Remembering Lee Lakeman
Written by Leighann Burns
I’ve just finished listening to Julie Bindel’s podcast Rise Up! The Story of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter. It came about when she and Lee Lakeman were unable to attend a speaking engagement together following Lee’s diagnosis with terminal cancer. Lee passed away in December, 2024 and I had been thinking about what to write about her on our Smallest Steps website since Nicole recently proposed the idea. Lee appears in the film as a longtime feminist anti-violence activist.
How do you pay tribute to a feminist activist like Lee, who has dedicated her life to working to free women from patriarchal control? A couple of things come to mind. When I heard Lee was gravely ill, the memory that surged to the forefront was an occasion in the late 1990’s when she stared down Ottawa’s then-head Crown attorney in a meeting called to challenge comments made by an assistant Crown Attorney following sentencing of Lillian Getkate. Following a trial where the jury heard her testimony of being “insulted, grabbed, shoved, dragged by the hair, threatened with death, practically enslaved and eventually raped”, and that he had recently threatened to sexually abuse their daughter, Ms. Getkate had been convicted of manslaughter and had received a two-year conditional sentence to be served in the community.
Two psychiatrists testified that Ms. Getkate fit the criteria for ‘battered woman syndrome’ and the judge found that she “would fit well up on the (battered woman) scale”, yet the assistant Crown said that “at most, Ms. Getkate may have suffered “moderate” abuse.” The Assistant Crown asserted to the media her view that that the sentence was “an appalling message to send to the public” and went on to complain that, as compared to a similar case the year before where there was ample corroborative evidence of abuse, in this case “All of the evidence came from Mrs. Getkate herself. No one could corroborate it. Not a bruise, not a hospital record, not a police report. Nothing … That’s what is most troubling about this one.'” “We simply say, ‘Yes, you were abused. Fine. You walk.’ That’s what this sentence was all about.”
What this Crown failed to acknowledge was that Ms. Getkate’s partner was an RCMP industrial psychologist who was a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than she was, a paramilitary buff described as “an aspiring ninja” who collected exotic weaponry, including the Ruger Mini-14 rifle used to shoot him, who had a live explosive device in their basement that could have blown them to smithereens, as she asserted he had threatened to do.
At the meeting we were seeking for the Crown’s office to correct the record and reprimand the assistant Crown for her public complaint about the verdict and sentence, which he refused to do. The stare down commenced when Lee started the meeting by placing her tape recorder on the table. The Crown refused to speak until she turned it off. At the time, I was a relative newbie, with under a decade of experience as a feminist anti-violence activist, but Lee had been at it at that point for more than twenty years. Thankfully, due to efforts of women like Lee and countless other feminist anti-violence activists, society’s understanding of the dynamics of violence against women in intimate relationships has grown. Society now understands the often lethal threat posed by coercively controlling men, particularly those who are heavily armed, and that most violence women experience in intimate relationships occurs behind closed doors and is never reported to anyone. Reporting is always frightening and difficult but imagine doing so if the person abusing you is an RCMP psychologist.
I did not always agree with Lee, but I admired her commitment to engaging in the debate and to considering dissenting views. Especially as a young feminist, just starting out, I appreciated that she engaged in respectful dialogue with all allies, which was not always the case then and probably still isn’t now. This probably helps explain the solidarity and strength of Vancouver Rape Relief, which has repeatedly taken courageous stands over the years and weathered many storms to advance women’s rights to equality and security.
I admired Lee’s brilliant intellect, insatiable curiosity, ability to always be at the cutting edge of forging alliances with others and advancing sophisticated analysis about the myriad challenges we face. Above all, Lee was fierce. She was a force to be reckoned with. Her loss is felt deeply by those left behind. But, Lee, you have earned your rest, sister. The rest of us will carry on, missing you, but richer for having known you.
See some of Lee’s writings: https://leelakeman.com/
All quotes from ‘Getkate won’t go to jail’ Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen, November 11, 1998.