Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: August 23, 1976
• Invested on: February 11, 1977

By his courage and diplomacy Claude Poirier, police reporter of radio station CJMS saved the hostages held at the Institute Louis-Philippe Pinel, Montreal, on 11 June 1973. The inmates, threatening the guards with knives, demanded Mr. Poirier as a mediator. He obtained the release of the hostages and left the scene with one of the inmates who was persuaded to surrender. In another incident, on 17 February 1975, two heavily armed thieves, cornered at a filling station, held five persons at gun-point, demanding safe conduct to a police station. When the reporter arrived, the excited men were firing random shots to show their determination. At the risk of his life Mr. Poirier brought the incident to a close by driving the thieves to the police station.