Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: July 3, 1981
• Invested on: September 18, 1981

On 2 January 1980, Jasmin Asselin, the aged 17, saved a five-year-old boy from drowning in Lake St-François at Valleyfield (Québec). Jasmin was skating on the lake with some friends when one of them called that a child had gone through the ice. The group rushed over. The youngster had walked onto the thin surface near a hole three by five metres wide, had broken through and was caught in the strong current. Jasmin, without hesitation and in spite of the danger, threw himself full length on the ice, sliding forward into the water from the waist up while one of his companions held on to his ankles. He was able to grab the victim by his hair and pull him to safety. The child was rushed to the hospital where he recovered.