<div>On June 19 (Juneteenth) 2024, Colour the Trails and I, Judith Kasiama, filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Strava and the Director of Global Partnership at Strava, Melanie Jarrett, for defamation. After 1.5 years of ongoing litigation, we find ourselves in a very uneven battle that has drained our resources. After a long deliberation, we decided to ask for community support.
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<div>I believe that over the years, Colour the Trails made a huge impact on the community's well-being and learning. Directly, we created more than 4000 spots for Black, Indigenous and racialized folks to come together in safe spaces. Indirectly, we inspired other groups to do similar work and influenced a lot of policies around DEI in outdoor spaces. We invested so much of ourselves into community work.
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<div>Due to a lot of legal limitations, I can not share much at the moment. So here is a summary:
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<div>In March 2024 I became aware of an email sent out by a Strava employee to multiple recipients, which I believe severely mischaracterized me and Colour the Trails. The email was sent to some of Colour the Trails' key partners, accusing me of harassing and marginalizing(!) two people - Anita Naidu and Khai Bhagwandin. The email also stated that I and Colour the Trails are not aligned with Strava's antiracism and DEI commitments. The email called for recipients who seemed to have no relation to anything described in the email, to back the account of the Strava athletes and stand with Strava to dismantle harm, which could be interpreted in several ways, but generally to stop supporting our work.
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<div>The hurtful part is that the accusation of me harassing Anita Naidu came 3 months after I spoke up about the bullying I have been experiencing from her over the years. But that somehow got turned back at me.
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<div>To my best memory, I have never had contact or experience with anyone from Strava in the past. They had no first-hand experience with me. And no one at Strava ever contacted me about any allegations. I was never invited into any dialogue to hear my story. So it is to be determined how they came up with conclusions about my character.
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<div>Two recipients of Strava’s defamatory email requested further details and an explanation (as offered in the email), asking Strava for their due diligence and to provide evidence. Instead, they received a message from a Strava communications person, admitting that Strava overstepped. They recognized they misjudged the situation, acknowledged there was a deeper context they were unaware of, and admitted they did not have a role in a personal conflict.
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<div>But I myself never received an apology! And I also eventually learned that some other recipients of defamatory emails that chose not to respond to Strava, never received any messages, thus no explanation or retraction from Strava followed.
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<div>It became apparent that emails were sent to CTT partners, which could only be found on our website and social media. At the time I had no idea how many recipients of the defamatory email were there. 5, 10, 50, 100? It became obvious that all except two recipients of defamatory emails never received any follow-up.
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<div>I learned long ago that it is impossible to chase “word of mouth”. As a Black woman, whatever I say or share, there will be questions, assumptions, speculations, rumours, twisting, and accusations running way ahead of any effort to share my story. This issue took an incredible mental toll on me. I am struggling to describe the feelings of devastation in the moment of the developing events and over the last two years.
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<div>I advocate for justice for others. But what is the point of such advocacy if I do not get justice for myself? So I chose to stand up for myself and Colour the Trails' future.
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<div>Eventually, the only opportunity to share my side of the story through facts and evidence, and to face people who make accusations against my character, was to go to court.
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<div>When the time comes, I hope to be able to share my insights in case others might be going through a similar experience.
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<div>One thing that is beyond comprehension is, of course, legal costs. And we are in an extremely uneven battle vs a huge corporation. We will need to invest 50-70k to get to the court hearing. I understand it is a huge ask and would require a lot of generosity.
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<div>I put a lot into supporting others. But I have no idea what to expect back. If you benefited from CTT work, if you learned, if you made a friend, if you felt seen, if you felt safe, if you saw others experience joy and felt inspired yourself, we hope you will consider giving back.
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<div>Community starts with an invitation, and I invite you to support Colour the Trails' future!
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<div>P.s. <strong>Please review tip selection when donating, as it is very optional and would not contribute to our fundraiser</strong>
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Support for legal fees in defamation lawsuit against Strava

Support for legal fees in defamation lawsuit against Strava

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