About Us
The Early Days and Our Continued Work
The Bike Brigade emerged in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 2020, we have seen over 1,500 volunteers sign up to ride with us. As we grow, we become stronger and more resilient. When one of us is unable to deliver, we know there will be another who can fill that role. These values around solidarity, reciprocity and community care didn’t just come to be - they have been built and strengthened by those within the Bike Brigade community.
As stressed by our partners, the pandemic only highlighted existing inequities across our City. Before COVID-19, City data showed that 1 in 5 households in Tkaronto are food insecure; and 31,000 households in the lowest income areas are more than 1 km from the nearest supermarket. To compound the already under-resourced food security efforts, 70% of food bank services then shifted to a home delivery service during the pandemic. In response, there was a disproportionate burden placed on food banks and mutual aid groups to fill these gaps for food and delivery. Our work was – and continues to be – a response to the state abandonment of vulnerable community members in the city. We have been told the need for our volunteer delivery services will continue as we rebuild in the ‘shadow pandemic’ and beyond into a postpandemic green recovery.
Our Commitment to You
We are committed to engaging our members in a meaningful and responsible way, fostering a culture of care within our community, and holding each other accountable through collective leadership and action.
Community Values as found in our Code of Conduct
Climate and Environmental Justice
Equity and Intersectionality
Integrity
Empowerment
Solidarity
Anti-Oppression Work
We are committed to challenging systems of oppression and upholding the values of solidarity and equity. We support the identification of barriers to social and structural change, engage in equity-informed support, and provide assistance to racialized and other oppressed groups demanding justice.
Read more about our Anti-Oppression Framework
Who we work with
The Bike Brigade works with community-based organizations to reach communities across the city.
Land and Ancestral Acknowledgement
The Bike Brigade exists on the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This land is subject to the Dish With One Spoon Treaty, along with many other treaties and agreements. It is important for our community members of immigrant and settler Canadian descent to recognize broken treaties and how we directly benefit from the genocide and colonization of the original caretakers of this land.
As an organization, we have a collective responsibility to use our platform and respective privileges to move towards reparations and Indigenous sovereignty. We must also recognize how dismantling these pervasive colonial structures and narratives deeply intersects with Black liberation, migrant rights, human rights and climate justice.