Adrian Alfonso: Trails, Truth, and Reconciliation on Two Wheels

Adrian Alfonso has been building trails in Winnipeg since he was a kid ripping around on a BMX bike in South Osborne. Today, he's a cyclist, trail builder, Indigenous advocate, and founder of Clear Paths, a program that uses cycling routes and green spaces as a framework for Truth and Reconciliation education. Stuart sits down with Adrian to talk about what trails can teach us, what it means to be a contemporary First Nations person in Winnipeg, and why the land beneath our wheels has a lot more to say than most of us realize.

We're talking:

• How Adrian's childhood on the "monkey trails" became the foundation for a life of advocacy

• What Clear Paths is, and how it leads participants through a guided experience of language, relationship, and reconciliation

• The idea that a good trail connects the best places together, and how that philosophy shapes his approach to community building

• His concept of "my truth plus your truth equals reconciliation," and what active listening actually looks like in practice

Connect with Adrian on Instagram at @adrianacorn

Connect with the Clear Paths program on Instagram at @clear_paths_cycling