March 2, 2023

Good morning.



Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: And I want to thank all
Senators for agreeing to come back this morning so
we can debate this very important Bill.

[Crosstalk ]

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that provisions for Standing Order 25 be gran ted so that the Senate may now proceed with the second reading of the Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Minister.

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Educati on (Pr imary Schools) Temporary Act 2023 to be read a second time on the same day as its first reading.]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
now move that the Bill entitled the Education (Primary
Schools) Temporary Act 2023 be now read a second
time.

The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS)
TEMPORARY ACT 2023
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, after
the defeat in the 2012 election, the PLP campaigned
and promised that we would do what is needed to be
done to reform our public education system . . . The
discussion about phasing out middle schools , to return
to a two- tier system , and to introduce signature
schools began with town hall meetings up and down
the Island shortly after that election defeat.
Madam President, that was 10 years ago. In
our 2017 election platform within our long- term objectives for education we pledged to reform public educ ation by phasing out middle schools and introducing
signature schools at the secondary level.
Madam Presid ent, I am proud that this Bill will
finally move us along the process of getting rid of the system and signal that we are entering the final glidepath to phasing- out of middle schools.
Madam President, as the legislation was
passed in 2021 to allow signature schools to start in
September 2022, this legislation will allow for parish primary schools to come into existence in 2023 in September with Francis Patton Primary in Hamilton
Parish and Purvis Primary in Warwick as the first two parish primary school s.
Madam President, before presenting the pri nciples and purpose of the Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023 I would like to first s alute the Education Reform Unit, the two school communities, the School Transformation Teams from Purvis Primary School and Francis Patton Primary
School, their supporters and their community partners.
From previous updates , Members are aware of the
developmental and developing work that is being dri ven by the dedication and commitment of these teams.
Together in col laborative and engaging ways, they are
working, designing and delivering the promise of education reform at the primary school level.
Madam President, with the support and gui dance from the Education Reform Unit, School Trans-formation Teams are creating educational ecosystems
of connecting, interacting and collaborating students,
parents and educators. The product will be high -
quality education for all, including meaningful , integrated real -world learning experiences that meet the
needs of our children and their families.
Madam President, the primary purpose of this
legislation is to provide for the introduction and esta blishment of [ parish] primary schools, support the i mplementation of [parish] primary schools, which we
phase in over time, change the str ucture of the public
education system by adding two years to primary
school education for parish primary schools and
providing for the closure of school facilities where the need for those facilities no longer exists.
Madam President, students currently attend
primary schools for six years, Primary 1 to Primary 6.
Parish primary schools, however, will consist of eight
years, from year 1 to year 8. As the structure of prim ary school education is provided for in the Education
Act of 1996, legislation needs t o be changed or intr oduced in order to change the structure of primary schools and the public education system to provide for
two years to be added to primary schools. This Bill
provides for the new structure within which the new
educational ecosystem for parish primary schools will
exist and thrive.
Madam President, when the Education
Amendment Act 2021 for senior level signature
schools was passed in March of 2021, I advised the
Senate that the legislation for education reform would
be phased in over tim e. This includes phasing in the
changing structure for primary schools and the entire
Bermuda Public School System. As all parish primary schools cannot be established simultaneously, the
current P1 to P6 structure needs to continue to operate while we dev elop and introduce the new parish
primary school structure consisting of year 1 to year 8. Madam President, this poses a problem because it is difficult and complex to have two systems and structures operating simultaneously in the same legislation
88 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate (i.e., within the Education Act of 1996). Therefore, a
new separate and temporary legislation was proposed
as a solution to this challenge.
Members might also imagine that it would be
unwieldly and confusing to provide for both traditional primary schools and ne w transitioning parish primary
schools with different structures and applicable prov isions within the same legislation. Madam President, this Bill is temporary because it was designed to be in
place until the 10 selected primary schools are r eformed into parish primary schools throughout the
phased implementation of education reform. Once the
parish primary schools reform is complete, this legisl ation can then be repealed.
Although the Bill is separate legislation from
the Education Act 1996, it is to be r ead as one with
the Education Act 1996, referred to as the principal
Act within the Bill. To understand how this approach is
intended to work, the Education Act 1996 will continue
to apply to all schools including primary schools. And
it will apply to new transitioning parish primary schools
except for those instances clearly articulated in the Bill
which we are debating today.
Those instances include
• a definition for “ reform ” regarding parish pr imary schools, which is in clause 3;
• a different definition of “primary school educ ation” for schools brought under the legislation
which distinguishes the schools covered by
this Bill from those that have not yet entered
the transition process or have been closed,
also in clause 3;
• different ages for parish primar y schools,
clause 3;
• different schooling levels for parish primary schools, clause 3; and
• the respect for parental choice, as parents will
be able to choose between parish primary
schools or middle schools, clause 6.
The Bill uses the same or similar lang uage in
relevant areas such as definitions for “aided schools, ”
“maintained schools ” and “primary schools, ” and for
the wording that describes the level of schooling and primary school education.
Madam President, in terms of how the Bill
provides for the implementation of parish primary
schools, those primary schools identified for reform
are to be brought under the legislation, being added to
the schedule via an order subject to the negative res olution procedure. Once the reforms in respect of a
transitioning parish primary school are fully impl emented and complete, that parish primary school will
be removed from under this legislation again by an
order subject to the negative resolution procedure.
The Bill also provides for the Minister of Education to
implement reforms and make rules.
As we have done with everything to do with
education reform, we have continuously conducted meetings and socialisation sessions with students, parents, educators and the broader community about
our progress and reform devel opment. In addition to
excellent and insightful questions about how parish
primary schools will work and what year 7 and year 8
will look like, parents eagerly want information about registration for parish primary schools. As per the Bill,
parents of chil dren already attending those primary
schools that are being transformed into parish primary
schools such as Francis Patton and Purvis Primary
School can keep their children enrolled for year 7 and
year 8, or they can opt to enrol their children in middle school provided that the middle school has not been
completely phased out and is no longer in operation.
Parents of children in P6 in other primary
schools can apply for the remaining P7 places in parish primary schools as long as the school is located in
the zone in which they reside. As is required of the Education Act 1996, due regard will be paid to the
maximum enrolment, and priority for enrolment will
continue to be based on the proximity of the school.
The sibling rule, which provides for enrolment f or siblings to attend the school as long as they are enrolled
at the same time, will continue to apply as per the E ducation Rules 2006.
Madam President, as it has been explained,
the Bill will be read as one with the Education Act
1996, and parish primary school registration is go verned by the Bill and Education Act 1996 and Educ ation Rules 2006. This also means that the Education Rules 20 06 made under the Education Act 1996 a pply. However, as the Minister of Education may make
rules as per the Bill in the future, changes to registr ation could be introduced via Rules to tailor registration
and transfer provisions so that they are specific t o
transitioning parish primary schools.
While it may be less complicated to have new
separate legislation to provide for parish primary
schools, I accept that these changes may be som ewhat confusing and not easily understood by all of the
affected constit uents of the Bermuda public school
system. The Ministry will ensure that the registration
policy is revised to reflect the changes made by legi slation so that it lays out how enrolment and transfers
will work , in plain language. We will also provide trai ning to staff and guidance to parents so that they are
clear and understand how this legislation impacts them and their children.
Madam President, the Bill also proposes two
consequential amendments to the Education Act 1996. When reforms in respect of a particular parish
primary school are completed, on the date of an order under section 8, that parish primary school will come
under the Education Act 1996, and the Education Act
1996 will be read and applied with the necessary
modifications. The other consequential amendment
allows the Minister of Education to close schools and school recreational facilities where they are no longer needed.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, Members are aware of the
many challenges facing public education, including
the continued decline in e nrolment. As of September
2022, there were a total of 4,055 enrolled in the Ber-muda Public School System, including 310 students in preschool, 1,859 students across 18 primary schools,
764 students across four middle schools, 1,096 st udents at our two seni or schools, 21 students in middle
and senior alternative education programmes, and 20 students attending our only special school, the Dame
Marjorie Bean Hope Academy.
Long before the current Government’s Educ ation Reform Plan, we knew we had too many publ ic
school facilities as a community. While some may di sagree, I am pleased that the collaborative decision-making process used for parish primary schools allowed the Ministry, educators, parents, alumni and
other community members to discuss the realities of
our demographics, facilities, and human and financial
resources. These factors had to be considered and
finally addressed in order to achieve a vision for edu-cation and learning that is relevant, flexible, persona lised, inspiring and future- focused.
Madam President, not only having sufficient
resources, but the effective use of those resources is
also critical to the success of education reform. The
improvements that all of our children and families need and deserve can only be delivered systematically if we are more innovative and thoughtful about how
schools are supported. This requires the courage to
undertake decisions that will be unpopular for some,
but necessary for all.
The closure of school facilities is a difficult
process and one that we full y accept will not be we lcomed by everyone with open arms. However, we will
be managed with the care and sensitivity by those
affected by such decisions. This includes the comm unication and implementation of the decision and su pport for the transition for s tudents, staff and parents.
Madam President, getting education right is
everyone’s business. Our children and this Island’s future depend on all of us doing our part regardless of
where we sit politically.
I would like to thank Members of the Senate
and Members in another place, including those from
the Opposition, who took time from their busy sched-ules to learn more about this Bill before debating the
brief which was held in another place last week. The
questions and feedback were very helpful. They wil l
help improve what we do in practice , and some comments will be considered for implementation, comm unication and further policy development. This demonstrates an interest in strengthening the scrutiny pr ocess and the kind of ecosystem for policy and legis lative development we seek for education reform.
Madam President, before concluding, I would
like to express feelings of pride for the work being undertaken by the hundreds of people who have been
involved in our education reform process. They con-tinue to show their willingness to give and sacrifice,
and to make long- needed changes to transform our
public education system. I would also like to express
gratitude to all of the educators and support staff who
make a difference each and every day to the lives of
the young people and their families.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell, spokesperson on Education in the Senate.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR S
The President: And before I open the floor to other
Senators to respond to this Bill, I would just like to
acknowledge in the Senate Chamber the presence of the Minister of Education, Minister Diallo Rabain, and
staff.
Welcome, sir.

[Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023,
second reading debate, continuing]

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Smith, you have the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President. Good
morning.

The President: Good morning.

Sen. Ben Smith: First, I would like to thank the Mini ster and spokesperson for Education for delivering that
message to us this morning. But I would also like to
take the opportunity to thank the Minister of Education
for giving us that opportunity to get the information
prior to this debate. Thank you to him and his tec hnical staff, because it is helpful for us to know the i nformation in advance.
I believe everybody is aware that we have to
have a transition in education in Bermuda. It is critical. It is probably the most important thing that is happening in Bermuda in this moment because the future of our students is the future of our country. But with that
there are a couple of questions that I would like to ask
that hopefully the Minister is able to provide some details on, because as was discussed in the brief, there
are going to be questions based off of this kind of
transition as it happens.
So in the brief there was a conversation about
how many students there are [in] total. If we could get
an idea of how many students will be impacted with
this specific change? So there are going to be two
brand- new Primary 7 classes. How many students will
we have in each of those classes? So that we see that
initial step forward toward parish primary schools.
90 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate How many students will be actually impacted in this
first step?
I guess the question that most people have
right now is that normally prior to this, students would be going to M1 instead of going to P7. If the Minister
can just give us a bit of information of what that difference will be for these students in September who will
be moving into this new phase in P rimary 7 of the parish primary, as opposed to if they had been going to middle school? I think the obvious answer would be
that it is going to be in the same school as opposed to moving to a different school. But will there be any ot her differences? Is there a curriculum change? Are
there some changes between those two paths that
would be obvious to anybody who was involved in these two different phases?
I think it is impor tant for us to know this because, as we are moving toward improving our educ ation system, there are students who are still going
forward with the system that we have. So we want to
make sure that on the one side, as we are moving toward this improvement, w hat is that difference compared to the students who are in the system that we have now? We want to make sure that all students are
being challenged and are being supported in the level
that they should be as we go through this transition.
Knowing that now you have what is in essence a new class, but the middle schools are still open as we are going through this phase- out, are the
teachers who are going to be going into this P7 class,
are they from primary school or they are from middle
scho ol? Just so that we have an understanding of who
[they are] and what it will look like for those teachers
who will be taking on this new programme.
I guess there will be a question about, Are
there any infrastructure changes? Was there anything
that need ed to be done to these particular schools to
transition from going up to P6 to now having the P7 with the idea that there will be a P8 the following
year? It would just be good to know whether there
was anything that had to be done to the schools to
accomm odate this change, and what that change
would be. And if there was a cost to it, what does that
look like? And is there any further demand, needing
more support staff and help, considering that you are
adding another year to this primary school?
So unders tanding that there—I guess I have
to get the answer to the question of whether there is a real difference in curriculum and changes between the
primary school and the middle school class to know
whether there had to be a completely different kind of training for the teachers who will be moving forward with Primary 7 and then Primary 8 in this first class.
If the Minister could also let us know how long
this total transition is going to take? They must have an estimated number because, obviously as you move forward, phase out middle school for these first
two schools as we are going through this transition, it is going to take years for us to phase the two versions out, which as the Minister stated does cause some
complication. But at the same time, as I was saying
earlier, knowing that you are having these two sy stems, if the new system is supposed to be the i mproved system, there potentially is going to be some
frustration from parents of students who are getting
the second and third and fourth phases of this trans ition because they are not having access to what is
supposed to be a new and improved system.
The only other question that I have will be, as
you are going through this first step there are going to be some challenges potentially with, you know, t here
is interaction between middle schools. Now you are
going to have just two classes in this upper primary that will be by themselves. So, what does that look
like for inter -school sports, for any kind of competition
that would have happened between schools? If the
Minister can just give us some clarity on that.
But other than that, I think we will look forward
to seeing how this transition happens and the updates
that we will receive from the Ministry and from the
Minister of what this transition looks like toward a better version of education in Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith, O pposition Leader in the Senate.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President.

The President: Senator Lindsay Simmons. Oh. No.
Vice President Kiernan Bell, you have the
floor.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you.
I wanted to thank the Minister for providing the
information session to the Senators that was provided
and to the educational reform group and unit who
were excellent in explaining the transformation. This is
indeed a very important issue facing the country.
My questions, which will be familiar, really are
relating to the mechanics of the legislation. The comment that I have made previously, and I will make again today, is that the legislation, which is called the
Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023,
refers to the schools which are subject to the reform in
the Schedule. And those are referred to as primary
schools transitioning to parish primary schools. There
is no defined parish primary school in the legislation. In fact, primary school in the Bill, the temporary Act,
mirrors to some degree the definition of a primary
school in the principal Act, the Education Act.
The challenge and the concern that I have is
that in using the same language in the statute of a
primary school, without by statutory definition disti nguishing between the reformed schools or even the
reform -ing schools because a “reforming” school falls


