Tara has been a life-long social justice advocate and fiery feminist. She has been a rural development and intersectional policy researcher for nearly 20 years and holds an undergrad in Criminal Justice and a Master’s of Interdisciplinary Studies. Her master’s project analyzed the concept of trust and how those relationships impact the social licence to operate within vulnerable and marginalized populations across large hydro, forestry, and mining. She has experience in both the public and private realms of the resource sector within mineral mining, forestry, and oil and gas industries supporting and addressing socioeconomic impacts and considerations. Recently, she presented at the International Association for Impact Assessment’s conference on the necessity of using the federal government’s GBA+ process at the regional and strategic level for a Just Transition.

Her work on intersectional feminism within rural communities has garnered invitations on federal advisory panels, an advisory appointment on the Institute for Environment, Conservation, and Sustainability with the University of Toronto, and as a delegate at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women. She presently serves as a board member on the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women and is a founding member of the Data Advisory Group with the Gender and Environment Data Alliance through the Women’s Economic Development Organization and the International Union of Conservation of Nature.