Whitehorse electrician Ron Moyen is this year's recipient of the Commissioner's Award for Bravery, for helping rescue a man very near death.

Moyen and 15 others receiving various awards will be honoured Sunday at the annual Commissioner's Levee hosted by newly-appointed Commissioner Geraldine Van Bibber.

Moyen says it's almost as though there was a Godly presence last June 7 while he on his way to Faro. He decided to stop for a bite to eat at the Drury Creek Territorial Campground on the shore of Little Salmon Lake.

In 25 years of travelling that stretch of the Robert Campbell Highway, he had never stopped at that campground, but had thought about it.

Had he not pulled in, he would never have known of the perilous situation a man was about to find himself in. Likely, nobody would have.

'I've always went by, and at the last minute said, OK, I am going to go in this time,' and then put on the brakes,' he said in an interview Thursday.

Shortly after arriving, Moyen noticed a splash on the far side of the lake. He thought nothing of it, believing it was likely a moose playing in the water, or something like that.

It was only after a few minutes as he prepared to leave that he started hearing shouting.

The employee of Yukon government's airport and marine branch climbed on top of a picnic table. From there, way across the lake, he could barely make out a the man bobbing in the water.

Moyen shouted back, his calls muffled by the return cries of the man, whose canoe had capsized. He jumped in the truck, beeped his horn to let the man know he knew of his plight, and sought help.

Moyen drove back to the Drury Creek grader station some three minutes away, in hopes of finding someone, or at least a boat.

Working late were Lou Drake, Beatrice Battaruski and John Bowness. Drake volunteered a boat parked out back.

Drake, Moyen and Battaruski quickly hooked it up and travelled back to the campground while Bowness remained behind to work the radio-phone and summon the RCMP and ambulance services personnel.

As the boat was still winterized, the motor was inoperable. Moyen and Drake persevered through 20 minutes or so of paddling the heavy, 16-foot, cruiser-style boat to reach the drowning man, who had become severely hypothermic.

Drake, Moyen notes, was a big and equal part of the rescue.

The two got the victim into the boat, removed his clothes and wrapped him in blankets they'd gathered before leaving shore. Halfway back, the RCMP rescue boat arrived, and the man was subsequently taken to the Faro nursing station.

'I'll tell you, that was one tough guy,' says Moyen. He believes the man mustered the strength to hang on from watching Drake and himself approach.

Drake will also receive the bravery award, though hers will be presented during 2006 Canada Day celebrations, the commissioner's office has confirmed.

Out of curiosity, Moyen stopped in at the grader station the very next week, at about the same time. Not a soul was around.

'I tell you, absolutely, God's hand was involved,' he says of all the things that had to come together that day to save the life of the man, whose name was never released publicly.

The RCMP said at the time the man, who was not wearing a life preserver and was in the wrong type of boat for such a dangerous lake, was feeling embarrassed about his near-fatal experience.

Meanwhile, Betty Irwin will be among the three recipients of the Commissioner's Award for Public Service. The award is in recognition of her non-profit work, particularly in the formation of the Yukon Women in Trades and Technology.

The Whitehorse senior started as a volunteer co-ordinator for women in trades five years ago. She was instrumental in founding the organization, for which she currently works as a part-time paid employee at the age of 72.

It was 1984 when she earned her trades' ticket as a television and radio repair technician after challenging and passing the inter-provincial exam, having worked in the field for 14 years prior. It was a time when trade schools weren't exactly swinging the doors open to a predominately man's world, she says.

Irwin retired seven years ago, but continues to push open those doors and encourage women to consider a career in the trades.

Work in the trades, she says, is interesting and financially rewarding.

'I've read an article recently that said only two per cent of university graduates will make more than trades' people in their lives,' Irwin points out.

'The wonderful thing about trades is that it's not a dead end; it opens up so many opportunities and avenues to get into and do other things.'

It's not uncommon for those in the trades to initially work as an employee but then move on to establish their business, she says.

Irwin says women, however, remain 'woefully underrepresented' in trades and technology.

The school system, she says, is still not providing enough information about career opportunities in those areas, to either girls or boys.

And there is still the perception that the trades are for those who don't make it academically.

In recent years, Yukon Women in Trades and Technology has begun promoting more education about opportunities in the trades.

Over the last five years, for instance, the organization has invited 120 girls from around the Yukon to the Whitehorse campus of Yukon College for hands-on experience in welding, electricity, carpentry and so on. And they keep what they make.

This coming March, Irwin notes, the college will host its first 16-week course to give 12 women prolonged exposure to the trades.

It's the first such program for the Yukon, though they've been common across the country for the last 10 or 15 years, she says.

Al Loewen of Whitehorse will also receive the Commissioner's Award for Public Service, as will Amos Dick of Ross River.

Lowen, a retired teacher, is being recognized for his volunteer work in the construction of theatrical sets, and for 15 years performing with the Midnight Sun Barbershop Quartet.

Dick is being honoured for involvement in his community, particularly his work teaching youth survival skills and sharing other aspects of traditional knowledge.

Commissioner Van Bibber will also decorate 11 Yukon students with the Governor General's Academic Medal. The recipients are:

ï Kelsey Russell, F.H. Collins Secondary School;

ï Patti Wagantall, Del Van Gorder School, Faro;

ï Yule Schmidt, Vanier Catholic Secondary School;

ï Sarah Truelson, Porter Creek Secondary School;

ï Tobiah Reams, Watson Lake Secondary School;

ï Joshua Kontogonis, Tantalus School, Carmacks;

ï Elizabeth Fraughton, Robert Service School, Dawson City;

ï Miranda Allison, St. Elias School, Haines Junction;

ï Emilie Herdes, Ecole Emile Tremblay;

ï Anise Barnes, JV Clark, Mayo; and

ï Matthew Fairclough, Eliza Van Bibber School, Pelly Crossing.

The levee is scheduled for 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the Elijah Smith Building on Main Street. Everyone is invited.