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