Ajith Thiyagalingam

Ajith is a lawyer specializing in immigration and refugee law and international human rights law. He is currently pursuing a Master's in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. Previously, he was an Immigration Staff Lawyer with Legal Aid Ontario and Legal Counsel at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. He also acted as a legal advisor to the Legal Resources Centre, a public interest law clinic and human rights organization in South Africa. Ajith was named to York University's Top 30 Changemakers Under 30 and the Canadian Tamil Professionals Association's Emerging Professional Award. He was a successful candidate in the federal government's flagship Recruitment of Policy Leaders (RPL) program. He sits as Vice President of the Board of Directors of JusticeNet, a national not-for-profit organization seeking to make justice more accessible and equitable, and the Board of Directors of CAYR Community Connections, an HIV/AIDS charitable organization. He was previously on the Board of Directors of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto. Ajith received a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, a Master of Arts in International Law and Diplomacy with distinction from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) & University for Peace (UPEACE), and an Honours Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from York University. He completed the Global Institute for Human Rights program at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he was judged by a panel of judges from the United Nations, World Bank, and International Finance Corporation and awarded the Top 3 Prize for The Protect All Girls Project to Combat Global Child Marriage. He completed the Fintech Programme at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and the Executive Programme in Business Strategy and Finance from INSEAD Business School.