Thursday September 5, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated 11:32 am]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
It was a tale of two long threads of history to see both Stew Young and Moe Sihota honoured at the same event in Langford yesterday.
Each of them received a King Charles III Coronation Medal at a ceremony held on September 4 at the Langford Legion, attended by over 100 people all packed in a sectioned-off area of the larger facility.
Hosted there by Ravi Parmar, MLA (Langford-Juan de Fuca) were friends, family and long-time supporters of the two men who ride different political horses but who both moved the region forward over the past 30 or more years. Young is now 64 and Sihota is 68. They both seem still energized by the momentum of what they have achieved.
Accomplishments over 30 years:
Born in Langford, Stew Young was recognized for his 30 years as the mayor of the City of Langford and all that it took to build the city to what it is today. He served as mayor from 1992 to 2022, taking the once-called ‘Dogpatch’ western community of Greater Victoria to that of a modern urban city. He continues to be proud of the fact that he built a life for his extended family on home turf, accomplishing that through robust unrelenting business activity in the local region and beyond — first in the disposal and recycling business and then expanding into team sports business enterprises.
Born in Duncan and choosing an education in social work, economics and law, Moe Sihota was recognized for his 15 years as the NDP MLA for the region (riding names have changed over the years), including his accomplishment to get the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail built which has become a major tourist attraction on Vancouver Island. He was further recognized as having broken a social barrier in being the first Indo-Canadian member of the BC Legislature.
In different ways, both Young and Sihota pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and in their own ways set upon a life path that involved improving their communities around them.
Different politics:
Their political stripes couldn’t be farther apart — Stew Young made camp among BC Liberals in the years they were in power, and aligns federally with the Conservatives. Moe Sihota was president of the BC NDP (2009-2013) and a BC NDP MLA (1986 to 2001).
But they are local rather local success stories. Young has built his life in and around Langford while Sihota who grew up in the Cowichan area saw most of his political underpinning in the Greater Victoria area after earning degrees at UBC, UVic and the Warwick School of Economics.
Together in the local region these two leaders were able to get things done including the expansion of sewer service out to the west shore which has literally underpinned the rapid housing growth in Langford and Colwood.
Even the term ‘west shore’ is a concept and regional identity that emerged from the work of these two men and the circles of people around them.
And even the emergence of arguably one of BC’s greatest premiers, John Horgan, can attribute some of his success to the barriers for progressive politics that Sihota broke through in the region. Horgan was first elected in 2005 with voter support in the Langford and Sooke/Juan de Fuca region. taking over as NDP party leader in 2014 and becoming Premier in 2017. Horgan received a King Charles III Coronation Medal in August in Vancouver.
Who was there:
Stew Young’s multi-generational family filled many seats. Two of his long-time former City of Langford council members were there including Lanny Seaton and Matt Sahlstrom. Former Conservative MP Gary Lunn (Saanich-Gulf Islands 1997-2011) was there.
Credited with helping support the construction of new schools, Stew Young saw a few Sooke School District SD62 leaders there including Superintendent Paul Block and Board Chair Amanda Dowhy, as well as former long-time SD62 trustee Dianna Seaton and first-term SD62 Trustee Russ Chipps.
Moe Sihota had the support of several members of the Indo-Canadian community including retail furniture entrepreneur Gordy Dodds and many long-time NDP supporters including long-time BC NDP MLA Maurine Karagianis, Hans Frederiksen who worked in Horgan’s office for years and District of Sooke municipal councillor Dana LaJeunesse who is now running as the BC NDP candidate in Juan de Fuca-Malahat. Parmar office coordinator Hudson Copley-Spencer helped out with the event yesterday.
Also attending from the local region were West Shore RCMP Superintendent Todd Preston, Westhills Land Corp Manager Ryan McKenzie, Ron Coutre of the Westshore Developers Association, Rohan Rupf of Keycorp Developments, Shannon Russell who worked in Horgan’s constituency office for many years and now works with Keycorp Developments, former Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders, and Victoria Grizzlies president David Michaud.
Medals were pinned on medal recipients Young and Sihota by Gerry Brennan of the Langford Legion.
First Nations recognition:
Also each receiving a King Charles III Coronation Medal on September 4 were T’Sou-ke Nation leaders Gordon Planes and Shirley Alphonse.
Planes built one of the first solar-power community installations to support his Indigenous community, and Alphonse eventually came to be known as John Horgan’s Indigenous elder — making him ‘of the land’.
Parmar’s lead:
The event and guest list were assembled by Ravi Parmar as one of his last acts as MLA in Langford-Juan de Fuca as the BC provincial election looms in October. Parmar is running now as the BC NDP candidate in Langford-Highlands.
It was Parmar who had submitted the names of the four Langford-Juan de Fuca award recipients for approval of the honour, saying it was an easy choice as to who should be nominated.
About the medal:
The King Charles III Coronation Medal was launched upon coronation of King Charles in May 2023. Awards in his name have been issued in communities across Canada this year.
Choosing award nominees has been undertaken by MPs, Lieutenant Governors, and MLAs across the country.
===== RELATED:
- Four west shore recipients of the King Charles III coronation medal (September 4, 2024)
- Stew Young receives King Charles III Coronation Medal (September 4, 2024)
- King Charles III Coronation Medal awarded to 54 British Columbians including three recent premiers (August 28, 2024)
- North Island MP Rachel Blaney to award local King Charles III coronation medals (June 11, 2024)
- Coronation Day for older monarch & slimmed-down modernizing monarchy (May 6, 2023)
- Raising the Coronation banner at BC Government House (May 5, 2023)
- NEWS SECTIONS: POLITICS | BC ELECTION 2024 | VANCOUVER ISLAND | LANGFORD
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has covered west shore politics through a socioeconomic lens since 2014 through the weekly West Shore Voice News (2014-2020) and the daily Island Social Trends (2020 to present).
Since 2020, Ms Brooke has been reporting alongside the BC Legislative Press Gallery since covering the COVID pandemic daily in 2020-2022.
In 2022, Ms Brooke ran for school trustee in the west shore zone of Sooke School District 62.
In 2023, Mary P Brooke was nominated for a Jack Webster Foundation journalism award to recognize her community commitment through journalism.
In 2024, Mary Brooke launched the Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society based in Langford.