Velma Demerson
Velma Demerson was a Canadian woman born on September 4, 1920, in Saint John, New Brunswick, to a Greek family. Her life took a dramatic turn when, at age eighteen, she moved in with her Chinese fiancé, Harry Yip. This relationship led to her arrest under the Female Refuges Act of 1897 for "incorrigible" behavior, as she was unmarried and cohabiting. Demerson was subjected to harsh conditions in reformatory institutions, where she faced significant medical mistreatment. After serving ten months, she was reunited with her mixed-race son, Harry Jr., but faced ongoing challenges, including poverty and struggles with his health and racial bullying.
Later in life, Demerson became an activist, advocating for justice for herself and the thousands of women imprisoned under the same law. In her later years, after extensive research and legal efforts, she received an apology and compensation from the Ontario government. Demerson authored two books detailing her experiences and was recognized for her activism, receiving honors and an apology from the Canadian government in 2018. She passed away in 2019 at the age of ninety-eight, leaving a legacy of resilience and advocacy against systemic injustices.
Subject Terms
Velma Demerson
Social activist and writer
- Born: September 4, 1920
- Birthplace: Saint John, New Brunswick
- Died: May 13, 2019
- Place of death: Vancouver,British Columbia
Died: May 13, 2019
Deathplace: Vancouver, British Columbia
Also known as: Velma Demerson Lakes, Athena Velma Demerson Lakes
Significance: Velma Demerson was arrested and imprisoned under the Female Refuges [sic] Act of 1897, an Ontario law that has since been repealed. Demerson was prosecuted under this law for being “incorrigible” because she was living with her fiancé, who was Chinese, when she was eighteen years old. She married him upon her release from prison but said the trauma she was forced to endure led to their divorce and her troubled relationship with her son. Demerson later worked to clear her name and the names of fifteen thousand other women who had been incarcerated because of this legislation.
Background
Athena Velma Demerson was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, to a Greek family on September 4, 1920. After her parents divorced, she and her mother moved into a boarding house. Her mother supported them by taking care of the boarding house and reading tea leaves. Her father ran a successful restaurant.
When Demerson was eighteen, she moved to Toronto to live with her fiancé Harry Yip, who was Chinese. When her father discovered that she was living with a Chinese man, he called the police. Demerson was arrested for violating the Female Refuges Act of 1897. The law permitted the arrest and imprisonment of women for “incorrigible” behavior such as pregnancy out of wedlock, promiscuity, prostitution, public drunkenness, and vagrancy. Demerson was arrested because she was unmarried and living with a man.
Demerson, who was newly pregnant, was first sent to the Belmont Home for Girls and to the Mercer Reformatory for Women, a type of federal prison. The conditions in both facilities were horrendous, and Demerson was subjected to unnecessary testing that resulted in a doctor inadvertently exposing her to venereal diseases. (The physician was later fired.) Demerson was transported to a hospital to give birth and then returned to the prison. Her mixed-race son, Harry Jr., was taken from her at three months old. Authorities would not tell her the child’s whereabouts.
When Demerson was released from prison after serving ten months, she found her son in a hospital. She retrieved him and married Yip, but their union lasted only three years. Harry Jr.’s health was poor, and he suffered from extreme eczema and asthma. He was also bullied in school because of his race, so Demerson took him to Hong Kong. There she taught the English language to Chinese students but did not earn much money. She and her son were living in poverty, so she sent Harry Jr. back to Toronto to live with his father. When Demerson returned to Toronto to reunite with her son, she learned that her ex-husband had put him into foster care, where he formed a close bond with his foster mother. Demerson visited Harry Jr. often, but he insisted on living with his foster family.
Demerson moved to Vancouver, where she worked as a waitress and became involved in activism. By this time, her ex-husband Harry Yip had disappeared. Demerson met and married Norman Lakes and had a daughter, Sylvia, and a son, Cliff. She was devastated to learn that Harry Jr. died at the age of twenty-six when he had an asthma attack while swimming. After she and Lakes separated, she became a single parent, raising her children on her own while working as a legal secretary to support them. Her children later described her as having been a wonderful, doting mother.
Life’s Work
After Demerson retired in 1992, she returned to Toronto. She was intent on seeking justice for what had happened to her. She conducted research at libraries and archives, discovering that about fifteen thousand other women had been imprisoned under the Female Refuges Act of 1897. Demerson found an attorney willing to help her build a case to clear her name of wrongdoing. However, when she tried to locate some of the other women who had been incarcerated because of the law, she found that many had died, and others were unwilling to come forward for fear of humiliation. Once her attorney proved that her arrest and imprisonment had been illegal, and the statute of limitations did not apply, the Ontario government issued her a written apology and a small amount of money as compensation. She was eighty-one years old at the time. After this, Demerson began pushing for redress for the fifteen thousand other women. In time, she received a verbal apology but nothing official or in writing for the other victims. In 2018, at the age of ninety-seven, Demerson returned to British Columbia to live near her adult children. She died in 2019 at the age of ninety-eight.
Impact
In her later years, Demerson wrote two books about her experiences: Incorrigible, published in 2004, and Nazis in Canada, 1919–1939: A Satirical Novel Based on Actual Characters, published in 2017. She was also honored for her activism in 2002 with the J.S. Woodworth Prize for anti-racism by Canada’s New Democratic Party. In 2018, Hedy Fry, a Member of Parliament, apologized to her on behalf of the Canadian government. In 2020, Demerson was featured in the documentary Ketchup and Soya Sauce, which was about a marriage is managed when it involves a first-generation Chinese individual. Demerson was also the subject of a 2022 documentary: Incorrigible—A Film About Velma Demerson.
Principal Works
Books
Incorrigible, 2004
Nazis in Canada, 1919–1939: A Satirical Novel Based on Actual Characters, 2017
Bibliography
Fleet, Darren. “Lost Canadian Velma Demerson’s Tragic Story of Love and Loss.” Vancouver Observer, 1 Mar. 2011, www.vancouverobserver.com/world/canada/2011/02/28/lost-canadian-velma-demersons-tragic-story-love-and-loss.html. Accessed 26 June 2023.
Hunter, Paul. “Jailed for Having a Chinese Lover, Hailed as a Crusader for Justice.” Toronto Star, 1 June 2019, www.pressreader.com/canada/toronto-star/20190601/282982516455149. Accessed 26 June 2023.
Peters, Diane. “Woman Won Vindication After Unjust Imprisonment for Being ‘Incorrigible.’” The Globe and Mail, 7 June 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-woman-won-vindication-after-unjust-imprisonment-for-being/. Accessed 26 June 2023.
“Remembering Velma Demerson—The Woman Jailed in Toronto for Living with Her Fiancé.” CBC, 30 May 2019, www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.5154357/remembering-velma-demerson-the-woman-jailed-in-toronto-for-living-with-her-chinese-fianc%C3%A9-1.5154359. Accessed 26 June 2023.
Warmington, Joe. “More than Liberty Stolen from Incarcerated Women.” Toronto Sun, 12 Oct. 2020, torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-more-than-liberty-stolen-from-these-women. Accessed 26 June 2023.