Interim Staff:
Toronto-area pro-life activist Cyril “Cy” Fleming died at the age of 93 with his family by his side.
Fleming was born on Allan’s Island, Newfoundland, and would eventually open Nascopie Travel in Labrador City. Ever the entrepreneur, Fleming helped bring Mary Brown’s Chicken to eastern Canada before moving to Mississauga, west of Toronto, to operate the Sheridan Travel Agency in 1972, which he did until his retirement.
He was a lifelong supporter of the pro-life movement. Jim Hughes, president emeritus of Campaign Life Coalition, told The Interim, Fleming was “extremely supportive” of CLC and through his travel company helped bring in speakers for events at discounted rates.
Hughes said Fleming was an active letter-writer to politicians, once reminding Brian Mulroney that he promised a free vote on a matter that the then prime minister was forced to honour.
Fleming was also involved in strategy meetings, where Hughes recalled that he was “always an idea man” suggesting new tactics for the pro-life movement. The Interim reported that in 1986, Fleming was one of four panelists at a CLC strategy meeting discussing whether or not to form a new pro-life party.
Hughes said Cy and Carmel Fleming “were down-to-Earth, Christian people who were solidly pro-life and pro-family.”
Fleming, who was predeceased by his wife Carmel and sons Jimmy and Paul, is survived by his daughters Helena, Denise, Markita, and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.
In his obituary published in the Toronto Star, his children recalled that “Our dad said that he didn’t understand why people were so sad when someone died,” because “we should be happy and celebrate because they have run their race and made it to the finish line.”
