BA in Criminology graduate aspires to advocate for justice system reform

Emma Edney, BA '24, is proof that hard work, passion and determination can lead to great things. The first in her immediate family to attend a post-secondary institution, the Bachelor of Criminology graduate is one of only 30 students chosen this year for the prestigious McCall MacBain Scholarship as she prepares to attend McGill University to study Law in September.

“It doesn't even feel real, honestly,” says Edney. “I feel like it will hit when I'm there, but it just feels like it's a dream right now.”

Edney discovered her passion for criminology while still in high school. As a grade 12 student in Beaumont, Alberta, she was chosen to sit on the Alberta RCMP board as a youth advisor and saw how our justice system needed to do more to protect vulnerable people in our community. 

“I wanted to be able to provide a voice in the justice system because growing up, I was always told I didn't understand because I was young. But I was invited to sit on the board because I had strong opinions. When I went there, I saw the videos of police brutality and people just kind of moved on without questioning it. I was always questioning everything.”

Edney’s youth advocacy work has continued since then, volunteering with the Youth Restorative Action Project to work with young people, affected by a variety of social issues, who have caused harm and go on to take responsibility for their actions and grow in positive ways.

In her fourth year, Edney, who is also graduating with a Community Service-Learning (CSL) certificate, was accepted into the BA Criminology field placement stream and worked alongside the security intelligence officer doing gang interviews in prison. While in her field placement, Edney also began doing research with Professor Temitope Oriola. 

“I followed Professor Oriola’s work throughout my first two years at U of A, and I really enjoyed reading his work about terrorism and police use of force. I emailed him a whole paragraph about why I think he's so great and that I wanted to talk to him. I ended up kind of getting a job out of it even though I had zero research experience. He knew exactly what he was getting into,” says Edney, laughing. 

Throughout her time at the U of A and working with Oriola, the young scholar became increasingly mobilized to do her part to advocate for vulnerable people. 

“I view this work as being able to provide a voice for people who are already being taken down by the justice system. Specifically, my work with youth is something I want to target by doing youth criminal defence. Lots of people don't give youth a chance or give youth a voice, so I ultimately want to be able to ride that through McGill and help repair the harms in the community.” 

Edney, who is the only Edmontonian and University of Alberta graduate in the 2024 McCall Macbain Scholar cohort, is hopeful for her next endeavour and grateful for what the scholarship will mean for the work she does. 

“I am excited to represent Alberta as a McCall MacBain Scholar and be able to study criminal law,” says Edney. 

“I would have had to take out loans, and I probably would have had to do corporate law because I would need to pay back those loans. Having the scholarship actually allows me to do the stuff that I'm passionate about and put up the fight for criminal law. I would love to come back to Alberta when I graduate to help out my community and where I'm from.”