Ontario Bill 212 will sadly result in more road violence deaths on unsafe streets. More than 34 cyclists from Brampton and Toronto gathered on Jan 25th to rally, ride and install a ghost bike to symbolize this prediction.

Members of BikeBrampton welcomed Cycle Toronto, Friends and Families for Safe Streets, Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists (ARC) who arrived at Brampton Innovation District GO station.

The group cycled down Main Street in Brampton. Several drivers honked in support. Some asked what we were doing and gave thumbs up to the response. We were given a safe passing distance by drivers.

The cyclists legally took the lane on most of the 5km route to Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria‘s constituency office at Hurontario Street & Ray Lawson Blvd. We traveled south on Main/Hurontario using the 1.3km bike lane from Wellington Street to Nanwood Drive. The LRT joining downtown to the south end of Mississauga has been pending for over 10 years. The line was approved only north to Steeles Avenue. Consequently, the road south of Steeles is in the process of construction and is quite uncomfortable. It is slated to receive quality active transportation as part of the LRT extension announcement made on Jan 24th.

Sonia Maset, Program Manager of Brampton Bike Hub, Different Spokes, who gave the safety briefings and led the ride, and MC’d the event, spoke of the urgency of protecting our diverse population in Brampton. Now the 3rd largest city in Ontario, Brampton is one of the fastest growing, and youngest populations in Canada. Many residents choose active transportation and transit for affordability, health, and environmental reasons.

Cycle Toronto launched a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Section 7 challenge to the provincial government’s Bill 212 — Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024, arguing the law’s mandated removal of Toronto’s bike lanes will put lives at risk. Joined by individual applicants Eva Stanger-Ross and Narada Kiondo, and represented by lawyers from Ecojustice and Paliare Roland LLP, the lawsuit also seeks an immediate injunction to prevent the removal of target bike lanes on Bloor Street, University Avenue, and Yonge Street.

Alison Stewart, Cycle Toronto Director of Advocacy and Public Policy (aka Bicycle Mayor of Toronto) announced the injunction is effective Mar 11th. Ontario had targeted the Toronto lane removal to begin Mar 20th. The court date to hear the Charter challenge is Apr 16th.

Jess Spieker, Chair of Friends and Families for Safe Streets, spoke eloquently about her personal journey with traffic violence, and how this led to her advocacy to end these preventable crashes. There is no such thing as an “accident’ on our streets!

Robert Zaichkowski, a Toronto bike blogger of Two Wheeled Politics, spoke about Common Ground Ontario. It is a grassroots initiative that prescribes taking action for a better Ontario, and 6 ways you can make a difference in local campaigns.

David Laing, Chair of BikeBrampton, expressed our gratitude of support from Toronto groups. He reminded everyone of the importance of voting in the upcoming provincial election. Only 18% of voters elected the current majority government. Bike lanes are only one of the issues. Ontarions are facing a high cost of living, housing scarcity, healthcare costs & availability, air quality, insurance costs & availability, and people migration and conflict. A non-partisan group, the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign is hosting a webinar on Feb 13th, 7pm to discuss these issues and how they impact your votes. For more information, contact info@bramptonea.org.

Bill 212 Ghost Bike

A Ghost Bike was chained to public property across the street from Minister Sarkaria’s office. This symbolizes the anticipated injuries and death due to unsafe streets when bike lanes are removed. Bill 212 prevents victims or their families from seeking legal redress for the harms of this bill.

BikeBrampton led the group on their return trip up Main Street to the downtown Brampton GO station.

A group of 10 cycled along Brampton’s signature east-west cycling corridor barrier-protected bike lane to Minister Charmaine Williams‘ constituency office. Despite having voted in favour of Brampton’s 2019 Active Transportation Master Plan when she sat on Brampton Council, she recently sent her riding residents a survey asking which bike lanes they want removed.

Our thanks to Sonia for organizing her volunteer group to prepare the creatives signs and for her leadership on this event.

Rob’s blog post

Jun’s blog post

Perhaps the best part of April is that it heralds Earth Month, a time to think about all of the environmental challenges we are facing and to take positive action to create a sustainable future for us and all the creatures sharing this small planet we call home.

Unfortunately, a growing number of our friends, neighbours and loved-ones now believe that protecting the environment is not a primary concern. Gallup, the polling company, has been tracking public opinion on the environment for the past four decades. The percentage of respondents believing that the environment should be given priority even at the risk of curbing economic growth has declined from 70% in 1990 to 52% in 2023. And that includes a 13 point decline just since 2019!

