Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 1985-03-25
Invested on: 1985-09-27
On the morning of 30 November 1983, Doug Richard, in a remarkable feat of endurance, began on foot a sixty-five kilometre trek in Northern Ontario wilderness to get medical help for his mother. Mrs. Rickard had become ill at the family's remote camp during the beaver trapping season. As no means of communication or transportation was immediately available, Doug resolved to traverse the rugged terrain in sub-zero temperatures, using the survival skills his father had taught him and only a rough map to guide him. Walking six days through dense and desolate bushland - muskeg, rivers, and cliffs slowing him down considerably - he finally reached an outpost at the Kipling Dam on the Mattagami River. Shortly afterwards, the provincial police dispatched a helicopter with Doug on board to airlift his mother to hospital.