Where We Stand: A Message From the Executive Director
We are approaching Canada Day, and as much as we all need reasons to celebrate and feel kinship right now, this is not our year to joyfully celebrate Canada as a nation. Dark truths have been coming to light, and we are mourning, learning and trying to come to terms with stories many of us have not heard before—though they are not new.
It is the responsibility of the states and Christian churches of Turtle Island to own their parts in the attempted cultural and literal erasure of Indigenous people from this land, through the residential school system. It is their responsibility to dismantle systemic racism where it remains, and to work—humbly and in earnest—towards truth and reconciliation.
It is, for all of us non-Indigenous Canadians, to understand the despicable chapters in our nation’s history, to see the present-day anti-Indigenous discrimination that continues (the foster care system, treaty rights, access to clean drinking water, environmental racism, etc.). It is for us to listen, and to work towards change.
It is, for London Cycle Link as an organization, to consider ways that cycling communities and the cycling industry contribute to anti-Indigenous racism, cultural appropriation, or exclusion. And it is also, for us, to find ways to support Indigenous communities through the work we do. This can mean working with Indigenous storytellers who lead historical tours by bike; supporting Indigenous communities in developing their own skills training or trail systems; or calling out companies that need to do better, as Renee Hutchens does in this podcast.
More broadly, as a cycling organization, we ride at the intersection of cycling–and: cycling and the land we ride on, cycling and racism, cycling and economic disparities, cycling and people who use automobiles as weapons of hate.
Squeaky Wheel Bike Co-op will be closed on July 1. We hope that members of our community will take time on that day to both reflect on the tragedies Canada and Canadians are responsible for, and to consider paths towards truth and reconciliation.
Community leaders of London and surrounding area have organized a Turtle Island Healing Walk on Thursday morning, and are calling on Indigenous people and allies to walk together towards healing on Turtle Island.
June has been Pride month, and the Pride London Festival is happening (virtually) from July 15-25. For LGBTQ2S+ communities, Pride exists as both protest and celebration. The hard work of protesting for human and civil rights, and the music, dancing, and coming together of communities, happen around the same events.
Though its roots are colonial rather than protest based, I wonder if it could be possible, going forward, to find ways to recreate Canada Day, such that we can have a day to learn, grieve and reflect, but also to celebrate positive growth and movement. For now, may we have a day of peace and reflection, and may that movement grow.
Molly Miksa