The Governor General on Friday honoured an Edmonton RCMP officer who was among the first to arrive three years ago at a property in Mayerthorpe, Alta., where four Mounties had been ambushed.

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean, right, presents RCMP Cpl. Stephen Vigor of Edmonton with the Medal of Bravery during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday.
(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Cpl. Stephen Vigor was presented the Medal of Bravery for preventing a "mentally unstable and heavily armed man from escaping a crime scene," according to the citation issued by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean in Ottawa.

Constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnston died in March 2005 at the rural property 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

The four officers were investigating stolen car parts and a marijuana growing operation in a Quonset hut when James Roszko shot and killed them. Roszko then left the building and fired two rounds, which struck the police car Vigor was standing beside.

Vigor returned fire, hitting Roszko and forcing his retreat back into the building where he eventually killed himself.

'You give us courage,' GG tells constable

"You remind us that we have a responsibility to one another; it is the responsibility to stand together," Jean said Friday in her address to Vigor and 40 other recipients. "And above all, you give us courage, courage to reach out to someone else, to act and to say yes to life, so precious and so wonderful."

Const. Anthony Gordon, top left, Const. Lionide (Leo) Johnston, top right, Const. Brock Myrol, bottom left, and Const. Peter Schiemann were killed at Mayerthorpe, Alta., in 2005.
(CBC)

The Medal of Bravery was established in 1972 and awarded for acts of bravery in hazardous circumstances.

The third anniversary of the slayings will be marked on Monday.

Last July, police announced they had arrested two men from a neighbouring town in connection with the killings. Dennis Cheeseman, 23, and Shawn Hennessey, 28, each face four counts of first-degree murder.

Both men, who are from the neighbouring town of Barrhead and have remained behind bars for the past eight months, were the subject of a two-year RCMP undercover investigation aimed at proving their alleged role in the deadly shootings.

They are accused of aiding and abetting Roszko, even though police said neither suspect pulled the trigger or was at the scene of the crime.