposure to diversity along with her own lived experience, allowed her to appreciate the value of equitable and just treatment without bias or discrimination. Shiva takes pride in her recent journey to actively educate herself and her community about Indigenous rights and history and the decolonization process. Such awareness inspired Shiva to facilitate political literacy workshops, volunteer with ISS and MOSAIC and to become a certified life and leadership coach as well as an accredited judicial translator and interpreter to fill the gaps in those areas.  

The traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people is where Shiva lives with her husband and two children. Shiva loves making new connections and meeting new people from different walks of life, whether through travelling or volunteering or social events. Reading books, watching films, and listening to world music and podcasts that are intellectually stimulating is something that truly enriches her life and sparks her creativity. She loves world cuisine and really enjoy trying new food with her daughter. In addition to traditional Persian cuisine, she always loves a good butter chicken or sushi meal.