Bermuda Senate under this legislation. A “reformed” school actually
falls out of this legislation by order that is understood
to take place in [clause] 8. And you then have a bit of
an orphaned school that no longer falls under the
temporary Act, but no longer meets the definition of a
primary school under the principal Act.
So I would strongly recommend that it be considered to change the definition of the reformed prim ary schools to a parish primary school or some other
definition so that it is easy to mechanically understand
and function within the two legislations during the transition period.
And those are my suggestions and comments. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell,
Vice President.
And Senator Lindsay Simmons, you now have
the floor.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, as my Minister said, getting
education right is everyone’s business. And I want to applaud the Ministry of Education and the Department
of Educati on for taking the time and the long consult ation process to get this right. Putting our children first
is a priority, and making sure that the education sy stem and our new signature schools and parish primary schools are seamlessly introduced to the public is important. And the Minister has done a phenomenal job
with consulting with the public, stakeholders, teachers,
schools and parents.
And though not everyone is happy, Madam
President, we all have to understand that change is
inevitable, and this is going to be a better education
for our students. And I look forward to the first parish
primary schools to be introduced in September because the signature schools, talking about the S1 st udents, are amazing. They are loving it and learning a lot. So, thank you to your team, Minister, and thank
you to our Junior Minister of Education, our Mi nister
Owen Darrell, for continuously supporting our Minister
with his efforts and his team. So, thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons.
Would an y other Senator care to speak?
Senator Tucker, you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
And thank you to my Senate colleagues who brought
up quite a number of questions. Mine is somewhat
minor, but nonetheless I think it is an i mportant question.
Particularly because schools in Bermuda are
notorious for not being prepared and ready to receive
students in terms of maintenance and all of that in
September. So, I just want to know from the Minister if he could let us know or give us some assurance that
the schools, the two schools in question, will be
100 per cent ready to receive the students in September?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Dill, you have the floor.

Madam President,
thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning
with regard to the strides that have been made in e ducation reform.
It has been exciting to see the hundreds of
individuals who have been engaged in this process,
and I would like to congratulate the Minister and thank
him for his diligence, his commitment over these past
several years as he has led in this process.
As an educator myself, I truly believe in the
importance of equipping our students in order to be
able to integrate them into society and for them to ex-cel in whatever area they decide on. So, I am excited
about what is on the horizon. And as we continue to
engage in this process, as we move toward the ope ning of parish primary schools, I think that it is i mportant for us as a community to embrace this
change, for us to be committed to ensuring that our
students transition smoothly, that our educators are
supported and that together as a community we move
toward all that we can be as we develop our young
people and as we continue to make Bermuda the
community that it needs to be.
Thank you so much again, M inister. And
thank you, colleagues, and everyone who has been a
part of this process.

The President: Thank you, Senator Rev. Dr. Em ilygail Dill.
Would any other Senator . . .
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam P resident.
Madam President, as you know, improving
learning quality is not only the responsibilities of
teachers and students. In fact, many stakeholders
play an important role in informing educational pol icies, teaching practices, opportunities for the improvement of the educational system and the impact
of educational reform.
I want to start by thanking the Minister and his
team for progressing the work required to transform
92 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate our public schools. Years ago, Madam President, the
Progressive Labour Party pressed for full racial int egration in our schools. We also pressed for free secondary education so that those who could not afford
fees would not be denied an education. The truth is that systemic reforms have reflected the politics of the
day, and so our desire for educational reform has
been constant.
There was a time when the idea of free, publicly funded education for all children was considered
extremely radical. I believe it was either in 1950 or before 1940 that all schools were segregated on the
basis of race. And in addition, all schools were actua lly fee -paying. Some, but not all, schools actually r eceived financial assistance from the government during this time.
The tides began to change, Madam President,
when primary school was made free. Ther e were
some parents who decided to separate their children
on the basis of family wealth or prior achievement and
sent them to schools that usually followed different curricula or assessments that [the parents] considered
to be superior. Today, Madam Presi dent, I am proud
that we are here to advance legislation that will reform
the education system, ensuring that our young people
are participating in authentic learning experiences that
help to develop the skills that they will need to be great citizens of B ermuda and the world both now and
in the future.
I know that many of us have taught in the
classrooms or been involved in the development of
our young people in some capacity. And I know that I
am excited about the rollout of a system that will pr ovide our young people with more meaningful learning
experiences. For a number of years we have talked
about the need to phase out middle schools. We have
looked at education reform. We have set the goal to
identify the issues, and we are now implementing the
solutions.
Madam President, I truly hope as we move
forward and continuously seek to improve the public
education experience that we will always look to our
young people. I want to see a system that creates young people who are more aware of themselves and
how they actually learn. I am not one of those people
who believe that it is difficult to transform failing government systems. For me, it is very simple: We need
to develop and support policies that allow teachers to
teach and allow students to decide how t hey can best
learn.
I believe that the statistics say that more than,
I think, 50 per cent of our young people are actually in
private schools today. And I hope that in the next 10
years we will see this percentage decline.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Senator De Couto, you have the floor. You
have indicated you wanted to speak. Sen. Dr. Douglas De Couto: Thank you, Madam
President. And thank you to the Minister for bringing
forth this legislation and the infor mation around it.
One thing we are all in agreement of is the
importance of education. My father, who was born in 1927, left school at the age of 13. And he had a lot of
sayings, as we know. And as we get older we develop
our own sayings, but his generati on, quite a few. And
he was quite insistent that education was of prime
importance. And whatever happens to you, whatever
befalls you, whatever people try to do to you, they cannot take away your education. It is important that
we get this right.
I am grateful for the comments on the histor ical facts from my colleague. You know, this is i mportant history. But let us think forward another ge neration or two. We probably have at least two gener ations now who have only known the Progressive L abour Party as the effective Government of this country, 20 out of 25 years. And where we are with educ ation we must lay solely at the Government’s feet. So,
while I am hopeful and expectant for these changes to bring about the changes that we need for our children,
let us not also forget that it has been within this Go vernment’s remit for the past 20 out of the [last] 25
years.
And unfortunately, and also as Senator Hod gson just pointed out, the people had voted with their feet and with their wallets. I also hope that we c an
come to a place where families can regain their conf idence in the public education system because it is one of the primary important functions that the go vernment can provide as an important part of our well -
functioning civil society.
So, with that, Ma dam President, I wish the
Government success for the sake of all of us here in
Bermuda. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
I think most people have spoken.
I would just like to make a comment. And that
is that certainly I would agree with all of the comments
that have been made by Senators here. Education is
vitally important, and I know that the Minister and his
team have spent a lot of time talking to the public. And I think this is appreciated because this is a major undertaking for any government to do, let alone our current government. But I would like to just also thank the
Minister and his team for making the presentation to
the Senators just a week ago. And I think that many
questions that were raised at that time were an-swered . And certainly, the comments that have been
made this morning, it has certainly been beneficial, I
think, for the Minister to hear.
So, with those comments, I will hand over now
to Senator Owen Darrell, spokesperson for Education, to respond to some of the questions that have been presented this morning.



Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, as
you did point out, I want to thank the technical officers
from the Ministry and Department of Education, as
well as members from the education reform team ,
who are all collectively assisting in bringing total understanding to this Bill. And if you would allow me to
refer to some notes, as I am getting a lot of the answers.
The President: You certainly may.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: The things we can do
with technology these days. So if I may?

The President: Absolutely.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I think it will be a better
use of everyone’s time if I just read the answers directly from the technical staff.

The President: That will be fine. Minister, carry on.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I was an educator for
15 years, but a lot of this stuff is new to me as well.

