Star of Courage
Awarded on: 1973-03-05
Invested on: 1973-06-22
Normand Maltais, S.C.
Star of Courage
At Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, on October 12, 1971, Normand Maltais, a reporter with CKAC radio station in Montreal, talked an armed fugitive into releasing a young girl hostage and surrendering to police. While fleeing from the scene of an armed robbery, the suspect shot and killed a constable who was pursuing him and took refuge in a house in Sainte-Thérèse where he held a young girl as hostage. The building was quickly surrounded by police but the abductor threatened to kill the girl and himself if police tried to enter the house. Others attempted to serve as intermediaries, but the gunman insisted on speaking to Normand Maltais. The reporter came to the scene and under direction of the police approached the house and engaged the abductor in conversation. Without regard for his own safety, Mr. Maltais unhesitatingly undertook this dangerous enterprise and succeeded in persuading the man to surrender.