January / February 2001 Vol. 33, no. 1

Sabine Sonnemann Receives Governor General’s Award

Sandra Burrows, Research and Information Services

From left to right: Lloyd Fucile, Executive Secretary, National Component PSAC; Sandra Burrows, Newspaper Specialist, National Library of Canada; Sabine Sonnemann; Chris Rogers, President, Local 70348, and member of the National Library’s Serials Team.

In her nomination of Sabine Sonnemann for a Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, Jean Weerasinghe said, "The historic, multi-billion dollar pay equity settlement between the Federal Government and many ‘female dominated’ occupational groups can trace its origin to Sabine Sonnemann, a librarian employed by the National Library in the latter half of the 1970s. Sabine’s dissatisfaction with her pay as compared to that of male colleagues in the Historical Research field inspired her to initiate a series of actions which resulted in the first ‘equal pay for work of equal value’ settlement (1980) under the Canadian Human Rights Act and which led directly to the pay equity settlement almost two decades later."

When she presented the awards to the six recipients on October 18, 2000, Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, C.C., C.M.M., C.D., stated that the work of one librarian resulted in the largest human rights settlement in the world. Sabine thanked her nominating committee from the Council of Federal Libraries and the National Library of Canada and read a lovely poem in German about the legacy of the seeds from a tree. The poem honoured the pioneering spirit of her family, who came to Canada from East Germany.

Sabine was the first PSAC Local 70348 president and worked in the Canadiana Editorial and Newspaper Divisions of the National Library. She served as the videodisc coordinator up until her departure in 1984 and is now teaching in Newmarket, Ontario. The award was a token of appreciation from the hundreds of staff members in the National Library, National Archives and the federal public service who profited from her leadership and commitment.