Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

HEROIC BRAVERY RECOGNIZED – Yukon MP Ryan Leef presents the late George Klein’s family with an Unsung Hero Award for Bravery for him on Wednesday. Receiving it are Tracy, left, and Ruby, Austin and Garrett Klein, front to back. Leef started the awards for people who may have been overlooked and deserve recognition in the community.

MP hands out awards to territory’s ‘unsung heroes’

They are the unsung heros, those who make a major contribution to the community which hasn’t been recognized in a big way.

By Stephanie Waddell on December 19, 2014

They are the unsung heros, those who make a major contribution to the community which hasn’t been recognized in a big way.

On Wednesday, Yukon MP Ryan Leef presented his first Unsung Heroes Awards to five deserving Yukoners.

The honours went the late George Klein (whose wife and three children accepted on his behalf), Cole Byers, Stu Mackay, Stephen Dunbar-Edge and Jud Dueling.

The awards were devised by Leef to honour those who make a “substantive yet unrecognized contribution to the community; a person whose dedication and/or bravery is unknown or acknowledged,” it was noted in a statement.

Klein was honoured for his bravery in trying to save his children, who were carried out in a current while swimming in Wood Lake in B.C. in 2013.

Klein drowned in his attempt, but his kids were later rescued by a boater.

The medallions depict the symbol of the House of Commons, a mace in the shape of a medieval mace that was used as a weapon, but in brass and ornate with symbolism.

“At its bulbous head is a replica of the Imperial State Crown,” reads the description. “The Canadian Heraldic Authority, on April 15, 2008, granted the House of Commons, as an institution, a badge consisting of the chamber’s mace (as described above) behind the escutcheon of the shield of the Royal Arms of Canada, representing the Queen herself, in whose name the House of Commons deliberates.

“The reverse reflects the true spirit of our unsung heroes.”

It then goes on to note the medallion includes a Latin phrase which means from “possibility to actuality,” and that’s what award recipients have embodied, not only in seeing the possibilities in themselves, but in others and the world around them.

The medallion features two very Yukon symbols with a husky and the Yukon flag, representing not only the territory, but the “hardy nature of its inhabitants.

“The husky, in particular, is a symbol of determination, endurance, individual capabilities and spirited team-work – all qualities of the medallion recipient.”

Meanwhile, on his Twitter feed, Leef noted Dunbar-Edge and Mackay were honoured for their dedication to the Whitehorse Food Bank. Dunbar-Edge works as the organization’s executive director while MacKay serves as the president of the food bank’s board.

Byers received his award for his fund-raising efforts in the territory for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Dueling – who teaches at Vanier Catholic Secondary School and is a well-known athlete – was recognized for the ways he inspires young people.

Leef invites anyone wanting to nominate someone to the next round of awards to do so through his website at www.ryan.leef.ca or to visit his Whitehorse office.

Any Canadian can nominate a deserving Yukoner for an Unsung Heroes Award.

All Yukoners are eligible for the award unless they have received the Order of Canada or a Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Non-Canadians can also be considered for the award “if they have made a sustained and exceptional contribution to the Yukon.”

See more photos of award recipients next week.

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