Tasha Diamant

As a writer, artist, teacher, and activist for more than 35 years, Tasha Diamant contributed to various publications including Maclean’s, where she worked as a journalist from 1988 through the mid-1990s, and Australia’s Who Weekly. In 1989, during her time at Maclean’s, she pressed for the mass murder of fourteen women at École Polytechnique to be placed on the front cover, refusing to accept it as an isolated act. The moment forced a lasting confrontation with violence against women and her own understanding of feminism, ultimately reshaping how she understood power, silence, and responsibility in the world around her. She later served as a creative director for an advertising agency in Lethbridge, Alberta, and worked extensively in communications in both Alberta and Victoria, B.C., where she moved in 2011. A dedicated ecofeminist performance artist and activist, Tasha received the Southern Alberta Art Gallery Award in 2006 and spent several summers painting on location in Saint Andrews-by-the-Sea, Deer Island, and Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick. She spent one summer painting in Louisiana, where she rescued a puppy from being eaten by alligators—she named him Swampy, and always said he was her first child. Tasha was the creator of The Human Body Project, a performance art series that explored vulnerability, trauma, and embodiment through unscripted public and theatrical appearances. She earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University and a Master of Education from University of Lethbridge in 2011, where she defended a thesis in arts-based research centered on The Human Body Project and its accompanying feature-length documentary. From 2004 to 2016, she taught across disciplines including media production, public speaking, writing, communication, cultural studies, and research at Lethbridge College, the University of Lethbridge, and Royal Roads University. She is survived by her two daughters.