RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE - Thomas and Denise Manuel have been through years of counselling since a gunman burst into their home and threatened to kill them and their three grandchildren.

Fort Good Hope elders Thomas and Denise Manuel recently returned from Ottawa, where Thomas was awarded a Medal of Bravery from the Governor General. - NNSL file photo

National recognition for bravely countering the attack can't erase their pain, but it does help.

Fort Good Hope elder Thomas Manuel Sr., 77, was awarded a Governor General's Medal of Bravery for protecting his family from the intruder on July 16, 2007. Manuel was the only NWT resident to receive the Medal of Bravery from Governor General David Johnston at a ceremony in Ottawa Oct. 22 along with 52 other Canadians.

The intruder entered Manuel's home with a shotgun and fired shots at Manuel's family, including his wife Denise and three of their grandchildren.

The family ran into the bedroom and Manuel was shot several times in the back and upper body before he could block the door with a chest and make a rope out of sheets and shirts so his family could escape through the bedroom window. After making sure the rest of his family was safe, Manuel climbed down and distracted the intruder until the police arrived.

The man, Alexis Taureau, who was 18 at the time, shot him in the face and once in his left eye, leaving Manuel partially blind. Taureau later served time in jail for the home invasion.

"That was the most pain I went through. It was hot and burning," Manuel said, explaining he can't forget that violent day.

"The tragedy, it's still here with me, but not like when it first happened to me," he said. "I'm getting over it."

That's why he proudly accepted the Governor General's honour.

"I'm glad I got the medal," he said. "It means lots to my family. They were looking forward to seeing that medal."

Manuel said his grandchildren still look up to him because of the experience, although it haunts him still.

"If I just got scared, when I heard somebody walking in with a gun, I would've been gone. But the thing that went through my mind was to save my wife and my grandchildren that were quite small. It was a good thing that I kept them in my mind."

His wife Denise said she doesn't think her own memories of that day will ever go away, although she said counselling has helped her deal with them. She and her daughter Janet went to Ottawa with Thomas for the award ceremony.

"I didn't expect that he was going to get the medal. I feel good about it," she said. "If he wasn't around, I don't know what would've happened to us."

Fort Good Hope chief Arthur Tobac is a close friend of Manuel's, often accompanying him on guitar when Manuel breaks out his fiddle for community events, as he is known to do -- "I always keep myself busy," Manuel chuckled.

Tobac said the entire community should be proud of Manuel. Officials posted an article at the band office about Manuel's award last week, but it was snatched down within a few hours as people passed it around town.

"That goes to show some people are very proud of the fact that he's received some kind of acknowledgement for this act of bravery, which at the time I don't think was his motivation," Tobac said.

"Thomas is very well-respected in the community. He speaks a lot to the young people at every gathering … He uses his incident as a way to educate the young people on healing from emotional scars leftover from way back, even residential school," he added.

"For the most part he's always told people that the physical scars are a lot less difficult to deal with than the emotional (scars) left over from that one incident with the firearm."

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