Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: June 13, 1988
• Invested on: August 19, 1988

On the afternoon of June 2, 1987, a little boy accompanied his father on a fishing trip to a boat launching site on the Red River near Selkirk, Manitoba. While his father fished from the open tailgate of the station wagon the child played in the front seat of the car. Suddenly the vehicle started to roll backwards into the river. As the boy's father frantically tried to open the car doors another man ran up to help. Both men, clinging to the vehicle, were carried into deep water. As the car sank the boy's father, a non-swimmer, floundered. After yelling to the boy to make his way to the back of the car, the other man grabbed him from the open tailgate of the sinking vehicle and started to swim back to shore with him. Robert Pourier, who was also fishing at the site, assisted in pulling the father to shore with a rope, then noticed that the man attempting to save the boy was being carried downstream by the current and was in serious trouble. Mr. Pourier swam out to the exhausted man, who handed him the child. By the time he and the boy reached the shore and safety the man had disappeared.