Privilege, Equity, and Keeping Up the Fight for Justice on BC Roads
This year, across North America — and in many places around the world — the farewell to summer is unlike any other seasonal transition in modern history.
The transition from winter to spring brought a quick, bracing splash of shock and awe, and moving from spring into summer was hopeful (with a few dashes of giddiness and mild panic).
The shift from summer into fall, however, seems like something else entirely. It actually seems pretty dreadful.
All across the continent, and for a variety of reasons, people are struggling to breathe. People are losing their homes in vast numbers. Some people lack clean drinking water, have no work, or have few means to survive on a daily basis. Tens of millions of people are worried about the fairness of elections and their voting rights. And many, many people simply lack political leadership they can trust.
We usually feel this about people in developing nations, but today we must recognize that basic human security, rights, and dignity are being denied to millions of our neighbours in the United States, as well as to many of our fellow citizens in Canada (and even in British Columbia).
Yes, a cycling group can seemingly do very little about all this, and maybe you feel the same as an individual. And yet…when people are killed as a result of prejudice and systemic corruption...when access to food, housing, childcare and work can be denied on the basis of one's life circumstance...when a nation's democratic norms are eroded in front of the eyes of the world...it's hard to say, "Bike more".
It is our world, but let’s take a moment for some perspective. A moment to call out the fact that the time we spend reading and speaking with our parents, our children, our friends, neighbours and co-workers about anything other than threats of the highest order — the threats being faced by Black (and Brown and Indigenous and Asian and Muslim) lives, the fires ravaging the west coast, the pandemic-related job losses, ‘Trumpism’ and other forms of betrayal by leaders at all levels of government everywhere — we're thinking and talking about privilege.
As an advocacy-driven, non-profit society, we feel an obligation to acknowledge our privilege, because even while each of us individually and collectively benefit from this privilege, we can use it in different ways, share it, and give some of it up, so others less privileged can benefit. Even when thinking about and working on transportation issues, we can simultaneously become participants in building a better world.
At the BCCC, we feel our place in the world is small, but important. We're fighting for fairness and justice in our transportation systems, for safety and accessibility for all. We want more public space to move around in, more facilities for different types of mobility, more options for people to commute — to get things done, to visit friend and family, and to support physical and mental health. To avoid requiring a motor vehicle to live our lives, at any and all cost to others.
We can all agree that mobility is not the #1 struggle facing people today, let alone the people who can't breathe, can't sleep, can't work, can't be at peace, and can't trust the future. And yet, fighting for the same political representation and rights to safety and accessibility as someone with a private motor vehicle and a parking space at their disposal is also a fight for justice. We too can help many of the same people facing other inequities on a daily basis, while we speak up against the injustice levied against our social structures and natural environment.
It’s a fight for people like Paul Backhouse, a 41-year-old Crown counsel who was killed by a pickup truck as he was cycling on the shoulder of BC’s Highway 16, between Telkwa and his home in Smithers. It’s a 15-km stretch that should, by all rights, be bike-able without fear of being killed.
While it shouldn’t be a fight, we wonder what we can we say to Backhouse’s friends. What can we say or do for the Cycle16 Trail Society, a local advocacy group with a vision for “a paved path, separate from the highway, linking Telkwa, Smithers and rural areas, for the benefit and enjoyment of locals and tourists”? Is justice actually coming?
It’s tough. We can’t pretend that our leaders are responding in the ways we would. Sometimes we can only hope.
As one Cycle16 Board member put it:
[We’re in] turmoil up here at the moment, with the death on the highway of one of our friends. [It] just raises so many questions around our priorities, especially as to why motorized transportation takes precedence over the most elegant form of transportation, the bicycle.
Hopefully our combined efforts will shift this mindset before too many more of us die in either highway carnage or obesity related illness.
For further perspective, consider that Cycle 16 is holding bake sales to raise money for their road safety project. (They’d appreciate a donation, by the way — e-transfers can be sent to info@cycle16.ca)
So, this fall, instead of "Bike more", our message to you, and anyone else concerned about inequity in the world, is "Use your privilege to make change happen".
Put some of your spare time, energy and resources towards fighting against inequity around mobility and in spaces and places where your ability to move, commute, and connect can play a useful and constructive role — not just in climate justice, population health, social cohesion and economic well-being, but in modelling to others the need for each individual to put effort towards righting of wrongs all across our world.
If you can breathe, sleep, work, be calm, and think, and you can see an equitable future for British Columbians, please use some of your privilege to work on bringing it to life.
Even if it's the least you can do, it's something.
And if you can do more, ask yourself — why wouldn’t I?
Engage on the Issues
Ask our elected leaders in BC to take bold actions to shift investments in laws, policies and dollars — from more driving and highways expansion, to protections for vulnerable road users and more active transportation and transit infrastructure.
We need strong, bold and committed leadership on progressive transportation issues that support CleanBC goals, that open up mobility options in rural and suburban communities, and that allow British Columbians to save money, get healthy and improve social connections. It’s all about equity, and our politicians need to hear from us, especially before the next provincial election.
Here are some useful ways to engage on the issues:
Write a letter to your MLA — and provincial cabinet members — asking for change to our transportation systems, such as reform of BC’s antiquated Motor Vehicle Act, or focusing on active transportation as part of a just and equitable pandemic recovery.
Support the efforts of advocacy groups to advance transportation equity for all, such as by completing this survey about ICBC no-fault legislation the BC Government passed during the quiet, summer 2020 Legislative Assembly session.
Sign a petition in favour of active transportation investments, like the one asking the BC Government to support the completion of the Salish Sea Trail on Salt Spring Island.
Write an article for your local paper or blog, supporting active transportation priorities, like this one about the Yellow Point Trail, a cycling route connecting between Nanaimo, Nanaimo Airport and Ladysmith.
Volunteer Your Time
Give some of your time to your local community. No matter where you live, there are kids struggling with mental health and pressures of school and family, seniors who are isolated and in need of support, and people lacking basic resources.
If you have the time ands ability to get around — by any means, including by car, bike, transit, or foot — you can make a big difference in the lives of others.
And when you give your time to groups like our coalition member organizations, you broaden the reach and the end benefits to communities, ultimately helping more people. Beyond transportation, you can also support diverse groups in need within your local community:
Food banks, homeless shelters, and refuges for women, children and families
Advocacy groups focused on issues of environmental issues, housing affordability, and racial justice
Seniors and youth-serving organizations
Larger organizations with local presence, like the United Way
Step Back…So Someone Else Can Step Forward
Sometimes, the desire and ability to contribute can also perpetuate the participation of people who have been, historically, over-represented in society. Despite the value of this time and effort, it can take away space for other, previously under-represented voices.
If this rings true to you, and you think there’s a risk that your activity could come at the cost of leaving a space open for people who are often marginalized due to their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age or socio-economic status, consider stepping back.
It’s a tough ask, but it’s part of making change happen. And there’s still a way you can make a big difference…
Invest in Advocacy
Even in tough times, the BC government has money. Our leaders maintain the status quo or make change, simply by making choices about where to put this money, because this money becomes programs, services and infrastructure for British Columbians.
Advocates can’t make such impacts, and we don’t have the luxury of choice, because the money is often not there.
If you can’t make the time investment or effort, and you want to see more political lobbying and pressure on the BC government from the advocacy community — on issues like legislative reform, active transportation policies, infrastructure investments, e-bikes, driver education, and cycle tourism promotion (among many others) — you can still make a huge difference. You can invest your money.
Funding advocacy is an investment in community, transportation equity and, ultimately, using your privilege to make things happen.
Thank you, and have a safe and peaceful shift into autumn.
