Tasia made the team and helped lead Nova Scotia to a bronze medal at the 2005 Canada Games in Regina. Her mom, dad and brother all made the trip to support Tasia and witness her medal win, and the experience definitely made a mark.
“I knew I had to go back,” she said. “I distinctly remember telling my family right after we had won the bronze medal, that if this opportunity ever comes up again, I'm going. I don't know what it'll be, but I have to go back. I just knew that this was the space I wanted to be in.”
Tasia fulfilled that wish at the 2013 Canada Games as an assistant coach with the Nova Scotia women’s basketball team, and then again as the team’s head coach at the 2017 Canada Games in Winnipeg. The Games were a launching pad that helped give her the confidence to step outside her comfort zone and into new spaces both on and off the court.
She has worn many hats throughout her career in sport, from a standout player with Lakehead University and coaching gigs with Saint Mary’s University and Canada Basketball, to being the first Black woman in the role of Technical Director with Basketball Nova Scotia and a former Commissioner of the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association.
She is also a tireless champion for gender and racial equity and using sport as a powerful tool to empower people.
“Being the first black woman in a lot of different spaces, I don't think I necessarily realized it when I was younger. I hadn't thought about it, probably until 2020. I think that year really impacted a lot of Black and Indigenous people and the broader community as well.
“That was when I realized that I have to use my voice. I have to acknowledge when sometimes I am the first. Do I want to always be the first? No, not necessarily. Do I want other people to come behind me and fill those positions? Absolutely, but I think it's okay for us to embrace when we are maybe the first or the only one and really lean into that. If we don't, then I don't think we're paving the way for people to come behind us, and we're also not giving people a chance to see that we can do really cool things, and that we’re powerful people to be in these positions.”
“And so it is a legacy to me. Hopefully people take a step forward, even when maybe they're a little bit scared, maybe when they think that they shouldn't be there. And if there's a moment where me or someone else that looks like them, they can reflect on that and say, ‘Okay, I've seen someone there, I can do it too.’ That's all that we ever want.”
Now in a full-time role in sport and recreation with the Government of Nova Scotia, Tasia will attend her fourth Canada Games in 2025 as the Assistant Chef de Mission for Team NS. It will be a full circle moment being on the operational side instead of on the court or behind the bench, but it’s one more way in which she’s giving back to the next generation through sport.
“We talk a lot about making things as equitable as we can, about safety in sport, and about financial opportunities or potentially barriers that are in place. And so if I can play a role by thinking about what challenges or opportunities I had growing up, and bring it to my work to help make it easier for an athlete, a coach, or a volunteer, then that's really important to me.
“I know that people helped me a lot along the way. And without people coming back into the sport and giving back, then I wouldn't be where I'm at today.”
The greatest legacy of the Canada Games is the people they help shape, who then pay it forward through their careers and in their communities. Tasia would agree.
“The legacy is that we are changing the face of the sports landscape, and arguably of Canada in every aspect that we can possibly get our hands into.”