[Laughter]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: So, Madam President, I
will start with the Opposition Senate Leader, Senator
Ben Smith, who asked, How many students are i mpacted by the change in this first step? And then he
asked, How many students are there in each school
for year 7? Francis Patton wi ll have one class of P7
for this current year, 2023/24. Purvis will actually have
two streams in P7 for this year. This will predominantly
be because students remain onsite from P6, but ot hers may join up to a maximum class size, which is 15.
Students who will remain in parish schools will impact
on middle school enrolments. This will drive the phas-ing-out of middle schools. In the future, all parish pr imary schools will have two classes of P7s and two
classes of P8s that will transition from P8 to a fiveyear senior school programme. So, you do the math
on that, it is 30 in P7 at one school and 30 in P7 for
another school, then 30 in P8. So there are two
streams of P7, two streams of P8.
What will look different for the students in year
P7 compared to M1? Is there a real change for the
curriculum? The outcomes for young people, whether
they are enrolled in P7 or in M1 will be comparable.
How the curriculum is configured to meet those outcomes will be different based on the significant curri culum and learning expertise design process that is
underway as we speak. While remaining with the Cr eative Curriculum for the early years and the Cambridge Curriculum beyond that, this curriculum rede-sign process will ensure that young people in Berm uda have access to a w orld-class curriculum by co mpleting it with more meaningful and authentic learning experiences that ensure young people develop transferrable 21
st century skills that young people need as
a foundation for the next phase of schooling and to be
great citizens of Bermuda and the world.
The next question says, Are teachers in year
7 going to be from primary school? Hard to say defin itively yes. But just to give you some context and some
background. Based on the kinds of learning exper iences that have been desi gned for incoming P7 st udents, school leadership teams have worked out a
profile of the adults [which will be required] to deliver this offer and wraparound services. So yes, highly
competent teachers will be needed in a range of diverse areas, including S TEAM, dual -language lear ning, as well as core subject areas. In addition, we are
looking for adults who can engage young people; [s upervise] after -school homework clubs, adults who
work with social –emotional learning and working with
families will also be required. So that would have
some crossover in my Ministry as well. These wor kforce requirements are being worked through with the Department of Education aligned with current staffing
timelines and processes.
Are there any infrastructure changes that wil l
be needed and undertaken for year 7 or year 8? Is
there anything that needs to be done in the schools to
accommodate the new year levels? As we have al-ways stated, education reform and refurbishment and
construction of the parish primary schools will be
phased over a number of years. The priority for ope ning new parish primary schools will be to ensure that
there is sufficient, appropriate space for the P7 st udents, and to begin to put in place learning enviro nments to support this vision of learning, i.e ., new fi xtures, new furniture and spaces. So, there will be
some adjustments right now. Any major building
works, including securing Planning Commission, will
take at least 18 months , hence, the need for a phased
approach to construction and refurbishment.
And as we undertake minor and major buil ding, we will in a phased way update to meet the buil ding codes. Because as you know, a lot of these
schools, as we have heard in previous statements, predate, I think, me and Senator Hodgson put toget her.

[Laught er]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: How long will this tra nsition take? It is going to take a long time. It is going to
be phased over years. But knowing that you are ha ving a two- tiered system instead of a three- tiered sy stem, there is going to be some frust ration from parents
who do not have access to the new and improved sy stem. I am in this case. I have a daughter who is M1 at middle school. And I say, Well, can she go to the ot her school? This is not the case. Not only in Bermuda,
but this is kind of a tr ansformative change that takes
years [to complete] for all jurisdictions who attempt
94 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate this kind of agenda on behalf of their children and f uture of the country.
Was this you again, Senator Smith, who
asked about the interactions of schools, such as inter -
school sports? And this is one of the many questions
that we are actually working through now. You know,
that whenever sports comes up—and we are in sports
season—that is when you see a lot of the more heated debates about school. But we are working through
this. We know that children are the same age that
they are in P7 as they are in M1. But how does one feel about a primary school student competing against
a middle school student? Psychologically it just looks
and feels very different. And so we are worki ng with
the respective school communities on this and wor king through other operational issues.
If I may, Madam President, if I can in this debate tell you a story about my daughter. I said to her, I said, Well, do you want to go to Francis Patton next
year?
The first thing she said was, Daddy, I’m not
going back to primary school!
So, it is a psychological adjustment, even
though . . . well, not the P7, but if there was a P8 this
year they would be the same age.
On to the questions by the Vice President ,
Senator Bell. So, thanks for your question. I know you
also did raise this in the technical briefing. And changing that definition has also been discussed. The advice that we have been given is that because this Bill
does not operate in respect of a reformed school (i.e.,
parish primary school), no definition is required for
“parish primary school.” And I must admit I am not a lawyer, so this is getting way over my head right here.
But I will try to work this out.
Additionally, clause 10(1) makes a cons equential amendment to the Education Act [1996] [by
inserting after section 1 “Application of Act in relation
to public education reforms 1A”] which requires that
“On the date of publication of an Order under section
8 of the Education (Primary Schools) Tem porary Act
2023, this Act and Rules made thereunder operate in respect of the primary school specified in that Order and shall accordingly be read and applied with the
necessary modifications.” (I am not sure if that made
sense to you.)
Therefore, the schools are not orphaned but
will be included under the Education Act 1996. You
see me looking at my technical officer.
Madam President, I will take a follow -up from
. . .

Sen. Kiernan Bell: I just can confirm my understanding. I am grateful for them, so thank you.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you.
Senator Tucker, give me one second. You
[said] that our schools are notorious for not being pr epared for September. Schools are worked on every summer to ensure their readiness [for] opening in September. There will always be last -minute issues
that arise from teachers deciding that, you know, they
no longer want to be teachers anymore. And som etimes, unfortunately, this happens when someone r eturns back after vacation to Europe. So sometimes there are unf oreseen circumstances. Sometimes, as
teachers return to their classroom, there are unfor eseen issues that we may not have seen throughout this process of getting the school ready.
However, we can only handle these things as
they come up. The intent is to always go into each
school year with schools and educators ready for the
business of learning. The current discipline and rigorous process that school transformations are in . . .
transitions will be focused exclusively on implement ation and their readines s by the middle of this month.
So we are looking to get an early start on getting the schools ready for September.
However, I would like to just give some credit.
I know some of us in this Chamber like to decry public
education at every chance we get. But I would like to
give some credit to the two primary school principals.
Some of you may or may not know that Francis Patton, which is one of the schools that we are talking
about coming online, are very lucky to have Mr. Todd
Fox as their principal. And if you have been following
the news of the last couple of months, Mr. Fox was
actually highlighted and given an award for the Government Employee of the Year. So, I know that he has
the dedication, as well as Principal Enid Furbert -
Jacobs at Purvis Primary.
And they have already taken on and are doing
serious work as we speak. With the support of the
ADs and the Education Reform Unit, they have been
working with their entire staff this year. So, this is a
situation, especially with these parish primary schools,
that their professional learning days have been f ocused on the features of [parish] primary schools,
helping teachers build their competence in each of
these new teaching, learning and school practices.
And just to get the names right, the Principal of Purvis
is Ms. Enid Furbert -Jacobs. And Francis Patton is Mr.
Todd Fox. So those are the two principals, and I just
wanted to highlight them and the work that they are doing to get schools ready.
And I would also like to say thank you to my
colleagues, th e Minister of Education, who actually
sits in another place, for the work that, again as I
started, he and all of his staff are doing. But I want to
thank my colleagues in this Chamber, Madam Pres ident, for your endorsement and the understanding of
the nee d to reform our system in a collaborative way,
and endorsing how we are actually taking our time to
go about it to make sure we get things right.
And, Senator De Couto, I was going to skip
past your comments. I will tell you the technical offi cers did not know how to respond to this. But I will r espond in a political way. It is comments like this that


