Lane Changer - Rosemary Sadlier, destination? social change
Lane changers in Balzac’s, Distillery
Rosemary Sadlier’s lane crossed mine because she volunteers her time interviewing candidates for the Diversity Scholarship program offered at the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto where I work. While I knew her name but not much else, I was immediately drawn to the strength of her convictions. The Internet told me Ms. Sadlier’s Black history advocacy made her a shoo-in to receive the Order of Ontario in 2009 and equally deserving to be named one of The 52: Stories of Women Who Transformed Toronto, an exhibition at the Museum of Toronto. (Check out the profile of another of The 52, Lane changer, Cathy Crowe).
I was honoured when Rosemary took two hours out of her day for a sit-down with me where I thought I would hear about her lane change from wife/mother to social advocate in the early ‘90s. Rosemary began our conversation by referencing Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken, an obvious choice for a chat with a lane-changer. But I leaned in for a story I hadn’t expected when she mused that while Frost’s idea that we choose one path over the other is appealing, it’s not true for every lane change.
Ms. Sadlier was Toronto-born and raised by a mother whose ancestors came to Canada from south of the border on the Underground Railroad in the 1830s; and a father whose New Brunswick-based people trace their arrival as Black Loyalists even further back to 1783. Despite those deep roots, Rosemary had the experience of many modern-day newcomers — having the only Black face in her class pictures. When her parents adopted her a sister, Rosemary aspired to work in the social work lane at the Children’s Aid Society. Despite her Master’s in Social Work, her CAS job application was denied leaving Rosemary frustrated. Black people seemed fine for the role of client but the lane was closed to Black professional staff.
By this time Sadlier was married and before long she had two kids and then three. She longed for adult contact and so began volunteering with the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS). Founded in 1978, the OBHS was the first major public organization in Canada focused on the history of Black people. When, a couple of years into her volunteering, the then-President approached Rosemary’s husband to consider joining the Board, Rosemary put up her hand instead. After all — she was already involved, not her husband. Once on the Board, Rosemary was trained to do Black History Month (BHM) presentations, creating a scheduling dilemma for the young mother but one she was prepared to manage. Each February, she sped from radio interviews to schools to other public institutions increasing awareness of the rich history of Black people in Canada.
In the fall of 1992, she was appointed the Board President. There wasn’t time for a good handover of Presidential duties before she was into the hurly-burly of BHM planning for the next February. The organization missed Toronto’s deadline for the request for the BHM proclamation. She called in favours and got it issued but she knew this couldn’t happen again — BHM had to be enshrined in the City’s annual calendar. With Rosemary’s passion and persistence she achieved that goal. By 1993, she got the provincial formal declaration too. That just left the feds. She approached many MPs, but due to the pressure of an in-person meeting, it was Jean Augustine, the first African-Canadian woman elected to Canada’s House of Commons, who agreed to take Sadlier's initiative to the House. On December 14, 1995, Sadlier achieved the goal with Augustine’s Parliamentary motion to recognize BHM nation-wide. Sadlier’s proud she gave a speech on this very important occasion, despite getting separated from her written notes!
Federal recognition of BHM resulted in the Mathieu da Costa Challenge, named for the first free Black person to arrive on the territory of today’s Canada. It was an annual creative writing and artwork contest encouraging youth to discover how diversity has shaped Canada's history and the important role that pluralism plays in Canadian society. Rosemary sat on its selection committee for a time in her capacity with OBHS. She continued on as volunteer OBHS President for an astounding 22 years!
In the fall of 2015, Rosemary Sadlier had the forced lane change she foreshadowed at the beginning of our interview. It resulted from what could be best described as a traffic jam in all aspects of her life. First, her widowed mother declined into dementia and required Rosemary’s support. Second, with their relationship suffering from the different lanes she and her husband occupied, he asked for a divorce. And third, the OBHS Board had attracted directors with agendas different from the mandate of the OBHS which Rosemary had followed and they ousted her as President. With heavy demands on her personal time, depleted emotional stores, and a wish not to destroy the organization she’d worked so hard to build up, she walked away.
Unsurprisingly, along Sadlier’s new lane were all the sign-posts of grief. She was no longer the face of an organization she’d cared passionately about for decades; newly alone; the mother of adult kids with their own lives; and mourning her mother’s death. When the financial untangling with her husband led to the sale of the marital home, she was fortunate to have her mother’s condo to move into where she still lives a decade later. Luckily, the profile she attained in her OBHS role allowed her to become her own business, speaking on issues of Black history; writing an impressive shelf full of books, including several for children; and doing DEI work.
How’d Rosemary develop the strength necessary for such an impressive bounce-back in the last decade? She’s not the first lane changer to attribute that to her parents. As challenging as it is to be a person of colour in Toronto in 2025, it sure wasn’t easy in the middle of the last century either, but they just got on with things, knowing they didn’t have a choice. Rosemary describes the trait as ‘good-stubborn.’ If she thinks it’s important, she’ll see it through. That’s certainly been evident throughout her life but perhaps never as much as now, when she acknowledges she’d be better off financially if she’d made different choices on life’s highway. But she doesn’t dwell on it. She’s getting by and grateful to have her mother’s downtown condo to her name.
Will Rosemary have another lane change? She doesn’t rule anything out. After getting her BSW and MSW right out of the gate, she’s gone back to school twice: first for a teaching degree and then later, to work on a PhD where she’s ABD — all-but-dissertation — and has been for more than a decade. She’d like to get back to it one day though, to continue researching and documenting the role of Black women in history and now.
A lane changer’s work is never done and Rosemary Sadlier’s still trying to bring about the changes that would make this the place she hopes it can be.
If you’re looking for a speaker for Black History Month, look no further than Rosemary Sadlier - check out her site here: https://about.me/rosemarysadlier
Curious about my Lane Changer series? Check out these profiles
Peter Chandler, how it all began for me
Cathy Crowe, her lane is the street
Marissa Bastidas, same lane, new direction
Pam Hudak, living on a multi-lane highway
Jennifer, crossing lanes from Phuket to pup-minderEmma Simpson, from taxiway to writing terminal
Jessica Waraich, changing lanes on the career on-ramp
Michelle Simmons, straddling two lanes in her mid-40s
Sybil Chandler (1928-2025), proud to find life’s off-ramp
Faiv Noelle, solo on a global highway
Karly Wilson, waiting aside life’s highway for the next lane
Marya Williams, when life’s lanes bring you full circle
Carolyn Whitzman, lanes inspired by mother and grandmotherValerie Groves, when the lane is bordered by perennials and pollinatorsElana Harte, Changing lanes on the “Being of Service” HighwayFaren Bogach, the fast lanes of lawyering
Cathy Mann, finding the lane to Nova ScotiaDenese Gascho, finding common ground in different lanesSafiya Randera, lanes that cross land, community, and artChristine Mounsteven, nine decades, still driving forward on life’s highway
When a sector changes lanes: How ONPHA gave me hopeVeronika Tursik, in a new lane and behind the wheel for the first time!Lane Changing Rings
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