Non-inclusion leads to awareness bike ride through Metro Vancouver
An Abbotsford journalist and his team will cycle some 200 kilometres through the Lower Mainland starting Wednesday to inspire awareness about the need for more cultural inclusion in the region.
Abbotsford-Mission Times columnist Ken Herar said the four-day cycle tour dubbed Cycling for Diversity will make stops in schools and at civic celebrations to generate awareness of the value of diversity.
Herar said the idea came from a growing concern in his community about increasing segregation, as well as his own recent experience of discrimination when he was barred from a party because of his race.
“The best way to tackle rascism is to celebrate multiculturalism,” Herar said. “We can never stop building bridges with one another.”
The trip starts with a visit to Griner Park in Mission at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning where Herar and six other team mates will plant a Gingko Biloba tree, native to China, to symbolize the ever-expanding nature of acceptance and inclusion.
The team will continue through Mission, Abbotsford, Langley, Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby, Vancouver, Richmond until its finish at the legislative grounds in Victoria on Saturday, May 21.
May 21 marks the United Nations’ World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Herar will ride a road bike on loan from a shop in Mission and said he hopes to raise money to buy the bike and donate it to someone in need after the trip.
For more information, see the Cycling for Diversity Facebook page or contact Herar at kenherar@gmail.com.
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