September 24 (Montréal, QC) – The second edition of the annual Vélo! Vélo! Bicycle Coop Conference begins today. This year’s conference will take place from September 24th-26th, at Université de Québec à Montréal, in the Coeur de Sciences building and Café Fractal. Modelled on the Bike! Bike! conference in the US, Vélo! Vélo! provides an opportunity for volunteers and staff at bike collectives to build solidarity, share knowledge and collaborate on their respective projects.

“We are helping to foster what is becoming a veritable explosion of bicycle cooperatives and bicycle-related organizations in the province of Québec. Bicycle cooperatives and community bike shops build and enrich communities of all kinds. Youth, students, immigrants alike benefit from organizations that encourage cycling and teach people how to fix their bicycles themselves,” says Bettina Grassmann, the conference coordinator.

Representatives of at least ten Montreal organizations will be participating in the conference, including Right to Move/La voie libre, Vélo Québec and Santrovélo. Representatives from organizations in other cities, such as Rimouski, Toronto and Ottawa, will also be present.

Legendary bicycle advocate Robert Silverman, otherwise known as “Bicycle Bob”, will speaking at the Vélo! Vélo! conference opening at Café Fractal on Friday, September 24th at 4 PM. Friday’s festivities also include a performance of bicycle-powered music by ///Friction. There will be 12 workshops over the weekend, including “Cyclist Safety: Structure or Agency?”, “Cycling and Organic Farming” and “Smashing Bikes Back to Life”. The conference will be bilingual, with whispered translation offered in English and French.

Vélo! Vélo! is organized by BQAM, a community bicycle workshop at UQÀM, and RésoVélo, a solidarity group of QPIRG Concordia. This event was made possible by a grant from the Generations Pact and the Sierra Youth Coalition.