Reading time : 4 minutes
[LA RENCONTRE D’ONFR+]
HEARST – After three years at the helm of the show The morning of the North and 16 years old at Radio-Canada, Martine Laberge announced that she was leaving the family of the pan-Canadian broadcaster. The facilitator, who will have traveled the North for more than ten years and whose voice will have resonated between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., every morning, in the ears of the Francophones of Hearst and Sudbury, via Timmins, made her last broadcast on Friday. Portrait of this journalist who will have marked Northern Ontario.
« You hosted your last show on Friday morning, to direct you to communications at Collège Boréal. What motivated you to make this decision?
It is a new challenge that I will take up. I feel like I’m continuing in the same vein in the sense that I’m going to stay in touch with the media clearly, because it remains in the area of communications, which is an area that I really like. On the other hand, it respects my values: I am leaving for Collège Boréal, a francophone college in Northern Ontario. Post-secondary education in the North is important to me.
How would you describe your experience with Le matin du Nord over the past three years?
For me, it was still easy, because I come from the North. I am a girl from Hearst and I grew up with Radio-Canada and that show. My mother was always a loyal listener when I was younger. It was Denis St-Jules who was there with his team. There is this familiarity that I already had. When I came to animation, I had been traveling Ontario for 13 years as a video journalist. When you do television, you have to move around. I got to know Northern Ontario, strangely enough, because I grew up in Hearst. There were plenty of places I had never visited.
How much has being a journalist for over 13 years helped you take the helm of the morning show?
I met a lot of people, so when I took the helm of the show it was weird but it felt like I came home. I remember the first time I hosted the show: I was very, very nervous because I’m quite shy to begin with. I never thought of hosting a three hour live show, plus in the morning, because I’m not a morning girl. I remember when I turned off my mic after my first show. I told myself that this was what I was made for and that my whole career had taken me up to this point.
What do you remember from the activity of Le Matin du Nord?
I loved the entertainment. I am honored to have been able to host this show. I said this morning (Friday) on the air that I would not have hosted any other program. I don’t think I would have been offered it and I’m not sure I would either. Waking up at 3:30 am Monday through Friday and working hard to be up to date on files and understand who we are going to talk to… I loved the entertainment and got to know myself a lot in another way.
You know Northern Ontario like the back of your hand. In your opinion, what characterizes the people of Northern Ontario?
In Northern Ontario, it is incomparable. I don’t think there are other places like that in French Ontario. I have never had that proximity elsewhere. This is probably explained because I come from here, but also by the warmth of the people. It’s cliché to say that, but it’s true and, as a host and video journalist, I knew it.
Do you have an example in mind?
I remember the time I was touring the Northwest, in Terrace Bay. I park in front of the town hall to make an intervention on the radio… I hang up the phone, because I was on the air on the phone, and there, I see a van arriving. The driver gets out of his car at full speed and says: “Are you Martine Laberge?” »I said« Yes, hello ». He was a listener following us and his father was listening to us in Terrace Bay. It shows how essential it is to have a local radio station and it is true that the people of the North are warm.
Will you miss journalism?
I do not know (Laughs). Maybe, but at the same time I’m back home. Before the pandemic, I was in Sudbury for the animation from the studio. With the pandemic, I was able to return to Hearst and host from home. I am back in my community with my friends, my family and the people here. This link, I have the impression that I will continue to have it, perhaps not on such a large scale, but that’s enough for me… I have the impression that I will continue to be there. It’s a funny feeling and I’m trying to put my finger on it, but I’m not sure I can figure it out.
What are the files or moments that have marked you the most as a journalist in the past 16 years?
There are a lot of them, but I’ve dealt with a lot of aboriginal issues. It was really my specialty for quite a while. I have walked through just about every remote community accessible only by air in Northern Ontario. I have covered waves of major youth suicide, floods, fires in which entire families have perished, the drinking water crisis, etc. These are the files I think of when I think about what I have covered in my career… But the Aboriginal files are really what will mark me the most.
What advice would you give to your successor?
I really don’t have any lessons to teach, but it would be to listen. It’s a lesson I learned over time that I would teach the next host or reporters. It is a listening exercise. We think we know how to listen, but it takes time to develop. Real listening and not always having the next question ready … But you have to listen to the other, because it is the basis of the profession. “
[LES DATES-CLÉS DE MARTINE LABERGE]
1978 : Born in Hearst
1999 : Arrival at Radio-Canada
2005 : Back to Radio-Canada, but in Northern Ontario
2018 : Appointment as leader of the morning of the North
2021 : Last show at the helm of The morning of the North
Every weekend, ONFR + meets with an actor on francophone or political issues in Ontario and Canada.
–
