HAT Hall of Fame Inductee
Tanya Long

Tanya Long
Secretary, Program Coordinator

Please tell us a little bit about your background.

I was born in a very small town a few miles north of Sudbury, Ontario. My parents were immigrants from Finland; I am a first generation Canadian. My father worked as a hardrock miner for INCO; my mother was a homemaker. My only sibling was nine years younger than me (she died in 2019). My plan was to attend university at Victoria College, U of T, but a family health crisis meant I went to Laurentian University in Sudbury instead. I was very happy at Laurentian. I liked being part of something new; the classes were small; I edited the yearbook and newspaper; and paid my way through university with scholarships. I met my husband during Frosh Week and we were married right after graduation. We moved to Toronto where I completed two graduate degrees in English Literature. Career-wise, I started out as an academic at U of T, didn't get tenure, then found a job as editorial director of a Canadian publishing company because I knew something about Canadian writers (my specialty as a professor was Canadian literature). I recently retired from my position as Senior Manager, Public Education at a health charity, where I had been for 28 years.

How did you become a secular humanist?

My family was not particularly religious but my mother and I attended the United Church every Sunday. We both sang in the choir for many years. The church was a social centre - Brownies and Girl Guides held their meetings there, as did other organizations. I was fairly religious as a teenager and the man I married was planning to be a United Church minister. I was attracted partly by his religious fervor. The marriage lasted seven years, by which time we had both become pretty disillusioned. Involvement in the women's movement in the '70s put paid to whatever religious feelings I had left when I understood that many mainstream churches treated women as second-class citizens. Also as I became more aware of the enormity of the universe, the idea of a god who paid particular attention to human activity made no sense whatsoever.

When did you become involved with HAT and what roles did you play?

A friend introduced me to HAT in the late 1990s. I immediately joined the steering committee; I served as secretary for about eight years and then as program coordinator for about another eight. At that time I decided to step back and have since served as a member-at-large. I am a very active participant in the HAT forum. I delight in the intelligent, impassioned discussions of the forum.

Are there accomplishments with HAT that you are especially proud of?

Well, my longevity - joke!! When I was program coordinator, the goal was to have a speaker once a month except over Christmas and the summer months. That meant about six or seven speakers per year. In order to accomplish that, I cast my net pretty widely. Some events were very successful: Cathy Crowe street nurse spoke to us at OISE and there were people sitting on the window ledges; Gar Mahood, anti-smoking activist, accepted a Humanist of the Year Award and his talk was very well attended; similarly Heather Mallick, columnist for the Toronto Star who then wrote some very nice words about us in her column; a Dying with Dignity panel featuring three speakers, held in the auditorium of the Multi-Faith Centre, was one of HAT's biggest events; a presentation by music critic Rick Philips on Beethoven the Revolutionary may seem a stretch but it was popular; and one of the last talks I organized was by history professor Dr. Robert Johnson on Russia. Dr. Johnson returned to speak to HAT more recently.

What does HAT mean to you?

Once I realized I was an atheist, I noticed how difficult it was to "come out." The first time I openly acknowledged my atheism was during a discussion in the lunch room at work. I was afraid I would be considered a "bad, immoral person." HAT provided an opportunity to meet and work with people who shared my values and world view.

What are your current interests?

In 2015 I joined the Academy for Lifelong Learning in anticipation of retiring; the academy is a volunteer-run organization for retired professionals that, unlike many programs for seniors, stresses peer learning. I am on the board; I'm assistant chair of the communications committee, where I am responsible for content editing of the quarterly review and writing articles for the review. I am also attending four workshops. If I had a bumper sticker it would read "I'd rather be reading." I belong to three book clubs so as you can imagine I do a lot of reading! I enjoy music - sang in a choir for 18 years and have enjoyed classical music concerts in Toronto and at the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, which I attended for 20+ years. During the lock down I have taken advantage of many online musical offerings, including music appreciation courses at the Royal Conservatory of Music It's a full life and I am happy that HAT is a part of it.