Environmental Awards

Laurel Dykstra is an Anglican priest, community-based activist and scholar, and Burnaby resident, who recently published a book titled “Wildlife Congregations: A priest’s Year of Gaggles, Colonies, and Murders by the Salish Sea”. The book documents Laurel’s spiritual encounters with large gatherings of birds, fish, and wildlife that inhabit the lower Fraser watershed.

In addition to the book, Laurel speaks regularly at congregations about the climate crisis, reducing emissions, and both personal and collective change. Laurel has also trained young people in the skills of activism and ecological restoration and has been a leader in mobilizing the faith community opposing the advancement of oil and gas projects.

Irene Lau has been on the Board of the Burnaby Lake Park Association (BLPA) since 2012 and assumed leadership of the board since 2015. Irene has been instrumental in engaging the public by establishing the BLPA’s presence on social media and facilitating improvements to their website. Furthermore, Irene connects people with nature through habitat restoration and enhancement, education and outreach.

Irene is well connected to staff at the City of Burnaby and Metro Vancouver as well as other community organizations. She is the key organizer of BLPA education efforts at local community events such as Burnaby Blooms, City of Burnaby Environment Week, and World Rivers Day. She has a strong personal commitment to preserve, restore, and enhance nature and her mentorship to the other board members continues to be invaluable. In 2023 alone, Irene logged 400 hours of volunteer service with the BLPA.

Ed von Euw, his wife Nancy and their three children Greg, Emily and Daniel have been the principal caretakers of Silver Creek in North Burnaby for the past 23 years. Silver Creek is part of the Brunette Watershed and flows from Burnaby Mountain near SFU into the Brunette River just above the Cariboo Dam.

The von Euw family formed the Silver Creek stream-keepers to monitor the health of the watershed. Over the years, they have conducted salmon spawner counts and spring emerging fry checks. They have conducted invasive plant removals and replaced them with native species, organized storm drain marking and run educational programs in local schools. They have also cleared obstructions on the creek, such as beaver dams and garbage and maintained the creek’s ability to support urban chum and coho salmon populations.

The family is currently preparing for their move from Burnaby to the Sunshine Coast and is transferring their knowledge to the members of the Stoney Creek Environment Committee that will be overseeing the Silver Creek watershed for the foreseeable future.

Burnaby For Our Kids is a local chapter of the national For Our Kids parent-led climate advocacy network. The Burnaby chapter came together to encourage the City of Burnaby to sign the Fossil Fuel non-Proliferation Treaty in 2022. The group is led by Kate McMahon and includes a network of over 100 families in Burnaby.

The group encourages families to connect with the environment around them and empower kids and their grown-ups to advocate for a livable future for all. They organize family friendly events such as removing invasive species and planting native species, litter clean-ups and offer environmentally themed tours around Burnaby.

This group has partnered with other local climate groups such as BROKE and Force of Nature to mobilize families in support of good climate policies like the Zero Carbon Step Code and Sue Big Oil. They also help host family-friendly spaces at rallies to encourage more families to engage in environmental action.

Clay Construction Inc. is a Langley-based business that led the deconstruction of a single detached house at 7676 Lawrence Drive in Burnaby in 2023. This project pre-dated the City’s Construction & Demolition Waste Diversion Bylaw and exceeded the City’s expectations for waste recovery.

Clay Construction took steps to donate removable construction material (i.e. shelving units, light fixtures, mirrors, window blinds, doors etc.) or sell items at low cost to those in need. They removed stones from the old fireplace to be re-used in the new building. The overall impact of this project resulted in 55% (by weight) of clean wood, metal, plastic, drywall etc. being diverted from the landfill.

In addition to their effort to recover materials, Clay construction considered the impact of their project on the neighboring properties. They protected a 40-year old hedge bordering the two properties by working away from the root zone, and they worked with the neighbours to ensure the survival of shrubs on the construction site prior to relocating them.

Nikki is the founder of the Fraser River Clean Up Club which originated in 2021 as a way to help reduce the litter in her neighbourhood. She now organizes monthly Fraser shoreline cleanups across the lower mainland. The club has conducted 30 cleanups to date of which 10 have been in Burnaby.

Nikki is a passionate environmentalist and manages the Instagram account @fraserrivercleanupclub to engage her audience and encourage them to join in clean up events.