Critical Mass took back the streets of Yellowknife this week as folks of all ages gathered for the ultimate bike ride. For them it’s not just an Earth Week activity, it’s about claiming an everyday right to “active mobility.”
SHIFT NWT’s founder and program director Becca Denley spoke with True North FM about Critical Mass as a growing movement.
“It’s really about creating a space that feels welcome. Like safety in numbers, it’s making a statement, it’s enjoying ourselves. So that in welcoming people to ride together to connect and to create this nice community that we have, because there’s a lot of people in Yellowknife that enjoy using a bike or walking and, and just being a pedestrian or a biker on our streets,” said Denley.
“It’s a chance for people to gather and ride together safely and make a statement about the rights of active mobility as a viable and healthy transportation option, even in Yellowknife where we have a lot of winter,” explained Denley.
This year Critical Mass Bike Ride took place on May 1 at about 6 pm as part of Ecology North’s Earth Week activities. Riding in one lane on the right-hand side of the road, the group start at Sunrise Plaza making their way down Old Airport Road before heading southeast towards Franklin Ave. into downtown Yellowknife.
“We go at a slow pace because there’s kids and Elders with us as well,” explains Denley
(Photo by Mario Nirinason, Epic Studios)
After reaching the Multiplex Arena, the group waits for the last rider to show up before continuing.
“We line up there on 53rd and then we continue on to City Hall. It’s a nice easy ride. We go slow, we enjoy ourselves.”
Once the group gets to City Hall it’s a time for people to gather.
“They might chat about what they’re going to do this summer with their bikes and we can also talk about initiatives that advocates in Yellowknife have been pushing for in Yellowknife to make streets safer for all road users,” Denley explains.
Many taking part in Critica Mass are leading and supporting the work of groups like Communities in Motion (an Ecology North group) and Shift NWT who are pushing for better infrastructure to support active mobility in the city.
“Communities in Motion have put together presentations for the city at various times throughout the year to talk to them about how the city could update their infrastructure,” said Denley.
Yellowknife is currently creating a transportation master plan. “They have put out an RFP for a consultant to take on this task to look at Yellowknife and see what the transportation situation is and how the community is growing, how active mobility and public transit and regular vehicular use on the roads can be best integrated together,” said Denley.
“So the fact that some consultants will be working on this in the coming year means that people who work with Communities in Motion and myself with Shift NWT and other advocates for safer streets, will have opportunities to discuss these concerns with the consultants as they do in community engagement and things like that,” explained Denley.
Things like multi-use trails and dedicated bike lanes are a great way to help biking become more accessible for everyone, said Denley.
The city is proposing to have dedicated bike lanes soon, which is promising for mobility rights advocates like Denley.
“When the city does something like this, it’s a step in the right direction,” affirmed Denley
Some advocates however really felt that creating bike lanes with paint is not enough. They argued that “paint isn’t really infrastructure,” it’s just “paint on the ground.”
Communities in Motion approached the city and proposed they apply for an active transportation fund where the federal government could provide up to 75 per cent of funding for infrastructure.
“And so at the time this was back in February, I think it was we put together a proposal on what kinds of things the city could do to make active mobility, the infrastructure stronger in Yellowknife,” said Denley.
Communities in Motion proposed to push forward by asking for a bit more than just painting lanes.
“Why not enhance those with safety bollards and things that would actually protect the users of that painted bike lane. That’s an that’s pushing things a little bit further. So that rather than daring people to ride bikes on the side of the road, you’re welcoming them with a safer space. These types of things are what we love to put our heart into and work a lot on in our free time,” said Denley.
In Yellowknife and in other areas across the North there have been fatalities and injuries on the roads.
At the intersection of Franklin Ave. and 50th St. a woman walking on a crosswalk was killed when she was struck by a truck that ran a red light.
“A pedestrian was killed by a driver, a truck driving through as the light went red. So that just happens in September and I personally witnessed that and that was very devastating,” said Denley.
Around 5 p.m. on Sept. 28 the pedestrian, who was a 62-year-old woman, was taken to hospital, where she was later declared deceased.
“It shouldn’t happen. It was at a crosswalk,” lamented Denley, her voice cracking with emotion as she remembered the people who have been impacted by these violent and tragic incidents.
Fatalities and injuries have taken place on roads across the city and across the North.
“Whitehorse last year lost a beautiful man, who was run down by someone driving a van on his way to work and people realized that he hadn’t arrived at work. He was a teacher and they realized, something was wrong and then they found out that he had been killed.”
There are dangers on the road, warned Denley and sometimes people can get “very aggressive.”
Denley pointed out this also creates stress for people who want to ride their bike or their wheelchair or go for a walk.
“So this is just a reality that we have to live in. We have to plan it out and gosh, we shouldn’t have to. It should be very easy. It should be an easy welcoming thing to say, ‘hey, I’m just gonna use my bike to get from here to there because it’s only 15 minutes away,’” said Denley.
Denley has created a team that will study how to create a healthy Urban environment in Yellowknife. The interdisciplinary team from Yellowknife is heading to Helsinki for an international workshop hosted by 8 80 Cities and the Canadian Institute for Health Research. Three other groups from three other Canadian cities were also chosen who will be there as well.
The team hopes to learn from policy-makers across the world gathered in Helsinki about how to create a healthy urban environment.
