Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: March 25, 1998
• Invested on: September 18, 1998

Around midnight on August 15, 1995, Mikael Sibakow, then 17 years old, pulled a friend from a van that had slipped off a dock and landed upside down at the bottom of the Saskatchewan River in The Pas, Manitoba. Mr. Sibakow and four of the seven teenagers in the submerged van had managed to free themselves and find their way back to the dock. When Mr. Sibakow discovered that two people were missing, he immediately dove back into the murky waters. Disoriented, and in total darkness, he felt his way around the vehicle until he found the window he had broken to escape. Despite the risk of getting trapped, he squeezed inside and groped around until he touched the hand of one victim, stuck under a seat. He grabbed the drowning girl and managed to pull her to the surface through the narrow opening. Mr. Sibakow made two more attempts to locate his other friend but, despite his most valiant efforts, the boy could not be saved.