Ageism in Canada

Lisa LaFlamme was the host of one of Canada's most popular late-night shows for 35 years. She recently posted a two-minute video announcing that she had been fired for refusing to cover her gray hair. Outraged subscribers began circulating the video, and it quickly gained more than 4 million views.

The presenter says, "I’m still shocked and saddened. At 58, I still thought I’d have a lot more time to tell more of the stories that impact our daily lives."

LaFlamme has been covering conflict zones and devastating disaster scenes. She recently won best presenter at the Canadian Screen Awards. Dissatisfaction with her dismissal is sweeping the Canadian media, with statements from prominent figures in politics and business.

The most pressing issue was ageism, which is not often seen in progressive Canada: the recent expert discussions on the topic of labour shortages suggest that the country not only welcomes the participation of older people in any industry, but also plans to bring back those who have already retired. The presenter, who is only 58 years old, is far from a "senior citizen," but nevertheless, her services are no longer needed.

Arlene Dickinson, a prominent investor, praised LaFlamme for "aging gracefully" on national television and for inspiring other women. Dickinson added that she considered the termination of the anchor's contract a manifestation of female ageism and accused the CTV News team of discrimination.

The company issued a statement that it took the allegations of discrimination "very seriously," was taking steps to initiate an independent internal third-party review of the workplace, and "regrets" the reaction to LaFlamme leaving CTV because it "may have left viewers with the wrong impression" that her career of 35 years was not valued by the company.

Amanda Watson, a sociologist at Simon Fraser University, says the hype surrounding the anchorwoman's firing brought to light the problems that women — even those at the top of their field — face every day. She believes that the decision had an undercurrent of misogyny and sends a very definite message about societal expectations to other women.

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Other commentators emphasized the double standard that allows men to not hide their age and continue to work. And the example is right in front of us: LaFlamme herself replaced Lloyd Robertson, who turned 77. Apparently, the company gave the anchor permission to have a longer career, and saw him off with honors in retirement.

Watson agrees: "It's not just that we don't tolerate aging in public in this position--it's that we clearly don't want to look at aging women. We still trust the authority, character and warmth of aging men. It all just seems to be the same storyline over and over again. It's a cliché, and it's annoying."

Rob McLean, a senior corporate communications professional with 20 years of experience, would call the situation that happened to the Canadian host the norm for the industry. He talks about how fields like marketing and show business are literally obsessed with youth.

Kathy Brough, senior vice president of human resources and communications for Revera, a leading owner, operator and investor in the senior housing sector, thinks it's time to sound the alarm and says:

"Ageism is the most tolerant form of social prejudice in Canada."

This form of discrimination, she says, ranges from jokes about being "too old," to "you're too experienced" remarks during job interviews, to "when are you going to retire" questions in the workplace. That said, proving discrimination can be extremely difficult. It suggests that the labor market only pays attention to the active working class, the young people born between 1984 and 2000, forgetting about those of a mature age:

"There's a lot of talk about how to adapt to millennials, and a lot less about how to adapt to people over 50 or 60."

In addition, about six months ago, geriatricians in Canada openly started talking about the gendered ageism associated with caring for older women. Dr. Samir Sinha, co-chair of the National Institute on Aging at Ryerson University, wrote

"Older women are much more likely to live in poverty, and women live longer than men. We know that the greatest risk group of the elderly population is older single women because they are disproportionately poorer."

Paula Rochon, founding director of the Women's Age Lab at Toronto's Women's College Hospital, the first and only lab of its kind specializing in older women, agrees with him, noting that the pandemic has once again exposed inequalities.

Rochon says Statistics Canada reports that more than 47% of women over 90 live in collective housing, such as nursing homes, compared to 33.3% of men. Only 4.3% of women over 90 lived in a couple, compared to 33.2% of men. And in the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, women receive 26% fewer annual pension payments than men. The poverty rate for older women in Canada is almost 1.6 times higher than for men, and it increases with age.

Experts agree that the problem is multilayered. The solution cannot be limited to putting one particular presenter back to work or increasing pensions. In 2021, the World Health Organization stated that the response to the pandemic revealed the magnitude of ageism, which leads to poor health, social exclusion and premature death, as well as billions of dollars in economic costs. Given this and the fact that the UN has declared 2021 to 2030 the "decade of healthy aging," discrimination, including gender inequality, must be discussed substantively.

Meanwhile, CTV's parent company, Bell Media, released an official statement that LaFlamme's removal as anchor was in response to "changing viewer habits."