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Music composed for the timelapse and slideshow is my own.
Music composed for the timelapse and slideshow is my own.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We do have some speakers, I'd like to call them up, but before we call them to start speaking, you best remember that we are going to be cycling for Brian Armstrong.
00:13Be on your best cycling behavior. Do not interact with other drivers who might be yelling at us. Do not interact with the police if you have to deal with the police.
00:25Please de-escalate. Do not interact with them.
00:38Susan, are you going to speak first? Susan, where are you?
00:46Susan, let's give a round of applause. Thank you to Frank and Brian.
00:54You will see other people who are going to be on the board of Brian's team.
01:02I'm going to be talking about Brian Armstrong.
01:07I'm going to be talking about Brian Armstrong, who is going to be on the board of Brian's team.
01:13He is a resourceful man. He is highly competitive and extremely close to success.
01:26On the basis of his talent, he ranked fourth in the world as an AmeriCorps winner and then carried on to the top.
01:39For the last 22 years, his main passions were cycling and birds.
01:49He was a common denominator in the AmeriCorps elite.
01:55He always thought he was a common person.
01:58He was doing bird rescues.
02:01He was then appointed to build a certain model of financial security.
02:07He was one of the few privileged people on this planet.
02:17He photographed 4,011 different species of birds in the wild.
02:24He loved to show photos of his birds.
02:30Each time you would explore, you would be so happy to see that all these birds existed on this planet.
02:40We truly live in paradise.
02:45He was also a very generous and compassionate man.
02:50He cared for all animals.
02:54He was a superman.
03:01For 22 years, Monday to Sunday, 3 gone hours, 2 gone, he would be out in Toronto's financial district.
03:12He was a walking ranger.
03:14Then he would drive to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.
03:17And then most of the time, he would be at the perfect site.
03:21He was away from the crowds.
03:25But sadly, he found far more than this.
03:28And he is not a country.
03:31He is a scientist.
03:33So we are very grateful for his work as a public figure.
03:38We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:41We have a lot of birds in our city.
03:43We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:45We have a lot of birds in our city.
03:47We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:49We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:51We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:53We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:55We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:57We have a lot of birds in our town.
03:59We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:01We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:03We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:05We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:07We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:09We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:11We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:13We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:15We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:17We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:19We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:21We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:23We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:25We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:27We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:29We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:31We have a lot of birds in our town.
04:44Our next speaker is going to be Burbie,
04:46who is a close friend of Brian.
04:55Can't hear me? OK.
04:57Um, yeah, so I was just going to share about
05:00So I'm going to introduce Brian.
05:02If you can picture Brian,
05:04the type of person that he was
05:06when he left me here today,
05:08he was well-known quite so well.
05:10I first met Brian
05:12in 2008 when
05:14I moved to the High Park neighborhood
05:16and started working at the
05:18Toronto Vegetarian Association.
05:20And around that same time,
05:22I also started a friend of the
05:24vegetarian group.
05:26And Brian attended all of the meetings
05:28from the very beginning.
05:30He's obviously a very
05:32successful guy. I've known him before now
05:34since I was 14.
05:36He attended his high school
05:38experience very early as well.
05:40And yeah,
05:42that obviously
05:44brought him here.
05:46And since 2008,
05:48every meet-up that we've had, whenever he'd like,
05:50he'd come.
05:52And
05:54it really stands out that
05:56over the 16 years
05:58that I've been organizing these events,
06:00he literally responded to
06:02every single event,
06:04invitation that went out.
06:06Even when he couldn't attend, he would reply
06:08and say, I'm so sorry, I'm going to be here
06:10or whatever. And, you know, really
06:12pleased to see you.
06:14And I don't think I'd ever know anyone
06:16or anything like that. Like, literally
06:18just responds to everyone.
06:20Like, mass emails that are going out to people
06:22are just courteous.
06:24He would also surprise me
06:26with random emails and
06:28events as well,
06:30like lunches, sharing stories,
06:32and photos of the birds.
06:34So one of my favorite
06:36memories is this random email
06:38he sent one time telling me that he found
06:40vegan-lit chocolate bars
06:42at Hillgrills in our neighborhood.
06:44And I remember, like, he went
06:46and took the time to, like,
06:48describe exactly which
06:50aisle it was in and where I could
06:52find them. And then it was, like, a week later
06:54and he was like, oh, no, I found
06:56this not-very-vegan chocolate bar in Grava.
06:58They're kind of expensive.
07:00And then, like, literally, like, two days later
07:02there's another email and it's like, oh, I found
07:04a cheaper vegan chocolate bar at the Sweet Potato.
07:06And again, like, describe for me.
