5 KPU community members receive King Charles III Coronation Medals for their contributions

The King Charles III Coronation Medal is an award that commemorates the coronation of the royal. It honours people who have made significant contributions to the country or a particular province, territory, region, or community. The medal also celebrates those who have made contributions abroad, which brings credit to Canada.

In honour of the first anniversary year of Charles III’s coronation, Canada awarded 30,000 medals to deserving individuals across the country, with Gov. Gen. Mary Simon serving as one of the nominators across the country.

At Kwantlen Polytechnic University, five leadership and community members — Hong Yan Melody Pan, Kim (Kwuntiltunaat) Baird, Trina Prince, Arvinder Bubber, and Michael Morris — were honoured with the medal. 

Pan immigrated to Canada 25 years ago from Guangzhou, China. She worked as a pharmacist in China, but because of no credential evaluation during the time, she couldn’t continue working as one upon moving to Canada. So, to pivot, she began training to become a registered nurse.

She earned a bachelor of science in nursing from KPU, which she started by taking classes at Douglas College for three years. Pan also studied specialty nursing in critical care, which was a pilot project with Fraser Health in 2006. In 2007, she studied nephrology — a specialty that concerns the kidneys — in nursing at the British Columbia Institute of Technology while pursuing her bachelor’s degree at KPU.

She also has a master’s degree in nursing from Trinity Western University and is currently working towards a doctoral degree in education.

Ever since she was 13 years old, Pan says she has been serving the community wherever she goes, with Mother Teresa being her inspiration. Attending KPU and joining its community also inspired her to want to give back.

“I just sensed the leadership, they planted a seed in me to advocate for society, for everybody to change the community,” Pan says. “So that’s why I appreciate KPU.”

In 2018, Pan founded the Canada Chinese Nurses Association (CCNA), a non-profit dedicated to sharing knowledge between Chinese Canadian nurses and nurses overseas.

She joined the navy in 2019, and, since then, has been serving as a reservist in HMCS Discovery Reserve division in Vancouver.

Each year, Pan does a range of local and global outreach, which includes building relationships between communities and Indigenous populations, improving educational resources to help further medical care, and holding conferences on global changes in health care. 

“No one should be separated from others,” Pan says. “Sometimes we need to reach out to those people who feel isolated and make them feel included because this is a diverse world. We need to appreciate that and learn how to live with each other. I really think it’s a privilege to serve others.”

Pan says receiving the King Charles III Coronation Medal only increased her inner motivation to help others and pushed her to make more positive changes in the community.

“I love being a nurse and being with health-care providers,” Pan says. “We sincerely serve those who need our service, so I think that is the biggest meaning, not just to my worldview but also for the purpose of life.”

Baird has been KPU’s chancellor since 2020. She is also the interim chief administrative officer and former chief of her community, the Tsawwassen First Nation.

Throughout Baird’s career, she has focused on advancing First Nations issues. She has been running Kim Baird Strategic Consulting for 10 years, advising First Nations, companies, and governments about First Nations matters, including reconciliation.

Baird says she does this work for a number of reasons, including restoring the quality of life for First Nations communities.

“First Nations have not been treated well in this country, and there’s a lot of work to do to ensure they catch up socio-economically,” she says.

Baird is also a KPU alumna and a recipient of the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

“I chose [KPU] because it seemed less intimidating and more community oriented,” Baird says. “I am a strong believer in community and supportive community, so it just really seemed more aligned to my values.”

She says she is proud and humbled to have received the medal, and credits a team of people around her for contributing to her successes.

“I’m very grateful to have my work acknowledged in such a big way,” Baird adds.

Baird is working with the Tsawwassen First Nation in implementing a treaty she negotiated, which came into effect 15 years ago.

“Now, we’re at a stage of more mature organization since our self-government is advancing our path to reconciliation.”

She also says her passion remains in investing for projects that turn around the negative impacts of colonization on many generations within her community. 

Baird recommends others get involved in their communities — whether it be politically, through the charity sector, or other ways — by assessing their skill sets and looking at how they can make a greater contribution based on those skills.

“I just encourage everyone to get involved with things that really light their inner fire,” Baird says.

Trina Prince is KPU’s manager of culture and wellbeing within the Office of Equity and Inclusive Communities. In this role, they oversee the portfolios of gender and sexual equity, disability justice, and accessibility.

“I think being really involved in this kind of work is something that I just quite enjoy,” Prince says. “I really love working with the teens, and I love working with the folks that have been doing this work for years at KPU.”

Since their late teens, Prince has been passionate about advocacy work. Outside of the university, they recently completed their seven-year term as board chair for Salal Sexual Violence Support Centre. They are also an advocate for decolonization, reconciliation, and ending gender-based violence.

Prince is part of the trans and non-binary community, and through their experiences fighting for their rights and facing oppression, they are determined to ensure everyone feels like they belong.

“I think we as human beings have a right to just be able to enjoy our lives, feel joy, learn from our mistakes, and be in community with each other,” Prince says.

Prince says when they received the email informing them that they won the medal, they reread it a number of times, not believing it was real. Prince was among the 57 people who were selected by Gov. Gen. for the medal. They attended a ceremony to receive the award from Simon.

To those who may feel daunted and overwhelmed that there is still so much to learn when it comes to fostering spaces where everyone feels like they belong, Prince says “we are never going to be done learning.”

“There’s so many beautiful and wonderful ways that people live in this world, and there’s no way that we’re going to know exactly what everybody needs, per se, but we are going to be able to take the time to learn and to listen,” they say. 

Arvinder Bubber moved to Canada from India in 1976 and quickly became acquainted with community-minded Canadians while volunteering at local organizations.

Since then, he has been dedicated to community development. He serves on advisory councils for Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia, and is on the board of directors of the Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) Society, a non-profit that supports immigrants.

But before this, Bubber did volunteer work at KPU from 2001 to 2014.

“It’s been wonderful,” he says. “[I’ve had a] lot of support from friends and family and colleagues. It’s been a good journey.”

From 2001 to 2007, Bubber was on KPU’s board of directors. He says the highlight from this role was helping shape the future of post-secondary education in Surrey, Richmond, and Langley.

“It was a fantastic period to be part of KPU because it allowed us to bring in more post-secondary education into this area. It was lacking when I joined,” Bubber says. “I was part of the team that worked on getting more post-secondary seats in this area. That was very exciting.”

When Bubber finished his term on the board of directors, he became the board chair for about five years, during which he worked on successfully lobbying the government to change the status of what was then Kwantlen University College to a university, he says.

Afterwards, the university community asked Bubber to become KPU’s first chancellor, a role he held from 2008 until 2014.

“The community has given me a lot, so I feel that I want to see the community flourish,” Bubber says. “I want to see the community grow for all young people. I feel if I can help in any way to make it a better place, it’s an honour and a privilege to be able to do that.”

KPU bachelor of arts in policy studies alumnus Michael Morris was also honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his service at WorkBC, which has encompassed supporting Ukrainian refugees and others in their personal and professional journeys.

“It’s an honour to be tapped as a recipient of this award and, frankly, I’m still in disbelief as I certainly don’t wake up every day in the hopes of recognition or awards,” he said in a KPU press release. 

“It was my time at KPU, especially the mentorship and guidance from my instructors, that has set me up to be where I am today.”