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A statue dedicated to Canadian nurse and humanitarian Sara Corning, who helped rescue and care for thousands of orphans during the Armenian Genocide, will be erected in Yarmouth, Canada.

A number of activities honoring Corning will also be taking place this weekend in the Canadian town, The Armenian Weekly reported. 

Born in the village of Chegoggin, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1872, nurse Sara Corning made it her life’s mission to help others. In her mid-twenties, she moved to the United States for training and worked in New England for almost 20 years, before returning to Nova Scotia to help the 10,000 victims of the Halifax Explosion.

In 1918, at the age of 46, Sara was certified by the American Red Cross and joined Near East Relief—an organization created to help civilians affected by the Great War. Landing in Constantinople (Istanbul) soon after, she helped rescue and care for thousands of Armenian and Greek orphans, often risking her life in the process, for more than a decade.

In 2016, nearly a century after Corning’s heroic decision to dedicate her life to help genocide survivors, David and Jennifer Chown of Nova Scotia founded the Sara Corning Society, which honors the nurse’s life and humanitarian work.

In an interview to The Armenian Weekly, Jennifer Chown said as they became more aware of Sara’s Red Cross volunteer service in Armenia, the former Ottoman Empire and Greece, they gradually realized how significant her service turned out to be.

"I reached out to the mayor of Yarmouth to suggest that a street be named in honor of Sara Corning. In meeting with other interested individuals, we agreed that Sara was as deserving of a statue as any war hero or humanitarian," she said.

The authors of the initiative state it also helps to uncover a relatively unknown historical connection between Canada and Armenia, expressing hope there will be a Canadian embassy established in Armenia soon.