Sutherland was born in Toronto, received a journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, and worked for a large electrical manufacturing firm before entering political life.
Sutherland spent two years out of politics after losing to Lastman; a newspaper report from 1977 lists him as chair of the North York Historical Board.
[5] After two years on the Hydro Commission, Sutherland was re-elected to North York's Board of Control in 1980 and re-assumed his position on the Metro Council.
[13] She was Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto's Parks, Recreation and Property Committee from 1982 to 1985, and a member of the authority's Don Valley Advisory Board from 1981 to 1984.
[14] The Betty Sutherland Trail, which runs along the Don River in her old ward, was named in her honour by the former Metropolitan Toronto Council on March 1, 1988, in recognition of her significant contribution to the development of the regional parks system.
Their son, Paul Sutherland, was also a North York and Toronto city councillor, and an unsuccessful candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.
Early in 1986, Sutherland wrote against a plan to make the North York Hydro Commission a city department and directly responsible to council.