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Well that's disappointing

Oct. 9, 2021, 12:32 p.m.
Posts: 419
Joined: July 8, 2005

Posted by: syncro

Yeah I know, but there really isn't another way to express that my own experience/views differ from yours. It's highly possible for two people to share the same/similar experience and have different perceptions of it due to many variables. Your experience is valid, but saying that it differs from the experience of others doesn't mean it's any less important. I don't see it as less important and I'm sorry if you got that impression with what I said. Considering there is a strong female presence on the NSMBA board I'm going to guess that when you say gender discrimination issue that it's related to gender identity discrimination? For the general public that's an important distinction to make, for even though there is more general awareness of LGBTQ+ identities unfortunately most people simply do not understand the topic of gender identity and often have ignorant or negative opinions about that aspect of humanity.

From the outside I think the NSMBA has been very progressive in terms of talking about the many aspects of gender identity when compared to society as a whole, and this is especially true when it comes to the mtb'ing community considering its demographics. That said, I definitely agree with you that they could do more, but I wonder about their capacity to do more. What do you think they need to do internally first to create the type of equity you feel is needed? If you don't want to make this a public issue in this forum I get it, but feel free to send me a pm as I can be an ally for you. Gender identity and Indigeneity are two social issues that are important to me and ones I'd like to see the NSMBA take on, but I know that requires people, time and money and recognize that the NSMBA may not have them to give to those issues considering their main focus of trail advocacy.

DM’d you. That’s a lot of assumptions, uh, incorrect ones.

Oct. 9, 2021, 12:38 p.m.
Posts: 3154
Joined: Nov. 23, 2002

Posted by: mudhoney

DM’d you. That’s a lot of assumptions, uh, incorrect ones.

Assumptions no, questions yes.

Oct. 9, 2021, 4:20 p.m.
Posts: 419
Joined: July 8, 2005

Posted by: syncro

Yeah I know, but there really isn't another way to express that my own experience/views differ from yours. It's highly possible for two people to share the same/similar experience and have different perceptions of it due to many variables. Your experience is valid, but saying that it differs from the experience of others doesn't mean it's any less important. I don't see it as less important and I'm sorry if you got that impression with what I said. Considering there is a strong female presence on the NSMBA board I'm going to guess that when you say gender discrimination issue that it's related to gender identity discrimination? For the general public that's an important distinction to make, for even though there is more general awareness of LGBTQ+ identities unfortunately most people simply do not understand the topic of gender identity and often have ignorant or negative opinions about that aspect of humanity.

From the outside I think the NSMBA has been very progressive in terms of talking about the many aspects of gender identity when compared to society as a whole, and this is especially true when it comes to the mtb'ing community considering its demographics. That said, I definitely agree with you that they could do more, but I wonder about their capacity to do more. What do you think they need to do internally first to create the type of equity you feel is needed? If you don't want to make this a public issue in this forum I get it, but feel free to send me a pm as I can be an ally for you. Gender identity and Indigeneity are two social issues that are important to me and ones I'd like to see the NSMBA take on, but I know that requires people, time and money and recognize that the NSMBA may not have them to give to those issues considering their main focus of trail advocacy.

Ok, some public thoughts in reply... I personally don't think that many of these issues can be separated, and from what I've read of your posts, I think you and I align pretty closely in many of our perspectives on these issues.

But it's important for an organization to treat it's employees with equity; this is where nsmba failed me and has refused to acknowledge that failure and the harm that resulted from it. Capacity doesn't have anything to do with that.

For me, saying more publicly of my experience, is likely to put me at risk of further harm...

Oct. 11, 2021, 1:05 p.m.
Posts: 3154
Joined: Nov. 23, 2002

Posted by: mudhoney

But it's important for an organization to treat it's employees with equity; this is where nsmba failed me and has refused to acknowledge that failure and the harm that resulted from it. Capacity doesn't have anything to do with that.

I fully agree with this and from what you've explained to me there are some issues within the NSMBA that need to be addressed. I think they do a good job in terms of promoting equity and diversity, but if those things are not being followed within the organization then they need to be corrected, not only for the benefit of those in the organization but the organization itself. Trying to hide this sort of thing will only end up harming them more in the future. People will view them in a much stronger light if they are willing to step forward and acknowledge the mistakes that were made and work on changing the culture so they don't happen again. And maybe most importantly, the riding community needs to recognize that progress is being made and be good about that instead of simply pointing a finger at the NSMBA and saying bad. To me that includes getting involved in some capacity, it doesn't have to be trail work.

I figure that a good estimate of how to give back is 15% of your riding time, either in direct labour or dollars. Ride 100 hours per year? Then you should be putting in 15 hours of labour, 15 hours of wages based on what you earn or some combination of the two. And like heckler says - get your trail membership. If everyone who rode 10 days or more per year on the shore got a membership the organization would have enough funding.

https://nsmba.ca/why-join-the-nsmba/

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