Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean presents Kelsey Roy of Carleton Place, Ont. with a Medal of Bravery during a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Thursday. Roy saved her mother, who fell through the ice on Mississippi Lake. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean gave 47 people bravery decorations Thursday, including an Ontario girl who pulled her mother from a frozen lake and three Regina men who pulled a woman from a burning car seconds before it exploded.

The decorations recognize selfless acts that saved lives and sometimes cost rescuers their own. One U.S. Coast Guard officer received the Star of Courage, while 46 others were given the prestigious Medal of Bravery.

While some of the awards were given posthumously, recipients in attendance at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa included soldiers, police officers, volunteer firefighters, electricians, elevator repairmen and even children.

Kelsey Roy of Carleton Place in eastern Ontario was just eight when she saved her mother's life.

She and her mother, Karin Roy, were enjoying a winter outing along Mississippi Lake in March 2007 when her mother fell through the ice and into the frigid waters. She yelled at her daughter to leave the scene, fearing she would also fall in. Kelsey instead crawled along the thin ice, grabbed her mother and pulled her to safety.

"I've seen what it's like to lose someone who is close to you, my grandpa died and my great-aunt died, and I just knew I couldn't let my Mom go under, " Kelsey said after the ceremony.

She also confessed some of her friends are kind of jealous of all the attention she is receiving for her act of bravery.

Harry Prymak said he could do without the attention. A press operator at the Winnipeg Free Press for 31 years, Prymak is used to printing the headlines, not making them.

Three years ago, Prymak and some friends were icefishing on Lac du Bonnet, Man., when they heard screams on the lake. An inexperienced snowmobiler had fallen through the ice.

Prymak said he got down on his belly and slid over to the hole where the snowmobiler had gone in.

"[I)] grabbed him by the arm and proceeded to pull him up on the ice, but the ice broke away and I also fell in," he said.

Prymak is not a strong swimmer, but went after the drowning man until Prymak's friends pulled them both out.

"It all happened too fast, I don't think anything went through my head, I should have sat back and thought about it a little better, but I thought it was urgent to try and get him out, " Prymak said.

A trio of men from Regina were equally bold when they came across a burning car in a ditch during a road trip in British Columbia.

In July of 2007, Mark Barnard, Andrew Hilderman and Michael Landry were driving from Kelowna to Sicamous when they saw smoke and heard screams in the ditch. The driver of the car was trapped inside by her seatbelt.

"The smoke was unbelievable," said Hilderman. "You couldn't see an inch in front of your face. It was just this wall of black smoke pouring out of the inside of the car. The interior of the car was on fire. She was screaming for help. It was an inferno. It was worse than you see in movies."

The men got a knife from a passerby, cut the driver's seatbelt and pulled her out of the vehicle. Seconds later, it exploded in a ball of flames.

"The tires were exploding, a lot of people were yelling at us to get out of there, and I just thought, 'They blow up in the movies, they don't blow up in real life," Landry said.

"But no, it definitely did, and that's when I realized the danger."

The three men have become friends with the driver, Julie Wharram, who travelled from Toronto to Ottawa with her family to reunite with her rescuers for the first time since the accident.

"They're awesome and I love them and my family loves them and we think about them everyday and we have their picture on our fridge and look at them everyday, " she said.

In addition to bravery, the three men share another trait: modesty.

"I'm a normal person, who lives a normal life," said Hilderman. "I wake up and put my pants on one leg at a time. I don't consider myself a hero but people insist on calling me that."

But the three men do admit to occasionally using their new honorific after their name, MB, which stands for medal of bravery.

"I've already put it on resumes, and filled out forms with MB on it. And every time I do, I just smile to myself, like, 'That actually happened,' " Hilderman said.

Canada gives out three bravery decorations: the Medal of Bravery, Cross of Valour and Star of Courage. Anyone can nominate a person who has risked injury or death to save another. The incidents don't need to have taken place in Canada and the rescuer doesn't have to be a citizen, but Canadians or Canadian interests must be involved.