Bernard filed the first Class Action lawsuit against the Government of Canada seeking compensation for Residential School Survivors.
In McKiggan's words, "(...) if it wasn't for Nora's efforts, and other survivors like her across Canada, this national settlement never would have happened.
[13] In December 2022, Halifax regional council voted to rename Cornwallis Street, in the city's north end, after Nora Bernard.
The neighboring Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre and New Horizons Baptist Church had earlier called on council to rename the street, which commemorated Edward Cornwallis, a British governor who sought to drive the Mi'kmaq out of the Nova Scotia peninsula and proclaimed that a bounty would be paid for the scalps of Mi'kmaw people.
[14] Halifax council convened a special committee to advise on the matter of municipal assets commemorating Cornwallis.