Bermuda Senate seem to always bring negativity, especially coming
from that far corner, that just frustrates me and frustrates other who are working long, hard hours. And I
do not know. I cannot speak to how many of these sessions you have been to.
But I can tell you that the former educators
whom I have worked with, the friends and family that I
interact with on a daily basis take this reform seriously. So, to sit in this Chamber and—

I believe the Senator is
misrepresenting my statements, misleading the Se nate with —

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I will
say this. I do not have the particulars because I am
not going to spend much time on it. But anybody with
a listening ear on this debate today can tell that Sen ator De Couto’s comments today are laced with negativity of an education system that a lot of people are putting in a lot of time and a lot of effort to fix. And I for
one, Madam President, am sick and tired of it, and I
will not stand for it coming from that gentleman.
Thank you, Madam Pr esident.
The President: Senator Darrell, do carry on with the
procedure at hand.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, b efore we move to Committee, I would like to make a
few other remarks.
Today’s legislation signals yet another election promise fulfilled by the Progressive Labour Party
Government. The people of Bermuda entrusted the
Progressive Labour Party in 2017 to reform education, and overwhelmingly re- endorsed our platform plans in
2020. The days of our children not being the benefac-tors of a world- class fit -for-purpose education are
numbered. The introduction of parish primary schools
in September of 2023 puts us further on the pathway
to realising this promise. A promise that the PLP takes
seriously, and you can tell by my passion has consis tently done what needs to be done often at the risk of unpopular political and educational decisions.
Madam President, however, creating a sy stem that puts the needs of our students first and for emost will continue to be our driving fact, a system that
prepares each and every young person to lead per-sonally and professionally, compete locally and contribute globally. We will continue to push forward and
reform our system to help our young people develop the skills, knowledge, values and relationships to enable them to access and be creators of the jobs of the future, to be active citizens and tackle increasingly
complex challenges.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Senator Darrell, are you ready to go?
You mentioned something about going into Commi ttee. But unless you are intending to make changes?

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: No. I —

The President: You did make a comment. And I just
wanted to confirm for the rest of us who heard it. So,
you just need now to do the second reading.

Sen. the Hon . Owen Darrell: All right.
Madam President, I do now move that the Bill,
Education (Primary Schools) Temporary Act 2023, be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 2 6

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in r espect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrel l: Madam President, I do
now move that the Bill entitled Education (Primary
Schools) Temporary Act 2023 be now read a third
time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

EDUCATION (PRIMARY SCHOOLS)
TEMPORARY ACT 2023

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
now move that the Bill entitled Education (Primary
Schools) Temporary Act 2023 do now pass.

The President: Is there any objection to the passing
of the Bill?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
96 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate [Motion carried: The Education (Primary Schools)
Temporary Act 2023 was read a third time and
passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell, and
thank you, all Senators who participated.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESID ENT

APOLOGIES

The President: I would just like to make the comment
which I should have at the beginning of the meeting,
and that is that we did have apologies from Senator
John Wight, as well as Senator Leslie Robinson, who
have indicated they would not be here today. So, I just
should have said that at the beginning of the meeting.
With that said, we will move on with our agenda then and our Orders of the Day.

MOTIONS

The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have
the floor.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, first I would like to give
condolences to the family of Arthur Hodgson, JP, my
Senate colleague, Arianna Hodgson’s, grandfather. I
attended his funeral this weekend. And to her, what a
strong man he was and a visionary for the PLP and the people of Bermuda. He was nothing short of
amazing, and he lived an amazing life. And I am so
honoured to sit in the Senate with Senator Hodgson
because I have been able to listen to her stories about
her Papa and, you know, the PLP. And I know my colleagues owe a debt of thanks to her and her family for
allowing us to share part of Mr. Hodgson’s life. So
thank you.
Madam President, I also want to gi ve condolences to the family of Brian Morris. I actually worked
with Brian for many years at two different locations, at
Belmont and Riddell’s Bay. Brian was larger than life,
and his funeral was larger than life. I have never seen a funeral so big. The lo ve that he had for people
showed with the numbers of people who showed up. So, I want to give my condolences to first his wife, Laurie; his children, Brian Jr., Natasha, Zach and
Tiahna. They have my condolences. And Brian and
Natasha’s mama, Lisa. And the rest of the family.
Brian is going to be a huge miss. I am going
to miss him messaging me all the time. You know, he supported me when I decided I wanted to run for the
PLP. We joked a lot, so the words were not really
nice, but honestly, he came out wit h a lot of love and
support. And when I became a Senator, he was one of the first people to reach out to me and tell me that he was proud of me and, you know, I am going to
make it. So, Brian’s family definitely has my cond olences.
On a positive note, Mad am President, I want
to congratulate the Ministry of Social Development
and Seniors because today is a historic day. I could not be there today. I wanted to, but we had Senate
today. They are opening up the transitional living f acility for foster children who age out of the system.
[Filling] this gap in the system was much needed. And
I am proud of the work that the Ministry of Social D evelopment and Seniors is doing to ensure that our foster children have an avenue when they age out of the system.
The fac ility is phenomenal. I cell -phoned Se nator Hodgson and went there about two months ago to tour the facility and to also speak to the members in
St. George’s. And, you know, I wish I had a starting
home like that —beautiful. Well done to the Ministry,
and thank you for putting our children first, because
these are our children, and making sure that they
have the opportunity to not only continue with schoo ling, but also to learn to save money, banking. And it is
a 24- hour operation where somebody will be there .
There will be security there so our young people are
safe and are being put forward.
So, thank you, Madam President. Those are
my comments for today.
The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
First, I would like to associate myself, and
actually I think I will be safe to say I think we should
associate the entire Senate Chamber with the condo-lences expressed to Mr. Hodgson’s family, as well as
Arianna and her family.
Mr. Hodgson actually taught me in high
school. He taught me geography. I will confess I
skipped a lot of the classes that I should have been in.
[Laughter]
Sen. Robin Tucker: Mr. Hodgson gave me an earful
on a few occasions. But I do remember him as being
a very kind and very caring teacher. I did have the
opportunity fairly recently, a few months ago, to act ually attend a breakfast meeting with him. And he was
sitting across from me. We had a nice l ittle chat and
catch -up at that time. I will always have very fond
memories of Mr. Hodgson.


