Markham celebrates Canadian humanitarian Sara Corning

Leaders of the Armenian community and elected officials from Markham and afar joined together recently at the Forest of Hope in Ashton Meadows Park for the unveiling of the Sara Corning monument.

The Forest of Hope is a designated section of the park proclaimed in 2016 to mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, so it was fitting that a Canadian humanitarian hero, Sara Corning, who played an important role in rescuing Armenian and Greek orphans from the genocide was honoured there too.

Originally from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, born in 1972 and buried there upon her passing in 1969, Corning was born in 1872 but spent much of her life abroad. The Sara Corning Monument serves as a solemn reminder of the importance of collective remembrance, the preservation of human dignity through education, and the promotion of global harmony. Additionally, it pays tribute to the Canadian humanitarian spirit, exemplified by individuals like Corning, who selflessly devoted themselves to helping others.

After working as a nurse for 20 years in the U.S., she returned to Nova Scotia to assist victims of the Halifax Explosion before crossing the Atlantic near the end of WWI, working in Turkey and Armenia and finally, Greece, where she personally adopted five orphans and received the Silver Cross Medal of the Order of the Saviour by Greece’s King George II in 1923.

Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood was also in attendance to help unveil the statue, of which there is a twin in Yarmouth.