Kamran Shukoor, 18, was awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Citizenship Medallion by Alberta Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani alongside seven other students from across the province in Edmonton on July 14. The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Awards recognize young Albertans who display exceptional leadership, citizenship, volunteerism or public service. Shukoor says it’s one of the highest honours for Alberta students. “I think it’s really humbling to be in the top eight,” he said. “I mean, I know all students in Alberta do really amazing, incredible, great work, it was so inspiring to be in a room full of people who have done so much, accomplished so much, and in such little amount of time so it’s really inspiring, it’s humbling, and I’m grateful.” The Premier Citizenship Award is presented to one student per high school and from that pool of winners the province then decides the top eight to receive the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Citizenship Jubilee Award. Shukoor said his work to protect youth from online harms is likely responsible for his high placing. “I’ve always been the youngest in the room in lots of my endeavors,” he said. “I think it’s really important that we give youth a seat at the table, (because) youth will ultimately grow up and be the adults one day. “It’s important that we start early and while we may be called to be the future leaders of tomorrow, we don’t always have the tools to lead today so that’s why it’s important to have a seat at the table.” Volunteer history Shukoor has a long history of volunteering and standing up for issues he feels are important to the wellbeing of youth. He says it all started in grade six at his school, Strathcona Tweedsmiur where he helped finance a startup company. “We did a Dragon’s Den-style presentation to the Calgary Foundation, pitching for $5,000 to an organization called Windmill Micro Lending, which gives loans to businesses that aren’t really able to get afloat,” he said. “They just need a little bit of extra capital.” Currently he’s working as an advisor to a number of projects including to Marc Miller, Canada’s minister of identity and culture, about the harms associated with online gaming and social media. “One perspective that I brought to Minister Miller was the gaming perspective,” said Shukoor. “I’m at a gaming lab at the U of C and we discussed gaming disorder and how it’s perceived and what the gambling features are and how gambling is a way into gaming for some people, how they use it as a mechanism to cope with their stress, with their realities of the world.” Connecting Shukoor met Sara Austin, the head of Children First Canada at an awards ceremony in 2024 and the two connected right away. “To be able to hear Kamran speak about his day-to-day experience, the harms he’s witnessed, but also the solutions that he envisions and the work that he’s already doing within his university and with his peers to make a meaningful difference,” Austin said. “This isn’t just young people demanding solutions, he is a part of building it and it’s such a powerful example for young people, but also for our parliamentarians to see that youth can really contribute to making meaningful change.” Shukoor says he wouldn’t be able to do what he does without the support from his parents. He graduated from Strathcona Tweedsmuir in 2025 and has now finished his first year at the Medical University of the Americas in the Caribbean and one day would like to practice medicine like his father who’s a family doctor.
