Dear Rotarians,
I am honored to speak hear today with some of the members from the Cycling4Diversity
team . Rotary has been part of my family for over a half a century with my father having 50 years perfect attendance. I was also a Rotarian for a short time and know the good Rotary does for the community and I thank you for your service. One of our members from our team is also a Rotarian Kulwinder Singh Dhillon from Surrey.
- Cycling4Diversity was created in 2011 when a team of cyclist rode from Mission to
Victoria from May 18th- May 21st to celebrate World Day for Cultural Diversity a
declaration by the United Nations.
- The Cycling4Diversity team or C4D as we like to refer to it completed its second annual
ride this past May from 22nd to 25th. The ride began by replanting a Ginko Biblo tree at
Griner Park in Mission, which was destroyed by vandals during the previous year.
- The C4D 2012 ride more than doubled this year with the amount of cyclist and stops. The 7 core riders and 5 support staff visited
9 cities during the 4 days and spoke to thousands of people. The cities included: Mission,
Abbotsford, Langley, Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby, Vancouver, Richmond and Victoria.
The team made close to 40 stops visiting schools and organizations and speaking to people on
topics of: culture, inclusion and racism. In our wonderful city in the country we visited six schools and had a reception at Matsqui Recreation Centre where the Abbotsford Fire & Rescue put their ladder trucks together and welcomed us.
- During this years ride the team received 8 proclamations including one from the
Province of British Columbia naming it “Cycling4Diversity Week in BC” from May 20th-26th.
The 7 other proclamations came from local cities which hosted us referring to it as “Cycling4Diversity Day”.
- C4D is more than just a bike ride, its about the message which is summed up in our slogan, “ Building bridge of dialogue one city at a time”. The message that we
delivered during the past two years was to encourage Canadians including our youth to
make an effort to reach out to someone from a different culture, race or religion. Whether it be walking, running or biking we encourage people to reach out and support our message.
Cultural Diversity is not just only focusing on our unique differences, its actually about building
relationships with each other and that should always remain our primary focus.
- Cultural Diversity is Canada’s greatest strength and how are nation was built, but the biggest challenge we currently face with cultural diversity not only here in Abbotsford,
but also in other jurisdictions across Canada is the growing cultural isolation.
As being a local columnist with the Abbotsford Times and shedding light on such
topics I am hearing more and more that are communities are operating in silos. In 1976, there were
only six ethnic enclaves in all of Canada, however, according to the latest statistics there
are more than a 110 ethnic enclaves in Metro Vancouver and 230 across Canada. Whether
it be in our schools, neighbourhoods, workplaces or sports teams spreading awareness is
crucial as we move forward towards the future. There is no magical formula on how we
can make all of this work or do we have all the answers. But, pointing the finger nor
pointing blame is not the solution either.
- The C4D initiative is what we would like our young diversity leaders of tomorrow to
be part of one day . One of the many questions we received during the journey
was: How long have you all known each other? Well, more than half the team had just
met the morning of the ride showing our audiences particularly the students with a little
effort barriers can be broken down and create everlasting friendships.
- The fact remains clear that we should never stop building relationships in a multicultural
society. The moment we remain silent walls get created.
We only had a couple of short months to plan the 2012 ride and I am proud to share with
all of you it was a huge success. The support from local service providers and sponsors
was fantastic. Rotary has been a huge supporter for the past two years The team was
deeply moved by the generosity and was honoured to carry this message throughout the
200km journey.
- Over 300 Cycling4Diversity T-shirts and 800 wristbands were handed out for free this
year. Our message to each recipient was you’re not only a supporter of C4D, but you’re
now part of the team.
- Since the May ride the C4D team have been making several presentations in the
community, including a inner-city ride in Mission in October where we visited four
schools which we didn’t have the opportunity during the past two years. We are also
looking at doing a inner city ride in Abbotsford visiting schools sometime earlier in the
new year.
- Plans are underway for the 2013 ride being only 6 months away which will take place
from May 21st to May 25th. I have some exciting news for next year, the team will leave
from Victoria and will finish in Abbotsford on May 25th. Since, most of the riders come
from the Fraser Valley area it makes sense to have a home coming and we‘re always
looking for partnerships to make this a event a special day in our community . Our long-
term goals for C4D is to expand it across Canada and hopefully make it a global
initiative. When there is a common goal there is no choice than staying committed.
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