Emma Gaffney-Ladd is a current student at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, completing her Masters in Global Governance.

She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2024, earning an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a double minor in Indigenous Studies and Critical Studies of Equity and Solidarity. During her studies, she specialized in areas focused on human rights, conflict, peace integration, and anti-colonial thought. These themes culminated in her fourth-year undergraduate thesis, “The Other and its Place in Interstate Conflict: a Case Study of the Rwandan Genocide”. During her undergraduate studies, she also participated in an international field course in Belize through the Centre for Engaged Learning Abroad (CELA), where she explored issues of food justice, security, and sustainability within Indigenous communities.

Since graduating in 2024, Emma has spent the last year working for an Indigenous-led non-profit organization in London, ON. She started her work here as a project researcher for the Action Research on Chronic Homelessness (ARCH) study in partnership with the City of London and Housing Infrastructure Communities Canada (HICC). Through this work, Emma emerged as a skilled researcher, speaker, and advocate. She co-authored the published report “Indigenous-Led Approaches to Coordinated Access in London, Ontario,” and has presented findings at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa, as well as spoken at educational workshops hosted by Western University, King’s University College, and the University of Toronto. Currently, her team continues to push for the implementation of the report’s policy recommendations within London’s City Council to better support Indigenous relatives experiencing homelessness.

Emma’s professional and academic experiences have deepened her commitment to equity, justice, and community-driven change. At the Balsillie School, she seeks to integrate the insights gained from her undergraduate education and frontline research experience into her graduate studies. She is particularly passionate about addressing intersecting global challenges such as climate change, forced displacement, food insecurity, human rights, housing, and Indigenous sovereignty, areas which she believes require urgent, collaborative, and decolonial approaches.