Heritage Day 2025 honours the late Nora Madeline Bernard. From Millbrook First Nation, she was a Mi'kmaq activist who fought for her community and First Nations people across Canada.
Ms. Bernard played a key role in getting justice, recognition, and compensation for survivors of the Canadian Indian Residential School system. As a survivor of the system herself, she founded and became president of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School Association in 1987. She then started a class-action lawsuit for the survivors, which inspired others across the country to do the same, leading to the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history.