{"id":569783,"date":"2026-03-30T01:44:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/569783\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T01:44:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:44:37","slug":"anglers-canadian-rangers-honoured-for-daring-arctic-rescues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/569783\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglers, Canadian Rangers honoured for daring Arctic rescues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Gen. gives bravery medals to Rankin Inlet pair, Naujaat Canadian Rangers for courage in life-threatening conditions<\/p>\n

Rankin Inlet resident David Jameson Bond was dozing while ice fishing on the frozen Meliadine River, about 18 kilometres from the community, when a scream cut through the quiet.<\/p>\n

On June 13, 2021, Cecilia Ayuraq, an elder, had stepped onto thin ice and plunged into frigid water.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you could see was a person\u2019s head and arms sticking out of the ice,\u201d Bond said Thursday at an Ottawa ceremony where he received a bravery medal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gap in the ice was three feet deep around her and it was a pretty big hole,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Spring ice breaks easily, making it harder for someone to get out of because they fall right through, Bond explained.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, Bertha Nakoolak was also fishing nearby and heard the cries.<\/p>\n

She reached Ayuraq first on her ATV, and shouted for Bond \u2014 who had gone to his car to grab a rope\u2014 to hurry up.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

When they reached the edge of the cracked ice, the rope proved useless because there was nothing to tie it to.<\/p>\n

The pair dropped to their knees and carefully inched toward Ayuraq as the ice cracked beneath them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the ice started to crack and pieces of it came off,\u201d Bond said.<\/p>\n

Working together, Bond grabbed Ayuraq\u2019s leg and pulled her from the icy water.<\/p>\n

For their actions that day, Bond and Nakoolak were awarded the Medal of Bravery by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon Thursday at Rideau Hall.<\/p>\n

The medal is one of the Canada\u2019s highest civilian honours, recognizing acts of courage in dangerous circumstances.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNo one ever plans to receive these decorations. You receive them because you acted with courage,\u201d Simon said at the ceremony. \u201cEach of you chose to look beyond your own safety to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bond, a Rankin Inlet chef and hotel manager, said he feels humbled by the recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was nominated, but to receive it is different,\u201d he said. \u201cI never want to have to do it again, but I know I would if I had to.\u201d<\/p>\n

After pulling Ayuraq from the water, Bond used chemical hand warmers from his backpack while Bertha stripped off her boots and offered Cecelia the liners.<\/p>\n

Bond said incidents like this are not uncommon during spring travel in the North. The Inuit technique known as the \u201cthird leg,\u201d comes in handy, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a metal rod that you pound on the ice as you walk,\u201d Bond said. \u201cIf it goes through, stop walking. If it doesn\u2019t, keep doing it until you get to where you want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s ceremony, two members of the 1st Canadian Rangers Patrol Group were also recognized for a dramatic Arctic rescue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Canadian Ranger Danny Sanertanut receives a Medal of Bravery from Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Thursday for his role in rescuing two stranded French nationals near Naujaat in March 2020. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)<\/p>\n

Sgt. Ayrton Balfour and Canadian Ranger Danny Sanertanut received medals for rescuing two stranded French tourists near Naujaat, on March 17, 2020.<\/p>\n

Balfour and Sanertanut were part of a team of five rangers who\u00a0answered a distress call when other service providers could not.<\/p>\n

Their search was done in a blizzard and -60 C temperatures. The rangers travelled more than 260 kilometres before locating the pair and bringing them to safety.<\/p>\n

The medals for other rangers Laurent Kringayark, Oscar Kringayark and Robert Kopak will be awarded later.<\/p>\n

Bond and Nakoolak brought a taste of the Arctic to Ottawa for the ceremony, giving the governor general caribou and Arctic char processed in Rankin Inlet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Gen. gives bravery medals to Rankin Inlet pair, Naujaat Canadian Rangers for courage in life-threatening conditions Rankin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-569783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}