Congratulations to Kyle Yaroshuk-Pryce for receiving this year's Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for his devotion to his community of Prince Rupert, BC. The Lieutenant Governor’s Medal is awarded to a post-secondary student who promotes diversity and inclusion, recognizes democracy and citizenship, and fosters reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in their community. 

Kyle is originally from the community of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii. While completing the Business Administration Diploma program at Coast Mountain College Kyle dedicated time to his community to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Kyle is dedicated to following his Haida traditions as closely as he can, and says it’s important to pass on generational knowledge to his children. One example is how he’s passed on how his community of Skidegate’s special way of hanging and smoking salmon to his children to ensure they pass it on to their children one day. 

Kyle has also been very active in the local and provincial rugby community and has coached youth soccer in Prince Rupert. He and his wife have five children who have also been taking part in the sport as well. Last year he escorted the Prince Rupert Rainmakers rugby team to an event HSBC Bank put on in Vancouver called “We Scrum as One”. The event was to promote diversity and inclusion within rugby teams all over the world. What Kyle has been doing in the local rugby community fulfills elements of the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Sports and Reconciliation section. 

Kyle says he thinks it’s important to give back to the community in which you live.

“I really think that most college and university students should try to help their community out when they are in school,” adding it’s rewarding to give back.

In his Business Communications class, Kyle wrote an essay about on the topics of consultation, Indigenous rights and resource development in the context of reconciliation in Canada today. 

Kyle’s dedication to reconciliation in academia, his role as a father and his role as a community leader have all contributed to earning this award. The staff and faculty at Coast Mountain College would like to congratulate Kyle Alan Yaroshuk-Pryce for receiving the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Inclusion, Democracy and Reconciliation and for completing the Business Administration Diploma program. 

“I am really, really excited,” Kyle says about receiving this recognition. “I wasn’t expecting it.”

View a special message to the graduates from Kyle: