Jennifer Bond holds degrees in law, literature, and business and has been called to the Bars of Ontario and British Columbia.She completed her graduate work at the Yale Law School as a John Peters Humphrey Fellow in International Human Rights Law and clerked at the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Professor Bond is an academic, social entrepreneur, and leading global expert on the policy and operational dimensions of protection pathways for refugees and vulnerable migrants.
She currently leads the University of Ottawa Refugee Hub and Pathways International, chairs the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (GRSI), co-leads the inaugural secretariat of the Resettlement Diplomacy Network (RDN), and sits on the boards of Talent Beyond Boundaries and Airbnb.org.She is also an advisor to governments, international organizations, and civil society and private sector leaders around the world.
In 2015/16, Professor Bond served on a full-time basis as Special Advisor to Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship on Canada’s Syrian Refugee Initiative, a project which engaged over two million Canadians and brought over 40,000 refugees to Canada in under four months.
She also sat on the founding executive of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, made submissions before the Supreme Court of Canada, served with the UNHCR in Damascus, Syria, and worked at a major law firm.She has provided expert commentary for over 50 national and international media stories and has delivered workshops and presentations in over 15 countries.
Professor Bond has been awarded the International Commission of Jurist’s Tarnopolsky Award and appointed to the Order of Ontario for her national and international contributions to refugee protection.