The pandemic with its inflationary effect, combined with a housing affordability crisis, are two of the major factors contributing to this change in attitudes. But that doesn’t explain why almost 40% of Canadians believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated. That despite the fact that the science still points to a dire future while the evidence mounts that the effects of climate change are happening more rapidly than the models predict. At a time when all the facts indicate we should be doing more to protect the environment, public opinion is pushing us to do less.

Witnessing last Monday’s solar eclipse it’s hard not to be emotionally impacted by the beauty, complexity and synchronicity of the cosmos and be both exhilarated and humbled by our place in it. Which highlights the poignancy of our current relationship with Mother Earth and the realization that, while future generations may view rare full eclipses, ours may be the last generation to experience an eclipse while surrounded by the richness of nature as it now exists. That is, unless we start now to change course.

Environmental decline is not inevitable and preventing that decline need not involve economic collapse or huge personal sacrifice. Like paying insurance premiums, it may mean we have to pay a little more now to save a whole lot in the near future. We just need the will to change our behaviour in subtle ways and the determination to demand better from our civic and industrial leaders.

So this Earth Month, take action to demonstrate your concern about the environment. Below is a list of environmental events that you can participate in. Register and attend at least one. Call your MP, MPP or City Councillor and tell them you want them to prioritize the environment in their decisions.

Consider the environment in your day-to-day activities from now on. Pledge to drive your car less, buy a smaller model or go electric. Did you know that almost half of Brampton’s carbon emissions comes from personal automobiles? Better still, walk your kids to school and walk or ride a bike for shorter destination trips.

Pledge to separate your garbage and use the green bin. Did you know that 30% of waste going to landfill is kitchen scraps and other organic material? That produces a lot of greenhouse gas as it breaks down in an uncontrolled way.

Buy only what you need and will use. Buy quality rather than quantity. Buy gifts for others that they need and will use. Buy used, repaired and recycled products when possible. Invest in experiences rather than things.

Finally, try to be “attached” to the things and people in your life because you will likely keep them longer. Hug yourself, hug a tree, hug a loved one. Then spread your arms wide and give Mother Earth a big hug too because she deserves it, Happy Earth Month!

Located in the north central part of the City, Conservation Drive Park is one of many beautiful parks in Brampton. On the east side there are two regularly used baseball diamonds for organized sports activities. To the west, the path winds along the edge of the Etobicoke Creek valley where forest and meadowland comingle creating wonderful habitat for wildlife.

Our instructor, Susan, got us started with a few heal and toe ankle and calf stretches on one foot. It’s more difficult than it looks.

Then we did some deeper hip stretches which is also wonderful for relieving stress in the lower back. I could have stayed in that posture all day!

We heard the songs of several different birds as we walked along the trail towards our next stretching stop, Dayle has a really neat free app on her phone called MERLIN. This app helped us identify the bird species we were listening to by recording the sounds through the phone! You can also take a picture of the bird and MERLIN will most likely be able to tell you what kind it is. A lot easier than carrying binoculars and a field guide!

This is called “Warrior Pose” in Yoga. One does feel rather strong and invincible standing in this pose for a minute or two while surveying the lush valley below.

This stretch is called, “Drawing the bow”. It’s a great exercise for neck, shoulder and chest muscles.
Notice we are standing beside one of the protectors covering the nest of a snapping turtle. She just laid her eggs the day before. These boxes are installed and monitored by the Heart Lake Turtle Troopers another BEA organizational member.

Next Susan showed us the “Tree Pose”, arms in the air standing on one foot, sometimes with our eyes closed. This exercise improves our balance by helping us reconnect our minds with the small nerve endings in our bones. That way we know where we are in space without using visual cues. Leo was so happy to learn this he seems to be creating his own sunshine!

It was great to learn how to lift heavy objects safely…

And wonderful to stretch out calves, using the bridge as a prop, and watching the fish swimming in the stream beneath out feet.

Everyone in the small class enjoyed the event. If you missed this one, next week presents another opportunity. Register here for the June 22nd class that will be offered behind Loafer’s Lake Recreation Centre.

Carbon emissions are a waste by-product from our production and use of energy. We can lower emissions either by using less energy or by using energy from less wasteful sources. It turns out that one of the most effective things we can do here in Brampton to reduce emissions is to use our cars less and our bodies more.

