Longtime friends of Kyle Dubé, a St. Albert resident and executive director of Edmonton-based non-profit YOUCAN Youth Services who passed away earlier this month after suffering a heart attack, say that above all, Dubé made everyone around him feel important.
“He had an ability to make everybody feel that they were the most important person in the world to him,” said Dean Kurpjuweit, a former St. Albert resident and past executive director of the Mustard Seed in Edmonton. “That's an amazing gift that not everybody has, but also, I think, part of what that showed was how present he was in people's lives when he was with them.”
Kurpjuweit explained that he had known and been friends with Dubé for over 30 years, but it was in the last decade the two had become closer given the overlap of their professional lives.
“In the last number of years our friendship sort of tightened up, just due to Kyle working in the social service sector for years and I started working in the social service sector in 2015 and we were both leading organizations, and just became closer friends through a lot of cooperation and peer mentorship and sharing of ideas and thoughts,” he said.
“His love for at-risk youth, his ability to see the potential and the dignity and the worth in everybody, was truly unique.”
Kurpjuweit said that on professional level he'd like to see the work Dubé and the team at YOUCAN had accomplished over the past two decades continue to grow and succeed, as it would be an ode to Dubé's passion and drive.
“As a community leader that would be the thing, that YOUCAN continue on the pathway that it's already on and make a difference in the lives of so many youth that maybe otherwise wouldn't get the help that they need.”
Sharing a similar sentiment was Steve Hogle, who initially met Dubé through working at CTV Edmonton with Dubé's wife Jeanette before Hogle and Dubé served together on the board of directors of Reach Edmonton.
“He lived life large, and you'd hear him before you saw him,” Hogle said in an interview. “He was an incredible friend, a great colleague, and just a wonderful person in terms of showing people how to embrace life and be there for each other.”
“Kyle always dreamed big, and dreamed of a building for YOUCAN and you know I could see a building for YOUCAN in the future and I can see Kyle's name on that building, and I think that would be a lasting legacy of this mega-force in our world.”
Hogle said that if there was something he wished everybody knew about Dubé, especially for those who didn't know him, it would be Dubé's endless devotion to helping others, even when it came to working through and sharing his family's grief publicly after the death of his 16-year-old son Luke in 2021.
“They lost Lukey three years ago to suicide and they treated it very publicly for that greater good,” Hogle said. “Kyle spent his life devoting himself to [his] family and to helping others.”
“Everybody can draw something from that in their own way to make themselves a better person, and make our world a better place.”
Dominick Gallo, who's family along with the Gomez family of St. Albert have put together a GoFundMe to raise money for Jeanette as well as sons Jaxon and Liam, said he thought one of Dubé's most powerful traits was his ability to make people comfortable.
“That was the thing about Kyle, he put you in a space where you felt comfortable talking about anything,” Gallo said. “He was just an absolute gem in terms of being able to share together things that would make us laugh, and we'd laugh and laugh, but there were things that we would share and we would cry.”
“He had the ability to connect with people on a level that very few people can.”
Gallo said the two families got to know each other through minor sports, as Gallo's sons Nico and Mateo played hockey with Jaxon and Luke.
“Our boys had the opportunity to play hockey together at a fairly young age, and as we've discovered through hockey we met lots of good families and the Dubés were one of those families that we met early on and just continued to get to know them better and better,” he said. “We developed a really good friendship with their family and in particular Kyle and myself had a very awesome relationship that I'm going to cherish forever.”
Gallo also said he wasn't sure what the level of support would be like when the GoFundMe was set up, but the fact that nearly $80,000 was raised in less than two weeks goes to show the impact Dubé had on the community.
“I think it really is just a major tribute to the person that Kyle was and the contributions that he made to his community over the years,” he said. “Kyle was well loved by many people, and he's going to be missed by many people, and you know, it was some of the saddest news I've ever received.”
“I'm going to miss the guy.”
Dubé's community impact was also exemplified on March 12, the day of his memorial service, when both Mayor Cathy Heron and Edmonton's Mayor Amarjeet Sohi declared that both cities were recognizing the day as Kyle Dubé Day.
In an interview, Heron told the Gazette that she first met Dubé prior to being elected to city council in 2010, and in the years since she relied on him as a resource when it came to community issues like youth mental health and houselessness, as well as the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018, which claimed the lives of four local hockey players.
“He just was everywhere, he was always involved with the community,” she said. “I feel like we need more people like him.”
