‘Do the right thing’: Sweetgrass woman’s split-second decision leads to national bravery honour

By Kenneth Cheung

The slough beside Highway 16 was still near Langham on the afternoon of Oct. 5, 2024 until a frantic woman waving on the roadside drew Dana Ahenakew Andres toward a small hill overlooking a water-filled dugout.

When she reached the top, the Sweetgrass First Nation woman saw a vehicle submerged below, its front end sliding deeper.

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She and her cousin, Cynthia Albert, had been headed to Saskatoon when they stopped to check on the distressed woman.

“I looked over at her and I told her I have first aid and CPR, and I said, should we stop?” Ahenakew Andres recalled. “We both agreed we’d stop.”

From the top of the hill, Ahenakew Andres yelled for someone to call 911 and made her way down toward the water. Removing her outer clothing, she swam out to the car, where the driver sat motionless.

“I was banging on the windows, trying to get this person’s attention, but they weren’t responsive,” she said.

Down the highway, another driver, Mark Dmyterko, had also been waved down by the same woman and ran toward the embankment.

“A car’s in the water,” she shouted, he recalled.

From there, he saw bubbles rising from the sinking sedan and Ahenakew Andres already in the slough.

“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.”

With the help of a tire iron Albert retrieved from their vehicle, Dmyterko smashed a rear window as water continued to rise inside. The dugout’s soft sand made movement difficult, and the pair were forced back when the current around the sinking car grew too strong.

“The car was slowly sinking,” Ahenakew Andres recalled. “I told Mark, I said, we got to get back because if we get sucked in, we’ll go down too.”

The vehicle disappeared beneath the surface. Ahenakew Andres later learned the driver had suffered a medical emergency and died, and that the dugout was between 20 and 30 feet deep.

“It was so hard,” she said. “There was nothing more that we could do.”

A while after the attempted rescue, both of them were notified they had been selected for the Silver Medal of Bravery. Ahenakew Andres received her medal on Nov. 12 in Battleford, presented by Mayor Ames Leslie, while Dmyterko was honoured on Oct. 17 in Regina by Lieutenant-Governor Bernadette McIntyre.

The Silver Medal of Bravery and certificate awarded to Dana Ahenakew Andres, recognizing her efforts to reach a submerged vehicle during a Highway 16 incident near Langham. (Dana Ahenakew Andres/submitted)

The recognition was made possible through the Royal Canadian Humane Association, which gathers Saskatchewan’s bravest first responders and everyday citizens to say aloud what often goes unsaid: thank you for stepping forward when others froze.

“I was very humbled to hear,” she said. “I didn’t need an award for that. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

They were honoured with the medals, not for the outcome, but for the courage to try.

For Ahenakew Andres, the experience underscored a long-held belief about responsibility and compassion.

“My hope is that if you’re capable of helping in any manner, in any event, in any situation, that you do the right thing,” she said.

“There’s a lot of good people out there, and I’m not the only one who’s ever done this. I just hope that it continues to happen and that we do our best as humans to do the best we can to help others to do the right thing.”

— with files from 650 CKOM

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• Fishing Lake Saulteaux woman wins prestigious Nelson Mandela award
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• PBCN updates progress on new homes for Denare Beach evacuees