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PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
There was no way Corey and Trevor Alivaktuk could have predicted Oct. 15 would be the day that would change their lives – but when the Pangnirtung cousins, aged 14 and 11, answered a call for help, they saved three other boys' lives and earned the respect of their community. Their bravery was honoured with a ceremony Jan. 2.

Corey and Trevor Alivaktuk were given bravery awards by Pangnirtung mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik Jan. 2 after the two helped rescue three boys stuck on boulders after the tide rose in Pangnirtung Oct. 15. - photo courtesy of David Kilabuk

"They were going to freeze to death if I didn't go down there," Corey said of the fateful day he risked his life to carry the three over freezing tide water to safety.

Coming back from an afternoon at Aulatsivik watching Trevor's dad and others hunt narwhals, the cousins started moving when the tide started approaching. Back on the road to town, Trevor, who was on the back of Corey's ATV, saw the 12-, 11-, and seven-year-old boys waving for help as the tide surrounded the rocks they were standing on.

"I just thought, I have to get there as soon as possible because the tide is coming up," Corey said.

Driving out into the intertidal zone as far as he could, he parked his ATV on a rock high enough to be out of the water. Then he took a chance.

"I started jumping from rock to rock. When there were no rocks to jump on anymore, I just jumped in the water and started running towards them. The water was up to my waist."

It took the teenager about a minute or two in the freezing water to reach the first of the boys and take him back to safety.

"One kid was on a big rock, and the other two were standing together on smaller rock. I wasn't sure (I could handle the cold water), but I just had to do it because they had no way to get out," he said.

Reaching the first boy, he put him over his shoulder and walked back to the ATV. His legs were starting to freeze and the water kept rising.

"I did two the second time," he said.

With everyone back on solid ground, Corey realized he might be in danger himself.

"I couldn't feel my legs anymore up to my knees," he said. They went to his cousin's place, the nearest place he could think to warm up.

"We stayed there for 10 to 15 minutes with big blankets on. I couldn't feel my feet for about an hour."

Hearing the news, Corey's mom Lisa said her son did something she wouldn't have been able to do herself.

"I was shocked at first about what he went through without us knowing," she said. "Something could have happened, but we're very proud of what they did. They did what they had to do. What they did was very courageous."

Her brother, Trevor's dad Jamesie Alivaktuk, agrees.

"I'm proud of them that they helped other kids," he said.

At the Jan. 2 ceremony, attended by the five boys and their families, Pangnirtung mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik presented the cousins plaques to acknowledge their bravery; all five will be getting lifejackets later this month.

Corey, who was embarrassed by the attention, said he wouldn't think twice to do something similar again. For that bravery, he has made a community proud, and made three new friends.

"They say 'hi' every time I see them now," he said of the boys.

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