Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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The medals gleamed beneath the chandeliers of Government House, but it wasn’t the gold or silver that drew the tears; it was the stories.
Stories of officers tackling a man with a live grenade. Of strangers diving into dark water. Of a woman crawling across cracking ice toward a drowning boy.
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On Friday afternoon, the Royal Canadian Humane Association (RCHA) gathered Saskatchewan’s bravest first responders and ordinary citizens alike to say aloud what so often goes unsaid: thank you for stepping forward when others froze.
‘They just act’
Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre stood at the podium, her voice calm but full of pride.
“It makes my heart sing,” she told the crowd. “Saskatchewan has so many wonderful, courageous people. They act without hesitation, putting others ahead of themselves. We should celebrate them always.”
Later, speaking quietly in the corridor, she admitted the ceremony had humbled her.
“I’m amazed and thankful that we have these citizens willing to risk their lives to save others,” she said. “They just have the wherewithal to take immediate action. They’re brave, they’re courageous, they just act.”
Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre poses with Protective Services Officers Amra Martin, Bryan Melenchuk and Candice Nolin after presenting them with Royal Canadian Humane Association Bravery Awards at Government House in Regina on Oct. 17, 2025. (Dean Flaman/Submitted)
The night a grenade hit the pavement
It was just after midnight on Valentine’s Day 2022, outside St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
Protective Services officers Candice Nolin and fellow Protective Services Officer Bryan Melnychuk were attempting to calm an agitated patient when he reached into a bag and pulled out what appeared to be a weapon from a war movie.
Without thinking, Nolin grabbed his arm. Melnychuk lunged. The two crashed to the ground outside the emergency doors as colleague Amra Martin sprinted in to help.
When the man finally released the device, Martin scooped it up and ran it to the police. It was real. At the time officials told CJME/CKOM the grenade was a replica.
Both Nolin and Melnychuk were injured but refused treatment until the suspect was in custody. Two silver and one bronze medal were awarded to the officers for that night’s courage.
Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre presents William Rodwin with a Royal Canadian Humane Association commendation during the 2025 Bravery Awards ceremony at Government House in Regina on Oct. 17, 2025. (Dean Flaman/Submitted)
Trio face Highway 16 inferno
Farther south, volunteer firefighter William Rodwin was driving home from a long shift in August 2022, when he saw smoke curling over Highway 16 near Guernsey.
He and Dexter Smith, travelling with his mother Janna, found an SUV flipped in the ditch, flames licking the frame. Inside, a man was pinned by the steering column.
Smith reached through the shattered windshield to free the man’s legs while Rodwin pulled him through the sunroof. Seconds later, the vehicle exploded.
Dexter’s sleeve was singed. Janna had been the one steady voice on the phone with 911.
Rodwin and Smith received silver medals; Janna Smith received an honorary testimonial for her calm in chaos.
Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre presents Cst. Donna Davies with a Royal Canadian Humane Association Bravery Medal at Government House in Regina on Oct. 17, 2025. (Dean Flaman/Submitted)
The lake that tried to take a life
On Last Mountain Lake, the August 2023 sun glittered on the water as RCMP officers tried to coax a man in mental distress back to shore. Instead, he swam toward open water, refusing help.
Constable Donna Davies and Sergeant David McClarty watched from a boat, knowing the man was seconds from going under.
Davies, a former competitive swimmer, jumped in wearing a life jacket. McClarty followed. They swam beside the man, speaking gently, until he finally tired. With Sergeant Jeff Ball’s help, they pulled him onto the sand, exhausted but alive.
“I knew it was risky,” Davies said later. “They teach you in lifeguard training that someone in crisis can push you under. But I just wanted to make sure he got home safe.”
For their efforts, Davies and McClarty received bronze medals; Ball earned an honorary testimonial.
Fire in the night
In July 2024 at 3:35 a.m. in the northern community of Île-à-la-Crosse, RCMP Constable Mitchell Peres was on patrol when he saw a house on fire, flames climbing the walls.
He radioed dispatch, grabbed a neighbour with a garden hose, and kicked in the front door.
Inside, black smoke clawed at his lungs. He found an unconscious woman on the couch, dragged her out, then went back again and again and again — four times in total.
Peres saved six people: two women, two children, and two infants. Seconds after he carried out the last child, the roof caved in.
Peres received the RCHA Gold Medal for Bravery, the highest honour the association can bestow.
Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre presents Mark Dmyterko with a Royal Canadian Humane Association Bravery Medal at Government House in Regina on Oct. 17, 2025. (Dean Flaman/Submitted)
Rescue in slough off Highway 16
A year later and two hours west, Mark Dmyterko was driving home near Langham when a frantic woman waved him down.
“A car’s in the water,” she shouted.
He ran down the embankment and saw bubbles rising from a sinking sedan. Another passerby, Dana Ahenakew Andres, was already stripping off her jacket. Together, they dived in.
“There was only so much time before it was gone,” Dmyterko recalled. “You either stand around and do nothing, or you try to get out there.”
They reached the car, pounding on the windows and even smashing a rear pane with a wheel wrench. The water rushed in too fast, and despite their efforts the driver died.
Both were honoured with silver medals for bravery, not for the outcome, but for the courage to try.
Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre presents Elaine Ratt with a Royal Canadian Humane Association Bravery Award at Government House in Regina on Oct. 17, 2025. (Dean Flaman/Submitted)
‘As a mother, that scares me’
On a quiet November morning in 2024, Elaine Ratt was cleaning the Sucker River Gas Bar north of La Ronge when a boy burst in, sobbing that his friend had fallen through the ice.
Ratt dropped everything and followed him to the river. She could see the child’s head bobbing, 20 feet from shore. She called 9-1-1, told the other kids to stay back, and crawled onto the ice.
It cracked beneath her. She fell into waist-deep water cold enough to paralyze. But she found a rock underfoot, lifted the boy onto the ice, and somehow pulled herself out. Then she carried him all the way back to the store to warm him until help arrived.
“As a mother, that scares me,” Ratt said quietly. “Having somebody fall through the ice is my biggest fear for my own daughter. I just reacted.”
Ratt received the silver medal for bravery, though she still insists she’s no hero.
A neighbour’s efforts rewarded
In Maple Creek, Travis Hope and his wife awoke to find their neighbour’s home engulfed in flames. He grabbed a child’s scooter from the yard, smashed a basement window, and pulled a woman to safety.
Volunteer firefighters Travis Haughian and Jordan Martin arrived moments later, battling heat and smoke to reach a man trapped inside. The house collapsed before they could get him, but they never stopped trying.
All three men received silver medals.
‘A privilege to shake their hands’
As each name was called, applause rose, then faded to hush as the stories of brovery began.
When it was over, the recipients stood together for a photo beneath the chandelier, medals glinting, faces flushed. Family members wiped away tears.
“It’s one of the privileges of this office,” McIntyre said softly, looking at the group. “To shake their hands, to thank them, it’s a reminder of who we are as a province. Ordinary people, extraordinary moments.”
From the north’s frozen rivers to the highways and hospitals of the south, these stories stretched across Saskatchewan, proving that courage isn’t confined to uniforms or training manuals. It’s something more profound.
The ceremony closed with O Canada. Outside, the October air was crisp, the kind that carries voices and memory far.
For a few moments, Government House was still. Then, as guests spilled into the hall for coffee and photographs, a straightforward truth lingered:
When lives were on the line, these people didn’t wait for permission. They acted.
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