Rosemary Sadlier
Nominated for the award: Community Activism
Company: Royal Commonwealth Society
Position: Chair
Biography: Sadlier is a passionate community activist who headed a non-profit for over 22 years without payment as her way of giving back. She extended upon the work of OBHS founders to ensure a secured February as Black History Month (BHM) with Toronto, the first Provincial BHM and she successfully initiated the process to have a national declaration of February as BHM with Jean Augustine. She has given over 1000 presentations to increase awareness of BH. She launched the Black International Film Festival, Leaders of Tomorrow, and grew the annual BHM Brunch from 90 to 1000 attendees. She fought for diverse and inclusive curricula; the commemoration of historic people, places and events; written bestselling books. She initiated the process to commemorate August 1st as Emancipation Day in 1996 - the beginning of freedom under the law for all; it has gone to second reading in The Senate! She advocated for the retention of the AME Church, which secured over $130,000 towards the creation of a museum; she has tirelessly advocated for history of the BME Church to be fully shared in The Ward. She creating the Canadian Black History Summit, then was the only Canadian invited to the NMAAHC. She also has given 3 deputations to the UN Rapporteur on Racism; represented the Royal Commonwealth Society in London U.K. Sadlier is a Fellow of the Ontario Teachers Federation and a Global Defender of Human Rights by Speak Truth to Power.