Emily and Graham Nishikawa awarded keys to the city

Whitehorse City Council created a new honour this week, voting to award 'keys to the city' to deserving citizens.

And just after creating the honour, councillors moved to give keys to the city to sister and brother cross-country skiers Emily and Graham Nishikawa.

All councillors supported the motion.

"This is clearly setting the bar at a very, very high rate and I am pleased to be part of this vote tonight," said councillor Kirk Cameron.

The siblings were honoured for their achievements in cross-country skiing. Emily Nishikawa competed at the Sochi Olympics and Graham Nishikawa was a guide for visually impaired skiers at the Sochi Paralympics. He won a gold medal with Paralympic skier Brian McKeever in the visually impaired one kilometre event. Both, Emily and Graham, won medals at this year's Canadian ski nationals.