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History of BMA's
in Toronto
By Joe
Hendry
The Toronto Bike Messenger Association (TOBMA) is the
new name of Toronto’s
local
bicycle messenger association (BMA). Toronto’s couriers have a long
history of bringing their community together to promote camaraderie and
improve the industry.
A group of Toronto
messengers lead by Anthony Farentino created the first association of
messengers in 1937. They called themselves the Toronto Messenger Boys’
Association and their goals included a maximum 60-hour workweek at
a
minimum wage of $8/week. At the time the maximum work week for adults
was 40 hours per week but most messengers were working up to 16 hours
per day and more than 80 hours per week. In the 1930’s at least one
bike messenger was killed in Toronto
every year and the city experienced an ongoing epidemic of robberies of
bike messengers.
Messenger numbers declined in the following decades with a resurgence
of the industry in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Toronto bike couriers’ alleycat races
beginning in the mid-1980’s and the establishment of the world’s first
courier bar, “Breadspreads”,
brought the expanding courier community
together. Derek Chadbourne’s zine, “Hideousewhitenoise”
gave it a voice.
Toronto’s
bike messenger association took on the moniker of the Association of
Professional Urban Cyclists (APUC) as a response to the City’s
attempt
to license messengers in 1991. APUC’s founders included Neville
Alexander, Shannon Reiner,
Pete Lord and Mike Armstrong.
Led by Red Nic Thompson and Derek Chadbourne, Toronto’s courier community hosted
the 3rd
annual Cycle Messenger World Championships in 1995. It was
CMWC’s first trip to North America
and included the release of the compilation CD of messenger bands
entitled “Deliver or Die.”
In 1996 an association of Toronto
couriers, led by Wayne Scott successfully fought to declare the
entrance to Metro Hall’s courier
depot a hazard. The new messenger
association took on the name of the Toronto Hoof and Cycle Courier
Coalition (THC3) and the ban on bike and foot messengers
using the public entrances to Metro Hall was removed.
On October 9, 1997, THC3 persuaded the municipalities of Toronto, Metro Toronto and North
York to declare Messenger
Appreciation Day (10-9 Day),
recognizing the contributions of bike and foot couriers to the economic
and physical health of the city. The Mayor has proclaimed messenger
Appreciation Day every year since.
The summer of 1998 brought the first executive elections for the
Toronto Hoof and Cycle Courier Coalition. The first board consisted of
Derek Chadbourne (Chair), Keith MacDonald (Vice-chair), Sarah Hood
(Public Relations and promotions), Bill Long (Secretary) and Joe Hendry
(Treasurer). 1998 also marked Wayne Scott’s and Hoof and Cycle’s
successful fight with revenue Canada to have food
declared as fuel for bike and foot messengers. The precedent meant
that
from then on Canadian couriers would be permitted
to deduct from their
income a portion of their expenses for food and drink.
With the support of Hoof and Cycle, the 2nd
annual North American Cycle
Courier Championships (NACCC) came to Toronto in 1999. The race marked the
release of the Toronto Courier Coalition’s first “Messenger Industry
Handbook” detailing the status of the industry and the rights of
messengers under various laws. The race also included the release of
the THC3’s report on air quality entitled, “Choking us to death: the
air pollution crisis and its effects on bicycle couriers.”
Hoof
and Cycle continued on in to the new century and a new generation
of messengers on the road has brought new energy and inspiration to the
community. In 2006 Hoof and Cycle expanded and updated the industry
handbook into the Toronto Know Your
Rights manual.
Copyright Mess Media 2007
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