Jeff LaPlante is of Métis ancestry born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating from the University of Manitoba in 2001, Jeff began his career working for the Canadian Human Rights Commission before moving to working for First Nations organizations in self-government negotiations, and then health policy and advocacy, followed by community-based health research. Jeff moved to British Columbia in 2009 and worked in program development and delivery at Indigenous Services Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada before taking a position at the CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples Health. In 2015 Jeff moved back to Winnipeg to take the position of Executive Director with the National Indigenous Diabetes Association until joining the Lawson Foundation in 2022.