Mi'kmaw activist being honoured by Nova Scotia on Heritage Day

Nova Scotia is honouring Nora Bernard today on Heritage Day.

Bernard was a Mi'kmaw activist and a member of Millbrook First Nation. She was also a survivor of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School.

She helped lead a class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government that sought compensation for other residential school survivors.

Justine Maloney, Bernard's niece, said her aunt was beloved throughout Mi'kma'ki as a community member and for her advocacy. 

"It's nice for her to be known outside of the community now," Maloney said during an interview with Information Morning in Halifax.

Bernard was killed in 2007. 

Maloney said her mom, aunt and their other siblings didn't say much about residential schools when she was growing up. But she said they opened up as she got older.

"[Bernard] told me of her still advocating for her siblings," Maloney said. "Advocating for other younger people in the residential school alongside her, she always had that role."

In 2005, the federal government settled the lawsuit for upwards of $5 billion. The last residential school in Canada had closed in 1996. 

"She would have been … pleased to see everyone who've lived in poverty their whole lives … to get at least something for the abuse that they endured," Maloney said. 

Maloney got to know her aunt on a different level because of the amount of time they spent together. 

Bernard and Maloney also worked together for an Indigenous organization in Truro and in other administrative roles. They formed a partnership around the office, Maloney said. 

She remembers her aunt's humour. She also remembers Bernard as being motherly and having protective instincts. 

The loyalty she had for her family was strong, Maloney said. She loved being Mi'kmaq, she loved her culture, and she loved her language. 

"A lot of people didn't know that she was [a] very fluent Mi'kmaw speaker," said Maloney.  

To honour her memory on Heritage Day, Maloney said her family will spend time together. She said that's what her aunt loved the most.

Maloney said the best way others can honour her legacy is to spend time with their families. 

"Share some tea … share a recipe with them," she said. "Share something that's going to involve everybody."

Bernard would have been happy and honoured to have her work celebrated in this way, said Maloney. But she said her aunt was so humble it wouldn't have changed her in any other way.