Left to right: Melanie Taylor, publisher of RV Lifestyle Magazine; Jason Friesen, vice president of Voyager RV; Jim Gorrie, from RVDA of Canada. (submitted image)

By Kevin Rothwell

Dealer of the year

National honour for Lake Country RV dealer

Nov 22, 2023 | 3:00 PM

Local entrepreneur Jason Friesen and Voyager RV Centre are this year’s recipients of the Walter Paseka Memorial Canadian RV Dealer of the Year award for 2023.

The award was announced as part of the annual RV Dealers Convention and Expo industry event in Las Vegas earlier this month.

The honour is bestowed upon a candidate who has demonstrated long-term dedication to the RV industry, shown commitment to the RV associations, been recognized by customers and peers as a person with the highest integrity and credibility in both work and personal life, and who have made contributions to their community.

After growing up around the RV industry (his father Rod opened the dealership in 1984) and then heading off to university, Friesen officially joined Voyager RV’s management team in 2003 and has been the vice president and acting dealer principal since.

He continued to drive and grow the family vision and the Voyager brand, resulting in the dealership being named a Top 50 RV Dealer in North America for eight years running and singled out as a top five Blue Ribbon Dealer in all of North America for the past two years.

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“My dad got the ball rolling here at Voyager, started from scratch and navigated the dealership through choppy waters in the 80s and 90s,” Friesen explained “That was really the hard work, so his name should be on this Dealer of the Year award that’s for sure.

“My job since 2003 has really been to try to build on that early success and reputation. It’s an easy job to lead when you have an amazing group of people on staff, all helping to grow the business in a way that doesn’t waver from what we believe – that customer experience should be the focus.”

Voyager RV Staff (submitted image)

Voyager RV has always been supportive of the RV industry associations, which is a big factor in the eyes of the panel that votes. Voyager RV’s current general manager, Ward Fraser, has sat on the board of the RVDA of British Columbia for 14 years, is currently the president of the RVDA of B.C., and is also currently on the RVDA of Canada board as well.

“Ward has been vital to Voyager’s success as our GM but has also been a rock star for our entire industry in both B.C. and Canada,” Friesen remarked. “He’s a massive part of us winning this Dealer of the Year award, that’s for sure!”

Friesen was the RV sector chair for constructing a new Trades Training Complex building at Okanagan College and led the charge with Voyager donating $30,000 to the college, as it hosts one of only two available RV technician training programs in Western Canada. He recently created the Voyager Cares Initiative, which has led to Voyager donating over $200,000 to local charities since 2020.

This coming year, Voyager RV will be celebrating their 40th anniversary.

“We’ll continue to try and grow the business responsibly, without wavering from our core values, and try to have fun doing it! But we’ll also make sure to keep supporting both our industry and community, which have given my family and our staff so much,” Friesen added.