07:08So it was just,
07:10it was nice to know that
07:12someone was, like, obsessed with chocolate
07:14and that he, you know, would like to
07:16share that with me.
07:18So I didn't know that
07:20the story about him responding to that
07:22email that I sent out and
07:24pretending it was him and doing magic
07:26really well with the story about
07:28the chocolate
07:30was this marathon runner.
07:32But he's obviously someone who just
07:34stayed very committed to things.
07:36You know, it's really, I mean,
07:38they follow me a lot.
07:40It's something rare, so people just like to,
07:42like, make a plan and make a decision
07:44and really stick to their principles.
07:46And so, yeah,
07:48thank you.
08:08Our next speaker
08:10is Robert
08:12and a friend of Brian's
08:14and a cycling and running
08:16runner.
08:22Hi everybody. My name is Brian
08:24and I'm 66.
08:26I grew up with
08:28three men together, we trained together
08:30to create a dream of
08:32hardworking
08:34and
08:36what he said.
08:40He did a, I have one thing I'd like to say.
08:42He did a marathon,
08:44a two-man, 30-mile
08:46marathon in
08:48St. Isaac's.
08:50But the organizer,
08:52who was a mayor, was
08:54one of the dogs in the marathon.
08:56We won
08:58and we set a record
09:00of making 10,000 miles
09:02on our cycling.
09:04So,
09:06I know Brian
09:08as a runner,
09:10a cyclist and a runner,
09:12and I'm glad
09:14to be here
09:16with him.
09:20I'm glad
09:22to have him here.
09:24He's
09:26from St. Isaac's.
09:28I live in St. Isaac's.
09:30So, we always have
09:32time to meet up
09:34and talk about
09:36what we do,
09:38what we're doing,
09:40what we're doing,
09:42what we're doing,
09:44what we're doing,
09:46what we're doing,
09:48what we're doing,
09:50what we're doing,
09:52what we're doing,
09:54what we're doing,
09:56what we're doing,
09:58what we're doing,
10:00what we're doing,
10:02what we're doing,
10:04what we're doing,
10:06what we're doing,
10:08what we're doing,
10:10what we're doing,
10:12what we're doing,
10:14what we're doing,
10:16what we're doing,
10:18what we're doing,
10:20what we're doing,
10:22what we're doing,
10:24what we're doing,
10:26what we're doing,
10:28what we're doing,
10:30what we're doing,
10:32what we're doing,
10:34what we're doing,
10:36what we're doing,
10:38what we're doing,
10:40what we're doing,
10:42what we're doing,
10:44what we're doing,
10:46what we're doing,
10:48what we're doing,
10:50what we're doing,
10:52what we're doing,
10:54what we're doing,
10:56what we're doing,
10:58what we're doing,
11:00what we're doing,
11:02what we're doing,
11:04what we're doing.
11:06Applause
11:20I mengt to you this earlier
11:22When we had the sound system
11:24We're gong to do land acknowledgement
11:26We acknowledge the land we are
11:28meeting on
11:30In this traditional territory
11:32territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa,
11:40the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations,
11:47Inuit, Métis people.
11:49We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the
11:55Credit.
11:57So we're about to start the ride.
11:59Here's what we want you to do.
12:01We're going to meet on the other side where the Scotiabank is.
12:04We're going to be in the bike lane.
12:07Wait for everyone to show up.
12:09When we get the green light, we go.
12:12However, we're not forking, we're blocking the intersections.
12:18So when you get a red light, please stop for the red light.
12:24Also, when we get to High Park Avenue, we're going to regroup.
12:33So obviously, we're going to start losing people because of all the red lights.
12:38Once we cross Keele Street, we're going to go to High Park Avenue, and we will wait for
12:45everyone to show up.
12:48As one group, we'll then enter High Park all together.
12:53The only time we will fork or block the intersection.
12:59Please do not interact with motorists that might be yelling insults.
13:05We don't expect to have an interaction with the police, but if we do, please de-escalate,
13:12say nothing.
13:14Do not put camera phones in their face.
13:17We do have people here who are trained in de-escalation who will deal with the police
13:23if we have to.
13:25We don't expect that we will.
13:29Thank you for coming out, and we can start lining up pretty much as soon as we get the
13:36next green light to go north.
14:27To a member of fellow cyclists, fellow vegetarian and vegan, and probably most important to
14:40a wildlife rescuer of birds with flap.
14:47Please remove your headdress if you can.
14:50We'll have a moment of silence.
14:56Hello.
14:59At this point, if you want to come up to the bike, put flowers, or pay respect to the bike
15:06and to Brian, please come forward.
15:10We have some plastic flowers here and zip ties if anybody wants them.
15:13We have some flowers over here and zip ties.