Six out of 19 British Columbians who will be receiving the Province’s Medal of Good Citizenship are from Vancouver Island.
According to a press release the award, which was first introduced in 2015, recognizes and lauds the services of individuals in B.C. who have made outstanding, selfless contributions to their community without expecting anything in return.
“It is an honour to congratulate these community leaders whose commitment helps strengthen our society,” said Premier John Horgan.
“The Medal of Good Citizenship awards recognize these individuals and their remarkable contributions to our communities and our province as a whole.”
Here’s what the 6 recipients on Vancouver Island did:
- Ronald Allen Greene (Oak Bay) – Greene has spent countless hours volunteering and leading various organizations in his community. Over the course of 50 years, he has:
- coached volleyball teams,
- been an active member of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association,
- organized symposia to commemorate major events in the history of Victoria and BC,
- written an award-winning book about the gold rush,
- founded the Friends of British Columbia Archives to raise money for and organize events surrounding research collections,
- restored the buildings of his family business (Capital Iron), earning the company a Heritage Canada Regional Award,
- participated in City of Victoria’s heritage advisory committee, and later served as a board member of the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust.
- Michael O. Langridge (Saanich) – Langridge was born with an intellectual disability, and has overcome a number of challenges to contribute to his community. His community involvement repertoire includes:
- volunteering as a navy cadet,
- reaching the rank of petty officer 2 in spite of significant spoken and written communication challenges, and going on to receive the Commander’s Cup,
- after losing his brother to PTSD, supporting the efforts of the Royal Canadian Legion to raise awareness of issues surrounding the disorder,
- being appointed director on the board of People First of Canada (a national non-profit organization that supports people with intellectual disabilities) for 5 years, and volunteering for the organization for over 6 years,
- joining the advisory board of Community Living BC (a group whose mission is to encourage, inspire, lead and support inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all aspects of the community) for 7 years.
- winning 2 gold medals for Canada in the 2017 International Special Olympics Games in Austria,
- receiving the provincial Athletic Achievement Award from Special Olympics BC in 2018.
- Beth, Brandon, and Darren Laur (Langford) – The Laur family, also known as “The White Hatters”, aims to share a proactive message of social media safety and digital literacy with as many students, teachers, parents, and law enforcement as they can. Over the past 10 years, they have:
- visited over 350 schools across BC and Canada, and about 100 schools in the U.S.,
- volunteered hundreds of hours every year, providing schools and law enforcement with guidance in all matters of safety, security and privacy in the digital world,
- been directly involved in 183 successful interventions of teens who contacted them about cyberbullying or sexting gone wrong, and who were considering or were in the process of self-harming or suicide,
- contributed a portion of the family’s business profits each year to two not-for-profit organizations – Need2 and Bullying Ends Here,
- dedicated hundreds of hours every year to students who asked for help in securing their social networks – resulting in thousands of students, and even teachers and parents, from across BC taking them up on their offer.
- Kris Patterson (Port Alberni): Patterson has a passion for literacy and local history that has led him to contribute countless hours to community service. His actions include:
- helping raise over $1 million for literacy programs in the Alberni Valley,
- publishing 8 books and donating the proceeds to various local community organizations,
- writing a weekly historical column for the local newspaper,
- spending 500 hours digitizing radio interviews conducted by his late father about the history of Port Alberni – then subsequently donating the interviews and a collection of historical photos to the local museum,
- receiving the Heritage Award in 2013 for his efforts to preserve cultural heritage,
- consistently volunteering at more than 12 local organizations for over 25 years,
- recording the grief of losing his child in a book that has been accepted into the library at BC Children’s Hospital,
- personally donating a child heart monitor to the same hospital.
Click here to read about all the other selfless, civic-minded recipients of the Medal of Good Citizenship in BC.
Know someone who deserves to be recognized for their efforts as well? Here’s where you can nominate them for the award!
