Laura Arndt Ph.D candidate, Social Sciences and Humanities, Cultural Studies Queen's University

Chair, School of Advancement Centennial College 

Chief Operating Officer, Survivors Secretariat 

Lay Adjudicator, Ontario Law Society Tribunal

Laura is a band member at Six Nations and is currently working as the Chief Operating Officer for the Survivors' Secretariat, looking into unmarked burials on the grounds of the Mohawk Institute, Indian Residential School.

She has written papers and shadow reports for: Senate committees, provincial tables and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child on the occasion of Canada’s Periodic and Universal Reviews. Her work includes submissions for the Ontario Coroner’s review of deaths in Pikangikum First Nation, the review of First Nation representation in Ontario courts and a submission to the Office of the Independent Police Director as part of Broken Trust-Indigenous People and the Thunder Bay Police Service. Her creation of Feathers of Hope, HairStory and leadership tied to We have Something to Say has culminated in eight (8) reports to which she was a contributing researcher. While working for Indspire she wrote a seminal report on the experiences of Indigenous Post-Secondary students in the post Truth and Reconciliation Landscape. 

In her personal life, Laura works as a national mentor, with the Toronto Blue Jays, Jays Care Foundation, where she was part of developing a sport-based program for Indigenous youth from the James Bay Coast, James Bay Girls at Bat. She also sits on Right to Play Canada’s national advisory circle for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit youth. Beyond this work she was also a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, her deployments included working in New Orleans, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and deployments in Ontario