Bermuda Senate I would also like to associate with the condolences expressed for Mr. Brian Morris. I cannot say
that I have met Mr. Morris. But I think that this is a loss
for my self. I have seen the interviews that were held
with him on television. And the one word that comes
to mind when I have heard his name since is inspir ation. He was so inspiring to be able to encourage
people in the midst of the things that he was going
through. So, I want to express condolences to them.
I would also like to express condolences to
my Senate colleague, Doug De Couto, on the passing of his father -in-law, Mr. Gary Pitman, who as most of
us will know, was a very well -known politician who
was described by Sir John as being a dependable person with a strong social conscience. He had a great balance of being socially responsible and fiscally
responsible. I also met Mr. Pitman back in the 1980s
and remember him as being a very kind and friendly —
very, very tall. I am only five- one and a little bit. Mr.
Pitman towered over me. But he was also a very, very kind and gentle man. Again, I would like to express those condolences to Senate colleague, Doug De
Couto, his wife Rebecca, Mr. Pitman’s wife and the
entire family.
I would like to extend condolences to the fam ily of Eugene (Jinxy) Darrell. Jinx was well known in
our community. And I read his story, and I would say that he would definitely be a poster child for evidencing what can be the result of som e of our social issues
that are left unresolved and un- dealt -with. He is a
good example. He used to drive me crazy sometimes when he would ask for money. But I find myself now
looking for him, and I do miss seeing him.
Last, I would like to say congratulations to the
Horton family. I had the benefit of being— Ellen -Kate
Horton was my homeroom teacher, and Randy Horton
was my principal. And when it was said that people would say, Oh, Horton is coming!, you heard Mr. Horton’s voice long before you saw him. But they had
such a wonderful way of caring and making sure that
people stayed on the straight and narrow. A lot of my
school friends will attest to that.
And last, before I end, I just want to say again
I want to associate myself with Senator Lindsay Si mmons’s comment on the congratulatory comments she
made about the Social Development and Seniors Mi nistry’s transitional living centre. Anybody who has
heard me will know that people transitioning out of
foster care are near and dear to my heart. I too have
had the opportunity to go down and have a visit and
have a tour. It is a very nice facility that can house up
to 10 persons. It is actually 10. It is 10. A nd I will say
that MP Susan Jackson will be going this week . . .
Sorry. It was 10 based on what the person who was
there said to me. She said she made a mistake.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator. Senator Bell, Vice President, you have the
floor.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to associate myself with all of the
condolences that have been given today and partic ularly to Senator Arianna Hodgson on the loss of her
grandfather, who I have indicated I will tell her when
the time is right some good stories of how he physica lly rescued me from harm in court one day, which is
the one and only time that this was ever necessary, I am pleased to say.
But on another note, I would like to extend my
personal and sincere condolences to the family of Ken
Robinson. Ken Robinson was a brilliant legal mind
who was a partner at Appleby, which is where I spent
my legal career. He was also a very close family friend. So, I am one of the many lawyers in this juri sdiction whom he mentored and touched in some way.
I think it is fair to say that I stand on his shoulders in
everything that I do and have done. And I shall miss
him dearly, and I give my sincere condolences to Jo Carol Robinson and Kalilah and Jennah. So, I j ust
wanted to indicate that today. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell,
Vice President.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would l ike to associate myself also with the
many condolences that we have heard. And I will not
go into detail on them.
I just wanted to highlight a couple of outstan ding achievements I have seen in the athletic world
over the past month. And as always, these are just a
selection. There is a lot more going on out there in this community. And we can highlight things that stand out
to us. I would like to highlight Campbell Patton. For
those of you who do not know, he is competing in the
Laser class in sailing. I believe he is trying to make his
way to the Olympics. But at a recent event, he has
clinched a qualification spot for Bermuda to be able to attend the Pan Am Games and compete in that cat egory. And that is highly competitive. So I would like to
congratulate him on that.
I would like to congratulate Kaden Hopkins
and Caitlin Conyers, Bermuda Bicycle Association
Riders of the Year. And again, they have many achievements behind them. Kaden is competing in
Europe on a French development team, so he is ear ning h is spurs there. And he recently won two gold
medals at the Caribbean championships. And Caitlin has also won a silver medal at that championship.
So, these are just examples of the many
young Bermudians who are out there achieving in sport.
98 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate And then it i s a little bit inside baseball, but for
those of you listening, you know that Senator Wight
recently retired from BF&M. And I saw that they had
created a new scholarship, a new post -graduate
scholarship in his honour. And I just want to commend
them on mak ing that resource available to the community and that it is a real mark of their thanks to the
Senator for his leadership of that company. And I look
forward to seeing which young Bermudian will earn
that scholarship and to watch their star as we watch
the stars of the many Bermudians out there who are
. . . whether it be anything from $1,000 grant, $500
grant to some of the big- ticket scholarships from the
private sector or the public sector. And it ties back to that theme of education. And I always enjoy learning
what our next generations are achieving and what
they can teach us, Madam President. So thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Dill, Minister, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I like the others would like to associate with
the condolences that were offered on behalf of the
late Honourable Arthur Hodgson, and certainly condo-lences to my Senate colleague, the Honourable Sen ator Arianna Hodgson, who carries on this great family
legacy.
I also would like to offer condolences to the
family of the late Bryan Darby, a veteran broadcaster whom I had the opportunity to work very closely with over the years during my years in the arts. And I ha d
always found Mr. Darby to be a gentleman who was
always fair. He was a great reporter. He had such a
wealth of knowledge. And he will certainly be missed
in the Bermuda community.
I would like to offer congratulations to the
Agape Faith International family under the leadership
of Bishop Lynn Landy on their 25
th anniversary of their
founding. The Agape Faith Church stands on the
shoulders of the United Holy Church of Bermuda, and we certainly celebrate all that they have done over the
years.
I would also like to congratulate the AME
Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who
has just completed their 137
th annual conference u nder the leadership of our new presiding Prelate, Bis hop Julius McAllister. And I would like to congratulate
Presiding E lder Howard Dill on this, his first annual
conference as the Presiding Elder of the East –West
District of the Bermuda annual conference.
And last but not least, I would also like to congratulate Presiding Elder Howard Dill on 32 years of
marriage to the w onderful Rev. Dr. Emilygail Dill.

[Laughter]

Thank you, Senator Emily Dill, Rev.
Dr. Emily Dill.
Would any other Senator care to—
Senator Ben Smith, you have the floor.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to be associated with the condolence remarks that have been made so far, specifically to Senator Hodgson for the loss of her grandfather.
I did not know him. But if who he was is any indication
from what we have seen so far from Senator Hodgson, that is an indication of who he was. So, thank
you.
I hope condolences to everyone else who has
passed before, but specifically now I would like to
have condolences s ent to the family of Monica Doers.
She was my mother’s sister, who passed recently.
Condolences to the entire Doers family, the entire
Harney family. I know that she will be sadly missed. I
know that I miss her personally. And I know that
Senator Dill was actually part of the ceremony. So, I
know that she would also like to offer those cond olences.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Senator Arianna Hodgson, you now have the
floor.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I will be very brief.
I did just want to thank persons in this Chamber and in other places. Literally the random strangers
were walking down the street and taking the time to
either share a kind story or just letting me know the
impact that my grandfather made on their lives. I joke
and I tell anybody that I never cried so much unless I
was heading to the principal’s office back in school.
So, it has been a time for reflection. I said in our tri bute, you know, that when we die we lose a lot of our
say in how we want our lives and our identities r emembered. And that is, unless we live a life with inte ntion. And so, it is a reminder to me to think about what I want to be remembered for or how I want to be cel ebrated, you know, when my time is done here.
So, I just want to encourage each of us to
think about our why and our how and the celebration
when this is all said and done.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Yes, finally, Senator.
Sen. the Hon. Ow en Darrell: Madam President, yes.

