Thank you Joel Canfield
It was some time last year at a cycling-related event when I first talked to Joel Canfield, a fellow cyclist, an organizer with Project 529 in Nanaimo, and a near-tireless community volunteer, about the need to start a new cycling coalition in the Nanaimo area. The previous coalition had gone defunct prior to the pandemic, and so there was a desperate need for a committed group of people to come together and rebuild.
Photo: Canfield out for a ride with his partner Melissa (not pictured) to pick up trash.
Canfield agreed.
It should be said that while the City of Nanaimo has been doing very positive things for cycling and vulnerable road users, there were still plenty of missed opportunities—all because there was no group to ensure cyclists showed up to be heard.
We started things simple, setting up a page and a group on Facebook called “Cycle in Nanaimo” and worked from there. We talked to others about the idea, and eventually, I gave a brief presentation about a new coalition at the 2024 showing of the Bicycle Film Festival.
People were most certainly interested. People like Alex Stanciu, local organizer for GoByBike in Nanaimo, who committed with the two of us to be the three founding members of a new organization. This would be the Nanaimo Area Cycling Coalition.
So we drafted our constitution and bylaws, submitted the paperwork and waited. In February, we were officially recognized. Canfield would serve as president, Stanciu as Vice President, and I as Secretary-Treasurer. A grant was written and submitted to the city, and a credit union account, a website, and an email newsletter were set up. We focused on recruiting members online and at the 2025 Spring GoByBike.
By late June we had our first Annual General Meeting where Canfield chaired, and we elected our first full board of directors. We talked about strategic planning and the future. After our first board meeting, the media started to inquire about our efforts.
The proverbial ball was now most certainly rolling.
His goal to get the fledgling organization out of the nest was complete, Canfield felt it was time to pass the torch and make room for a new bright, energetic person. He resigned as president and from the board a month after the Annual General Meeting on July 29th.
For all his efforts and community service, I would like to give him a heartfelt thank you for his contributions to getting this organization set up. The coalition would not be where we are today without people joining together to get things started.
