Petition To Reinstate Lisa LaFlamme Hits Hundreds of Thousands of Signatures

There’s an online petition to reinstate Lisa to the CTV National News chair that has racked up more than 200,000 signatures.

Miles MacMillan from North Bay, Ont., launched the campaign last month after Bell Media announced it was parting ways with the longtime journalist.

In a Twitter post on Aug. 15, LaFlamme, 58, said she was informed on June 29 that her contract was not going to be renewed and it was a “business decision.”

She had been replaced by Omar Sachedina after Bell Media announced they decided not to renew LaFlamme’s contract due to “changing viewer habits.”

On social media, LaFlamme’s departure was met with a mixture of anger and sadness and has seen international coverage.

Michael Melling, the vice-president of news for Bell Media, took a leave of absence recently due to the ongoing bad press.

Bell Media has also been forced to contend with claims that LaFlamme was ousted because of her grey hair with several CTV News journalists asserting that her firing was based “more on personal malice than any business-related reasons.”

Furthermore, an open letter was published in the Globe and Mail and signed by notable Canadians including Sarah McLachlan, Anne Murray, Jann Arden and Romeo Dallaire, who pointedly asked Bell to “make things right.”