B ermuda Senate I have quite a bit to speak on in obits and
congrats, Madam President. First, I would like to ( as
everyone else has ) associate my name with the condolences to Senator Hodgson’s grandfather, the late
Mr. Arthur Hodgson. As a young man I was very much
into p olitics, and I do not know why. But I remember
Mr. Hodgson first and foremost when he was a Minister under the first Progressive Labour Party Gover nment in 1998. And then in future years I knew who he
was through family connections. And more recently
when I became Chairman of the Progressive Labour
Party in 2017, Mr. Hodgson [gave me a call] and he
said in his deep voice, Mr. Darrell, I’d like to see you. I
said, Okay. And I came right to this buil ding, Madam
President. I went up to the top floor for a beautiful
view from his office overlooking the harbour and this
half of Hamilton.
And Mr. Hodgson gave me a book. He sa id, I
want you to read this. And he then proceeded, and we
had a chat for at least an hour.
I said, Mr. Hodgson, I have to go.
He sa id, Yeah, but I just want to tell you this
one thing. And he gave me a lot of sage advice on
being the Chairman of the Progressive Labour Party.
And as many would also know, he was key in rewri ting the Constitution of the Progressive Labour Party.
So, he w as definitely a former Chairman, former Minister who was definitely worth listening to.
And in more recent times, I had the opportunity to have wholesome discussions with Mr. Hodgson
which may not have been as nice as the one upstairs.
But he was very pas sionate in what he believed in.
And he had no problem picking up the phone and cal ling me on a regular basis. He had no problem walking down to where my office was located. And whenever we would see the little car roll up if he was in (I was
the chief of s taff) they said, I think you have a visitor. I
say, Oh, Mr. Hodgson. And every single time I would
say to my Senate colleague, Your grand pa came to
see me today. And she would say, Oh, Lord, what did
he want?
But yes. I was not able to atten d the funeral,
unfortunately, on Saturday. And I would like to again
publicly give my condolences to my Senate colleague and her family.
And also, my cousin . . . I would like to give
condolences to the family of Eugene Darrell, be ass ociated with those. Many people may know or may not know that Jinx was my cousin. His mother and my grandmother were actually sisters. And I think his mother passed in her 90s about a year ago. And eve-ry time I would see him on the street, he would ask me for a dollar or two. And I remember one time tel ling him, Jinx, if you can tell me my name, I’ll give you some money. And I then made the mistake, I think, of
being with my mom or maybe it was a late night when
I was walking on Front Street. And I said, You know
you’re my cousin! And from then on, Jinx says, Your
name is “cousin.” [Laughter]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: And that was the funny
story of Jinx. And, you know, depending. And it is u nfortunate, because as you reflect on seeing him this last couple of months when he was still on his post (I
call it), you can tell that he was definitely getting we ary. A lot of times he did not even have the energy to
speak. So, I am glad that his family, my family were able to have a good send -off for him. I was able to
watch it onli ne. It was Monday past. And [they were]
able to honour his life. Although it may not have been
the path that many people choose to take, it was his
life and he lived it how he chose to live it. And ever yone deserves a send- off
Madam President, if you will give me my final
couple of moments in these congrats/obits to talk about something a little happier and something that all
of Bermuda has been talking about in the last couple
of years. And that is the now -confirmed qualification of
the Bermuda National Team, T20 cricket team, who are still currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina. And I did have the opportunity to go and personally support that
team for their first three matches.
Madam President, I know we have seen and
the newspaper likes to pull out headlines of people
who do exceptional things in the world of sports. And yes, the batting of Delray Rawlins, which I had not seen him bat in at least 10 years since he was at Cup
Match as a young teenager. Kamau Leverock and
those two professionals on the team, to watch those
gentlemen just galvanise that team. And they are not old by the standards of many. But to watch their lea dership be on display with the team that is down there in Buenos Aires. And I want to congratulate them because the first three matches, they put on some very
electrifying displays as far as batting. I know Bermuda got 220 one time. They got 195 another time, and I think 179.
But I want to take two seconds, Madam President, to call out the names of the entire team. Be-cause the batting of the top order was so good that
you actually did not get to hear the names of those teams. I mean, to watch the team skittle out the oppo-sition for very low totals shows that it was a complete effort. So I would like to congratulate Delray Rawlins,
the Captain; Kamau Leverock, the Vice Captain; Tre
Manders; Terryn Fray; Jabari Darrell; Dominic Sabir;
Jacob Albertze; Matthew Watson; Justin Pitcher; Zeko Burgess; Sinclair Smith; Derrick Brangman; Charles Trott; and Malachi Jones. Along with their coaches, the coaching team, Niraj Odedra, Courtney Trott, Cal
Waldron, Larry Joseph and Allan Douglas Sr.
They do have one more game down in Buenos Aires on Saturday. And I hope all of Bermuda will tune in to get a taste of the quality cricket that these young men are playing down there. And also, start preparing for the final qualifying round, which will be
100 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate held right here on home turf in Bermuda in September, which puts us one step away from qualification for
the T20 World Cup which will be held in 2024.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Everyone having spoken, I would just like to
add my comments to the condolences that have been
expressed for Arthur Hodgson, and particularly express it to Arianna Hodgson and to say to her, as has
been said already, that you follow a tradition, a very
strong tradition, not only in him but the rest of your
family. And you certainly perform exceedingly well
here in these Chambers. And I want to congratulate
you for that.
I would also like to ass ociate myself with the
comments that have been made about Jinx Darrell. Jinx certainly was well liked in the community and particularly by the business community. He always, always —I could not pass him without . . . I had known
him for many, many years. And he was a very, very
pleasant person when he approached you. And you
really could not always say no to him. But I have good
memories of him.
And also under condolences, I would like to
extend condolences to the fa mily of Ms. Millicent
Washington, a nurse who trained at the Cottage Hos-pital in 1958, whom I had the pleasure of working with
at MWI [Mid -Atlantic Wellness Institute], formally St.
Brendan’s Hospital, in the 1970s. And I would like to
extend the condolenc es specifically to her daughter,
Sharon Swan, and her husband and the rest of the
family.
With the congratulations, I want to associate
myself with Senator Tucker’s congrats to the Horton
family, all three who were recognised by the Hamilton
Princess at t he luncheon. The other person who was
recognised at that luncheon was Dr. Duranda Greene,
of Bermuda College. I just did not want to forget that.
And also, last month— if you just give me a
few moments —I would just like to say, as part of
Black History Month, I would also like to congratulate
Rev. Canon Nisbett, OBE, who during the month was recognised by his granddaughter. Her name is Chelsea Amber Nisbett. And I do not know if many of you
have seen what has been going around on the social media. But Chels ea Amber Nisbett is a singer. She is
the granddaughter of Canon Nisbett. And she gave a
wonderful tribute to her grandfather. And as I said,
she is a singer.
And those of you who had the opportunity to
see this tribute, I think you will be encouraged. B ecause certainly her grandfather was a trailblazer. He
went through some difficulties in trying to be reco gnised or to be trained as an Anglican preacher, mini ster, years ago. And he had to go to Barbados to do so. And his story is one that certainly in term s of Black
History Month, it is a story that has been told in the past. And I think the manner in which his granddaugh-ter mentioned it was really, really good. And as I said,
she is a singer. And I was quite impressed. She sings
more religious songs, but c ertainly it was most i mpressive. So, if you get the opportunity to view and to listen to her tape, I would encourage you to do so.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Ms.
Gladys Dillas, my aunt, who celebrated her 93
rd birthday on Tuesday. She is a well -known former Girl
Guide who got me involved early on in my life. She worked for many years as a traffic warden. And today
she is very active in her church, the Salvation Army
Church on Cedar Hill. And I just want to let her know,
because she is going to be listening, that I
acknowledge her today.
And that is it for me, and that is all for congratulatory and obituary speeches.
We will now move on to adjournment.
Minister Owen Darrell, you have the floor.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I would like to make a m otion that the Senate do now adjourn to Wednesday,
March 15.

The President: Would any of the Senate care to
speak on the motion to adjourn?
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
would like to speak.
The President: Certainly. You have the floor.

