Sergeant Joseph Carl Steeve Bédard

  • Jonquière, Quebec

Decorations for Bravery

  • Medal of Bravery

    • Awarded on: October 23, 2003
    • Invested on: June 25, 2004

    Master Corporal Joseph Carl Steeve Bédard, M.B., C.D.
    Sergeant Joseph André Hotton, M.B., C.D.
    Medal of Bravery

    On September 30, 2002, Search and Rescue technicians MCpl Steeve Bédard and Sgt André Hotton rescued a severely injured man following a helicopter crash in a rugged and mountainous area near Natashquan, Quebec. During the last moments of daylight, the rescue team of a Hercules aircraft located the helicopter on a steep embankment in a deep river valley. Without concern for their own safety, Sgt Hotton and MCpl Bédard parachuted into the heavily forested crash site. Using improvisational means, they managed to free the sole survivor trapped in the crushed wreckage. In the cold and dark, they cared for the suffering man until a rescue helicopter arrived to airlift them to safety, some seven hours later.

  • Star of Courage

    • Awarded on: May 4, 2006
    • Invested on: October 13, 2006

    Sergeant Joseph Carl Steeve Bédard, S.C., M.B., C.D.
    Star of Courage
    Master-Corporal Daniel Joseph Gilles Villeneuve, M.B., C.D.
    Medal of Bravery

    On March 30, 2005, search and rescue technicians Sgt Steeve Bédard and MCpl Daniel Villeneuve rescued five seal hunters stranded in their disabled fishing vessel in the ocean near les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec. After several failed attempts to reach the crewmen on the vessel's deck due to severe weather, the two men decided to conduct individual hoist operations from the water. Braving dangerously high seas, massive ice chunks thrown about by the 30-foot swells and winds in excess of 50 knots, Sgt Bédard was hoisted down to retrieve a first crewman who had unexpectedly jumped into the water. The crewman was floundering dangerously close to the heavy outriggers that threatened to crash onto him. Before the victim could swim to Sgt Bédard, who was being swamped by the waves, the boat crew managed to pull him on board. As night fell, Sgt Bédard and MCpl Villeneuve performed several more hoists from the deadly waters under extremely hazardous conditions and successfully recovered the helpless sealers.

    * This is a second Decoration for Bravery awarded to Sgt Bédard