Star of Courage
Awarded on: 1999-06-10
Invested on: 2000-06-26
Nafisah Variend, S.C. (posthumous)
Star of Courage
Subrina Variend, M.B.
Medal of Bravery
Early on the morning of May 4, 1997, in Greenfield Park, Quebec, Nafisah Variend lost her life following the rescue of her two young children. Awakened by smoke, she and her sister Subrina Variend rushed to the boys= flaming bedroom. As soon as Nafisah opened the door, Subrina darted inside, grabbed her two-year-old nephew from his crib and gave him to Nafisah. Subrina then rushed back inside the room in search of the three-year-old boy but, blinded by the smoke, was unable to locate him. As the heat and flames intensified in the apartment, Nafisah told Subrina to escape with the toddler then continued searching until she found her older son hiding under a bed. Nafisah then managed to escape by jumping from a two-metre-high window with her child in her arms but tragically, they both died from their burns some time later.