Speak out Against Firing Lisa LaFlamme

King Lear’s daughter, Cordelia, looks after her sick father

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”

―Edward Everett Hale, American author, historian, and Unitarian minister

We can say something about the things that matter. Lloyd Robertson understands that. He added his voice to media personalities saying how the firing of Lisa LaFlamme was wrong.

I was joyful like a kid on Christmas morning when Lloyd Robertson came forward to support Lisa LaFlamme. I have a great deal of respect for him. This will go a long way in helping Lisa LaFlamme. She must be hurting deeply that Bell Media executives, Michael Melling and Karine Moses, dumped her the way they did.

Lloyd Robertson was at a Shakespeare festival in Guelph. He compared Lisa LaFlamme to King Lear’s daughter, Cordelia.

“She held to her own integrity, all through with the old man. From the beginning, saying, ‘My bond is our father-daughter relationship.’ Right to the end she was there for him.”

“Cordelia was King Lear’s favourite daughter in the tragedy of the same name. After being honest with her father and not professing her love for him — as her other sisters deceitfully do –she is banished for the majority of the play while her sisters divide his kingdom.. After Cordelia’s sisters finally reject him, she finally returns to care for him.”1

Llloyd Robertson said, “You don’t go laying off that person the way you laid off Lisa LaFlamme, These people are good human beings, communicating with the public in a real way, and being true to their own identities and their own integrity as they go along.”2

There are things you can do something about. You can speak up for Lisa LaFlamme. You can support the petition to have her reinstated as CTV’s Chief News Anchor. It was started by Miles MacMillan, who is an author in North Bay. Post it on all your social media.

Yesterday, I was surprised that the petition received 10,000 more signatures in about eight hours. It is well on the way to reaching the goal of 200,000 signatures.

Here is the link for it.
https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-lisa-laflamme-as-chief-anchor-at-ctv-news

Your voice is important. It can make a difference. You can send a resounding message to Bell Media. You take allegations seriously of Lisa being fired because she is a woman, and decided to let her hair go grey.

You may think the mindset of misogyny at Bell Media will not change. But if Bell Media starts losing money as people boycott all their services, it will get the attention of Bell Canada Enterprises. That company owns Bell Media. If B.C.E. stock keeps underperforming, their Board of Directors will have something to say about that.

Lisa LaFlamme, like Cordelia, remains a woman with integrity through the terrible way this matter has been handled.

Lisa, King Lear and Cordelia would have liked you a lot.

Let us remember Lisa LaFlamme in our prayers.

Loving heavenly Father, we reach out to Lisa. She described Bell Media’s decision to terminate her contract as one which “shocked, saddened and blindsided” her. Father, when those we trust betray us it hurts deeply. The pain of this emotional injury can take a long time to recover from.

Please give Lisa time to rest and be good to herself. Allow her to feel the caress of Your love as the wind in cottage country caresses her face. When she sees the trees turning colour as fall approaches, let her eyes take in those unique brushstrokes of Your love. As green leaves turn yellow, red and brown, let each one lift her spirit a little more. Give her the mental space she needs to focus on the things that give her joy whether that is walking into the woods or hearing the chirping of a bird. In all created things, You remind us that You love us.

Lisa LaFlamme, you are also loved and respected by millions of Canadians and people around the world. They have welcomed you for decades into their living rooms, as you delivered the news. They are making their voices known in increasing numbers.

Move in the hearts of Bell executives, Michael Melling and Karine Moses, to try to do some mending of the harm they have done to Lisa LaFlamme. No, they can’t make it right, but they can make it better.

Amen.

Sources:1 and 2: https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/ctv-alum-lloyd-robertson-laflamme-held-on-to-her-integrity-5726356