Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 22/01) - Lynda Sorensen has been recognized by Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson for outstanding contributions in promoting the equality of women across Canada.

She received the award in commemoration of the Persons Case in Ottawa on Thursday while touring with Premier Stephen Kakfwi.

Sorensen, a well-known Liberal back room strategist and the current chief of staff for the premier, has been a leading activist and mentor for women of all ages.

Apart from the so-called "famous five" women, who made legal history by launching the 1929 Persons Case, challenging to British Privy Council the exclusion of females from the legal definition of persons, Sorensen is the first woman to receive such recognition for political activism.

Early in her career she was director of nursing at what was then called the Stanton Yellowknife Hospital. She later played an important role in establishing the first northern branch of the Consumers Association of Canada and was a founding member of the Yellowknife Business and Professional Women's Association. She is a past president of the National Women's Liberal Commission and has been active for over 25 years in the Western Arctic Liberal Association. She also served as an MLA.

The Persons Case award was established in 1979 by the federal government.