Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: April 25, 2012
• Invested on: October 12, 2012

Sergeant James Wesley McLaren, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

On May 25, 2009, RCMP Sergeant James McLaren risked his life to try to rescue a suicidal man, in Cape Dorset, Nunavut. Responding to a call that an intoxicated man was threatening to jump in the Arctic Ocean, Sergeant McLaren arrived to find that the man had already jumped into the water after his inebriated girlfriend ran towards him. Sergeant McLaren jumped onto the ice and crawled to the edge. He threw a rope with a hook to the man who refused to reach for it. Sergeant McLaren was unable to help the victim, as he had to keep the girlfriend from jumping in. He pulled the struggling woman to safer ice and waited until search and rescue teams arrived.