Nora Bernard facts for kids

Nora Bernard (born September 22, 1935 – died December 26, 2007) was a Mi'kmaq activist from Canada. She worked hard to get fair payments for people who survived the Canadian Indian residential school system. Nora Bernard was directly responsible for the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history. This lawsuit represented about 79,000 survivors. In 2005, the Canadian government settled the lawsuit for over 5 billion dollars.

Her Early Life and the Residential School

In 1945, when Nora was nine years old, her mother faced a tough choice. She was told that if she did not send her children to a residential school, the child welfare system would take them away. Because of this, Nora attended the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School for five years.

Later, in 1955, Nora married a man who was not Indigenous. This caused her to lose her legal status under the Indian Act. This part of the Indian Act was changed in 1985. However, Nora was not automatically given back her status as a band member. It was not until March 2007 that she was voted back into the Millbrook First Nation.

Leading the Fight for Survivors

In 1995, Nora Bernard started an organization. Its goal was to represent survivors of the Shubenacadie school. She then convinced a lawyer from Halifax, John McKiggan, to help the Shubenacadie survivors. They started a class-action lawsuit together.

After news of the Shubenacadie lawsuit spread, many other groups of survivors across Canada began similar lawsuits. Eventually, all these lawsuits were combined into one big national lawsuit. John McKiggan said that without Nora's efforts, this national settlement would never have happened. He noted that after their lawsuit was filed, many other students from different schools also started class actions.

Speaking Up for Change

In 2005, Nora Bernard spoke to the House of Commons of Canada. She told them about the difficult experiences children faced in residential schools. She explained that physical abuse was not the only problem.

Physical abuse was not the only abuse that the survivors experienced in these institutions (...) Abuses included such things as being incarcerated through no fault of their own; the introduction of child labour; the withholding of proper food, clothing, and proper education; the loss of language and culture; and no proper medical attention.

Nora highlighted that children were held against their will and forced to work. They did not get enough food, proper clothes, or a good education. They also lost their language and culture. And they did not receive proper medical care when they needed it.

Honoring Her Legacy

In 2008, Nora Bernard was given the Order of Nova Scotia after her passing. This is a very special award that honors people who have made a big difference in Nova Scotia.

In December 2022, the city council in Halifax voted to rename Cornwallis Street. This street, located in the north end of the city, was renamed after Nora Bernard. The nearby Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre and New Horizons Baptist Church had asked the council to change the street's name. The old name honored Edward Cornwallis, a British governor who tried to force the Mi'kmaq people out of the Nova Scotia peninsula. A special committee recommended renaming the street. "Nora Bernard Street" was the most popular choice in a public poll for new street names.

See also

• Nova Scotia Heritage Day