Endorsers

FRIENDS OF VELMA DEMERSON

Endorsers

Endorsers

The following is our statement of endorsement and a list of people who have endorsed Velma's cause

STATEMENT OF ENDORSEMENT

We have recently become aware that Velma Demerson is initiating a court proceeding in order to declare s.15 of the Female Refuges Act unconstitutional. Although repealed in 1964, it permitted any person to bring any female under the age of 35 years who is leading an idle and dissolute life before a judge to be committed to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years in an Industrial Refuge. We understand further that Ms. Demerson was arrested under that section of the Act in 1939 at the age of 18, while pregnant and living with a Chinese man whom she later married, and was held in custody for a period of ten months, mostly in Torontos Mercer Reformatory. Ms. Demerson has failed to obtain an apology for this abject treatment be the Ontario Government despite repeated requests. Assuming the above facts to be true and in light of all of the circumstances, we wish to express our support and solidarity with Ms. Demerson in her efforts to have this discriminatory law, which should never have seen the light of day, declared unlawful. We also call upon the Government of Ontario to compensate Ms. Demerson and other victims of this law for the injustice and harm that has been caused to them by such venal and arbitrary legislation.

Show Your Support

If you would like to have your name added to Velma's list of supporters and endorsers, please contact us at:

FRIENDS OF VELMA DEMERSON
340 College Street, Suite 265
Toronto, Ontario M5T 3A9
Telephone: (416) 907 5128
Fax: (416) 907 5127

FROM OUR GROWING LIST OF ENDORSERS

ASIAN CANADIAN LABOUR ALLIANCE

ROSEMARY AUBERT (Author)

CONSTANCE BACKHOUSE (Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa)

LIZ BARKLEY (Past President, Ontario Teachers Federation)

BLACK ACTION DEFENCE COMMITTEE (BADC)

LAUREN BRADY (Elizabeth Fry Society, Calgary)

JACQUIE CARR (London Sexual Assault Centre)

SHARON CHAPMAN

CHINESE CANADIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL (CCNC)

OLIVIA CHOW (Toronto City Council)

COALITION OF BLACK TRADE UNIONISTS (CBTU)

MARY CORNISH (Employment and Equity Lawyer)

CULTURE CARE NURSING INTEREST GROUP (CCNIG)

JOSIE MACPHERSON (Coordinator of survivors of medical abuse)

HUGO DANN (Actor, Riverdale and Shaw Festival)

KAREN DUBINSKY (Professor, Queens University)

MARGRIT EICHLER (Director, Institute For Womens and Gender Studies, UofT & Professor, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education OISE/UT

LENNOX FARRELL (Writer and Teacher)

JOSEPHINE GREY (Low Income Families Together)

GILDA GROSSMAN (Director, Toronto Art Therapy Institute)

MARGARET HAWTHORN (Social Issues Action Committee, Older Womens Network (Ont.)

HARRY KOPYTO (Legal Consultant)

KEVIN LEE (Executive Director, Scadding Court Community Centre)

ALI MALLAH (NDP Ethnic Liaison Committee)

DIANNE MARTIN (Assoc. Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University)

DIANE MEAGHAN (Professor, Seneca College)

RENATE MOHR (Professor, Department of Law, Carleton University)

KAREN MOREHOUSE (House of Hope, Ottawa)

RAYMOND MORRIS (Professor Emeritus, York University)

RUTH MORRIS (Rittenhouse A New Vision)

LISA NEEDOBA (Penticton & Area Womens Centre)

ROXANA NG (Professor, OISE)

ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

KIM PATE (President, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies)

ROCHELLE PENBERTHY (Elizabeth Fry Society, Ottawa)

JORDAN PETTLE (Actor)

RUTH ROACH PIERSON (Professor, OISE)

GEOFFREY REAUME (Historian)

JUDY REBICK (Writer and Commentator)

KIKE ROACH (Lawyer, Co-author Politically Speaking)

PETER ROSENTHAL (Lawyer, Professor, U of T)

JOAN SANGSTER (Professor, Trent University)

SARAH SHARTEL (Community Activist)

GARY SHAUL (Past President, OPSEU Local 503)

KRISTA SUTTON (Actor, The Vagina Monologues)

DAVID SUZUKI (Environmentalist and Author)

LINDA VANNUCCI (Health and Safety Lawyer)

BARRY WEISLEDER (President, Toronto Substitute Teachers, OSSTF)

BETTY WU-LAWRENCE (Exec Member, Chinese Canadian Nurses Association)

*organizations for identification purposes only