When Daniel Addai Fobi first saw the driveway in Ottawa's Bel Air Park neighbourhood covered entirely in bicycles, he wasn't sure what to think.
"I couldn't count them, there were so many," said Addai Fobi, who as a newcomer from Ghana first met Grant Gilliland in 2024.
As he would soon find out, this was what Gilliland's driveway usually looked like. Gilliland is known around his Nepean neighbourhood as the bike guy, but also the guy who'll fix anything.
"Anybody who posts something on Facebook and asks, 'Can anybody look at this?' I say I'll look at it. Anything that rolls in my driveway, a lawnmower, or anything like that, I'll attempt to fix, and I usually do," Gilliland said.
It's common knowledge in Bel Air Heights that Gilliland receives used bikes from neighbours and Facebook contacts, fixes them up using scrap pieces and gives them away for free — often to newcomers in his community.
From warehouse worker to neighbourhood fixer
Before he was the neighbourhood bike guy, Gilliland worked in warehouses across Ontario in various roles. An auto mechanic by trade, he's also been a forklift business owner and a tool rental repairman at Home Depot — but he's always been a fixer.
His idea for the bikes began through a post on a local Facebook group he saw while at his cottage in Norway Bay, Que., in the winter of 2022.
"Somebody posted that they were looking for somebody in the village who can fix bikes. So, I said, 'I'll do small jobs on bikes, but I didn't have any parts,'" he said.
Hoping to get spare parts from other bikes, Gilliland put out a call. "I posted and said, if anyone had old bikes, to bring them to me and I'd see what I could do with them," he said.
Before he knew it, the bikes kept pouring in, he said. "That first winter, I ended up storing 130 bikes," Gilliland said.
Ever since he brought his bike repair work to Ottawa, he's had a steady stream of used bikes, bike parts and people who want bikes on his hands. His wife, Laurie McKnight, and his friends help him find parts, often through Facebook.
"It's amazing how many people happen to have bikes sitting around in their houses," McKnight said.
"Right now, I'm up to about 130 of them," Gilliland said, adding that just this past weekend he fixed and gave away about 10.
Connecting with newcomers
Gilliland often finds homes for his refurbished bikes with the community's newest members. It was Addai Fobi who helped connect him with newcomers from across Africa.
Addai Fobi, a former Pentecostal minister in Ghana, first came to Ottawa to advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, which is outlawed in Ghana. When he arrived, Gilliland and McKnight opened their door to him.
"They just accepted me. I was treated as if I were in my own house," Addai Fobi said.
Today, he's the leader of a group at the Kitchissippi United Church that supports LGBTQIA+ refugees across Africa. Addai Fobi said he was inspired by the generosity he witnessed while staying with Gilliland as a newcomer.
Gilliland says newcomers from 33 different countries from around the world have come to his driveway for bicycles. His efforts have not only provided transportation but also a warm welcome to those starting new lives in Canada.
