Downtown Legal Services — University of Toronto

Seema Kawar supervises the Housing Law Division. She earned her LLB at the University of Bristol, and LLM in International Development Law and Human Rights at the University of Warwick, both in the United Kingdom. Seema has an international background and has worked on women’s rights issues in Jordan and with the Human Rights Council at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. After moving to Toronto in 2015, she worked on refugee and immigration issues and practiced housing law within Ontario’s community clinic system, serving some of Toronto’s most vulnerable during the intensifying housing crises. In her recent role at the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR), Seema focused on advocating for the right to housing through policy and law reform and worked on legal and policy submissions to various levels of government and international bodies, as well as other community initiatives. Seema is excited to bring her diverse experience to DLS.