Bayefsky holds a B.A., M.A. and LL.B. from the University of Toronto and an M.Litt. from Oxford University. She has served as the director of York's Centre for Refugee Studies, project director for the university's Human Rights Treaty Study, member of Canadian delegations to international meetings, such as the UN Human Rights Commissions in 1993–1996, the UN General Assembly in 1984 and 1989, the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, and a delegate of the American Society of International Law to the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. She was a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute She was with different international delegations such as Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995 and Durban Racism Conference in 2001.