A 2019 energy audit completed for the city’s Community Energy and Emissions Reduction Plan, found that Brampton’s cars and trucks account for almost 60% of the city’s carbon emissions. And a 2016 transportation survey found that, of the 2.3M transportation trips taken in Peel Region by car each day, the median distance is just 6.3 km. That’s an hour’s walk but less than a 20 minute bike ride.

The human body uses energy very efficiently to move itself, especially when travelling by bicycle. The calories contained within a glass of orange juice will carry a cyclist about 5km. That same amount of energy derived from gasoline burned in a car’s engine, typically won’t carry the driver to the end of their driveway.

Adding costs to the equation makes the case for travelling by bicycle even more compelling. Brampton drivers spend just under $1B per year on gasoline and diesel fuel. That’s on top of the costs for, licensing, road construction and maintenance as well as the vehicle capital and repairs. Overall, a typical motorized vehicle costs more than $6,000/year to own and operate, whereas the average cost of ownership for a bicycle is less than $100 annually.

Barriers to cycling

Access to a bicycle, perceived distance, perceived comfort, lack of skill or concerns about theft, weather and arriving sweaty to the destination are among the many reasons cited for why more people don’t use a bicycle for transportation. A barrier not often discussed, however, is a lack of cycling culture.

Cycling for transportation is considered the norm in many parts of the world where conditions are similar to those here at home. But, in many North American cities, cycling behaviour has been discouraged to the point where a person who uses a bicycle for anything other than recreation is considered second-class or more than a bit odd. Eleanor McMahon, a past Ontario cabinet minister, past Board Chair of Share the Road Cycling Coalition, and the current President and CEO of the TransCanada Trails Association, once said that, “cycling is known as a rich man’s sport, and a poor man’s second choice.”

Fortunately that perception in Ontario and specifically in Brampton is beginning to change. There is no question that cycling popularity is on the rise, especially since the pandemic began encouraging more outdoor activities. Bike retailers have had a hard time keeping up with demand and long wait times for new bicycles have only recently begun to ease.

The city of Brampton responded in 2020 initiating a “Streets for People” campaign that is building bicycle infrastructure as part of an Active Transportation Master Plan. Last year 15km of linear bicycle infrastructure was added including, multi-use paths, urban shoulders and on-street bike lanes. This year city plans call for an additional 31.5km that will flesh out a significant portion of the city-wide cycling network.

Safe infrastructure, is only one of the required elements leading to the cultural shift necessary to get folks out of their cars and onto their bikes. Education and encouragement are two other important factors. That’s where BikeBrampton and the Community Cycling Program comes in.

BikeBrampton is a volunteer group advocating for better and safer active transportation choices in Brampton and Peel Region. As the name implies active transportation is the term used to describe destination type trips that are mostly or entirely human powered including, cycling, walking, skateboarding, etc. But BikeBrampton also partners with PCHS (Punjabi Community Health Service) to deliver the Community Cycling Program (CCP) on behalf of Peel Region.

The purpose of the CCP is to increase cycling mode share by creating a cycling community and normalizing cycling as a legitimate form of transportation. The program increases access to a working bicycle through a bike lending library and by teaching basic bike maintenance skills. It also helps build familiarity, comfort and confidence for riding on existing infrastructure by teaming new and experienced riders as well as through skills training programs and group rides.

One of the more popular aspects of the program is the series of ‘BikeWrx’ pop up events at different sites in both Brampton and Caledon throughout the spring, summer and fall.

Last year’s pop ups proved very popular. According to Sonia Maset, the Brampton and Caledon Bike Hub Program Manager working for PCHS, “Our goal at the beginning of the summer of 2021 was to provide 100 hours of service to 2,000 residents between July and October at 13 different locations, 10 in Brampton and 3 Caledon. In four months, we delivered 120 hours to 2,348 residents over 46 events spanning 17 locations in the two municipalities.”

Services at these events included free bike bell and light installation (courtesy of the Region of Peel), free bike inspections, basic repairs, bike and helmet fittings, route
planning, trail etiquette, group rides, obstacle courses, and one-on-one rider education.

The BikeBrampton Bike Hub team is preparing once again for a full slate of outdoor events for this year in both Brampton and Caledon. Bring your bike for a free inspection and minor tune-up. Learn about route planning and bike safety. Get a free bell or bike light while supplies last. Check out the schedule on BikeBrampton.ca. Sign up to the BikeBrampton News to stay up to date on the latest event information including Bike the Creek, Brampton’s signature cycling event.