2023 saw TASC continued leadership of the Adaptive Sport & Recreation at Ontario Post-Secondary Institutions pilot program as a member of the Ontario Parasport Collective and funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The program came to a completion following the 2022/23 academic year but whose program leads continue to meet monthly to provide support and guidance for existing and new members looking to begin a program in their institution. A full evaluation report is available here for review.
In keeping with our 3 Pillar approach to fulfilling our Mission, the following list highlights some of the activities undertaken this year.
Awareness
TASCs involvement with numerous conferences, strategic and research initiatives in addition to its regular outreach, enabled us to grow awareness of the Toronto Accessible Sports Council (TASC) and promote the growing number of adaptive sports and recreational programs being offered across Toronto (GTA).
- Holland Bloorview School
- City of Toronto
- MLSE – Research to Practice
- Variety Village
Advocacy
To ensure that accessibility and equity is being discussed and ultimately met within various organizations and associations, TASC continues its membership and participation in the following groups:
- City of Toronto, (PFR) – Community Disability Steering Committee
- Toronto District School Board (TDSB) – Community Use of Schools Advisory Committee (CUSCAC)
- Community Sport Council Ontario (CSCO)
Convening
Once again TASC focused our convening efforts with 2 large conferences. Our role as an organizational partner with Variety Village in the delivery of the Active Living Conference & Summit in November was again a huge success and brought together hundreds of students pursuing studies in Recreation Therapy, Rec & Leisure and Sports Management to the world of adaptive sports. A combination of hands-on demonstrations and instructional workshops proved a valuable experience to all in attendance.
TASC was also able to present its findings of the Adaptive Sport & Recreation at Ontario Post-Secondary Institutions program at the Ontario Parasport and Adapted Physical Activity Summit, presented by the Ontario Parasport Collective (OPC) in November 2023. The summit was the culmination of the five-year journey of the OPC. It was a mix of plenary, breakouts and collaboration sessions that shared knowledge and brought together people committed to disability sport and recreation. Additional information on the Ontario Parasport Collective, the Summit, the participants and resources can be found here.
Finally, I’d like to thank our funders and donors with whom we would not be able to do the work we do. As a result of various grants, we were able to support programming grants to:
- Ontario Para Network (ONPARA) – Junior Wheelchair Basketball program
- Special Olympics Ontario (Toronto) – new Youth basketball program
- Able Sail Toronto – General programming
- Ontario Blind Sports Association (OBSA) – Summer Camp
- Canadian Blind Hockey (CBH) – Try Blind Hockey (Toronto)
—
Jonathan Wood
Chair & CEO
