Tamara is a proud mother and grandmother. Tamara began her career over 34 years ago as a parent navigating autism and disability services and then worked to improve services and the way people experience accessing services. In the early 1990’s Tamara became a family support coordinator and then formalized her education, enrolling in university when her youngest child entered school. Tamara’s education in cultural anthropology included a focus on First Nations studies and disability studies. She worked for Inclusion BC and authored ‘Everyone Belongs in our Schools: A Parent’s Handbook on Inclusive Education’ before becoming a manager in the area of policy for Community Living BC in 2007 and then Ministry of Children and Family in 2018. Tamara has recently retired and moved to the qathet region on the upper Sunshine Coast.
One thing she is proud of is an article she wrote in 2005 that explores the state of child welfare programs for Indigenous children and examines issues within the Canadian colonial context. Tamara is from the Snuneymuxw First Nation and this article shares her perspective as someone who was adopted during the 60’s scoop.
