Nora Bernard, a Survivor of the Catholic-run Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia, started interviewing fellow Survivors at her home in Truro in the late 1980s. Bernard’s efforts led to the creation of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School Survivors Association. In 1995, in the absence of class action legislation in Nova Scotia, Bernard’s lawyer filed a “representative” action for the Association. The suit was the first to claim compensation for every child who attended a particular residential school and to claim for childrens' loss of culture and language.