CASH APP GETS BMA DIGITAL ASSET LICENCE

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, as I would have mentioned
a few moments ago, I did have the opport unity and I
thought it was important that the Bermuda Gover nment show strong support for sport in this country. And with that, Madam President, I took the opportunity
along with a technical officer, to travel to Buenos
Aires, Argentina, to personally support the Bermuda
Cricket Board and their team of cricketers as they took
on four other nations in the Americas Sub- Regional
Qualifying Tournament.
Madam President, as you can understand that
to get to Buenos Aires is not just like taking a drive to
Somerset . It actually takes a couple of flights, a couple of hours, more layovers, and it gives you an op-portunity to take some time and do a little bit of reading. So, while in another place there have been de-bates going on and my Cabinet colleagues have been giving briefs about how the Government is going to
best use the allotment of funds that we have to support Bermudians, I forgot my earphone so I did not


Bermuda Senate listen to those debates. But I did do quite a bit of rea ding, Madam President.
And reading comes in many forms in these
days. It could be a newspaper; it could be an email.
But one of the most effective ways to read messages from individuals right now, Madam President, is
through social media— WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter.
And as I was doing some reading, Madam President, I
came across a headline that was carried by Bernews
that says, “Cash App Gets BMA Digital Asset Licence.”
Madam President, my friends will tell you that
although I may look very young in the face, some of
my technology and technological ski ll sets may still be
in the Dark Ages. So, I am slowly getting on Twitter
(sometimes it gets me in trouble), Instagram, Fac ebook and others. But when something big happens in the world today, that is where I usually get my news
from. So, on I guess it was Monday when it became
kind of big news, my phone started blowing up. And it said, Oh (you know, my friends call me Darrell.) They
said, Darre ll, this is big.
And I said, Big? (You know, I am going back
because I am all cricket at this time.) What do you mean this is big?
[They said,] Cash App is coming to Bermuda.
I said, Okay. You know, I said, Okay .
Then you go to, they have these stories that
go on people’s WhatsApp, and people who are not
into politics are just so excited about Cash App coming to Berm uda. And then you start looking at the st ories, and it is funny because I did read the headline. If
I can read it again, “Cash App Gets BMA Digital Asset Licence.” So, you have to understand that according
to a lot of people in my world, this has nothing t o do
with the Government. All of the credit is going to the
Bermuda Monetary Authority, which is fine. So, then
you start hearing some of the comments, and people
start to get frustrated, and they are like, Well, it is
about time, and you know, This is lon g overdue. And
that is when I start doing a bit more reading, Madam
President.
And I would be honest with you, and where I
was going a moment ago when I said I personally did not know exactly what —what Cash App was. So, I
started reading and I started ask ing questions, and it
says that Cash App, if I may refer to my notes?

The President: Yes, you may.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Is a multi -billion dollar
tech company best known for its app that allows people to send and receive money, buy stocks, and more.
I said, Oh. And I go on and I ask a couple other people. I am like, So how do you use Cash App now?
And they say, Well, it’s about time because it
is annoying that Bermuda, you can’t use Cash App in
Bermuda. They started using terms like, There are opportunities that have been lost , especially for this
group of individuals called creatives.
And as the Minister of Youth, Culture and
Sport, I am becoming a lot more familiar with the
world of the “creatives.” We sometimes used to call
them the artsy types .
And I said, Tell me more.
And there is a young man who works in my
office, on his weekends as a DJ, and he says, Minister, when I go overseas nobody sends invoices and
transfers money anymore. They just say , I’ll Cash App
it to you. It’s a terminology, Cash App me some funds.
A young lady who may like to hang out in a place they call bars, was laughing, I think yesterday, and said,
This is amazing because now when people say they
want to send you a drink, I could just tell them no, no, no. Just Cash App me some cash. I’ll get my own
drink. So, people are having a lot of fun and talking
about w hat this Cash App can now open possibilities
to. Restaurants apparently in other parts of the world
are using it so that the servers can actually get their tips directly to them instead of how tips and gratuities
maybe are held on to by certain establishments.
And just a few more, Madam President, just
so everybody gets the picture. There were some individuals in some quarters who did not take this opportunity to stand up and congratulate the Government. They did not stand up and congratulate the BMA, for
that matter, or say Wow, this is actually the progress
of which the Progressive Labour Party has been tal king about. Madam President, you may say, and my
colleagues may say, and the Opposition Senators
may say, Well, what were you expecting? You expect
the Opposition to give the Government credit? Surely
you cannot .
But let me tell you, Madam President, about
some of the other comments (and if I may refer to my
notes?) that I get from people whom I actually interact with.

The President: Yes, you may.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Call it the man on the
street, the woman on the street. And the frustration
they hear is, Well, if they . . . and I don’t know who the
they are that t hey are referring to. I think I may have
an inkling. But, If they did their research, they would
know that Cash App is widely popular. They need to
come out of the Dark Ages and step into the future of
banking. There is nothing wrong with giving people
control of their hard- earned money and giving them
the freedom to bank on their ter ms. Cash App is so
popular, Darrell, it’s like WhatsApp. Again, comments
from my circle. They need to stop being— again I don’t
know who they are—old and stush. Get up to the
times , Madam President, they say.

[Laughter]
102 2 March 2023 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Because all that young
people see right now is that certain institutions, they
call them banks , want to squeeze money out of the
pockets of their customers. You have people who
work, young people who work in the banking industry who literally go home in tears to watch as elderly customers come in to try to figure out their finances, and
the bank just takes great pleasure in squeezing them
with every single fee that they can.
Now we talk about they , Madam President,
and we say, Hmm, they are against it because it may affect the operations of their current banking industry.
Now, is Cash App going to put certain instit utions in Bermuda who boast about million dollar profits in a quarter out of business? Surely not, Madam Pres-ident. But I can tell you this: It will give them a run for
their money. I should have titled this speech, because I like to give titles, I should have titled it “A Run for
Your Money.”
But the younger generation, as I have seen in
my reading on my travels, are absolutely ecstatic with
the fact that the Bermuda Government for years has
been courting these companies in far -out jurisdictions.
I can tell you stories about tracking through snow that was up to my chest to try to just meet and have conversations with FinTech companies about, Hey , hey,
we are Bermuda and we will actually listen to you, and
we are willing and able to be a jurisdiction for you to do your business. This, Madam President, four or five
years after making those treks in the snow, I did not know that these companies were behind Cash App
and stuff like that.
But this, Madam President, is when it all
makes sense to me. When I am in Davos, Switzer-land, and St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the Premier is
at a meeting in New York and some other place, and
everybody is gathering and talking about what I just thought was gadget talk. This, Madam President, is the culmination of that hard work of a Progressive L abour Government actually putting people first.
I will give my apologies to Senator Smith b ecause it was not my intention to keep us here for an-other 20 minutes today on the motion to adjourn. But, Madam President, being that I will not be here for an-other maybe two weeks, I thought that it was very im-portant to highlight this key initiative that the Bermuda
Government has been behind for a little while now
and to show you what it means to the people of Bermuda.
A former teacher of mine always tells me to
stay away from the negative. But I have to highlight it,
Madam President. I have to highlight it. A Senate colleague says I do not listen. Sometimes. Again, I want
to go back to that headline in Bernews . The headline
says that “Cash App—” (and then it goes on to explain, is) “ a multi -billion dollar tech company best
known for its popular app that allows people in the UK and U
S to send and receive money, buy stocks and
more . . . ”
Yay, great, happy! Everybody is excited. You
scroll down to the comments, and we have one Sena-tor, I will not even bother calling his name, but people can check the tweets for themselves, who responds
simply, Please just keep the Premier away from it.
The same negativity, Madam President, that
we may have seen leaking into our earlier debate in this very place. Shocking that when the Progressive Labour Party is going through a nice, clear, fair pr ocess of selecting who their leaders will be, I have got
to hear noise coming from the other side from a particular individual about accountability and, The ship is
sinking and a whole lot of other stuff, Madam Pres ident. But also, in my reading I found that a pparently
the circus has come to town in Bermuda. And you
know in circuses they have individuals who wear these bright red noses on their faces. And I have not
heard a peep from a particular Senator who likes to
get on Twitter, Facebook and everything else he can
get his fingers on to draw down and to drag down this Government.
The President: Senator Darrell, you have one minute
left.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
When you hear comments such as, Well, we
know we have cake on our face right now and trying
to do a whole lot of deflection, Madam President. I would just like to finish by saying that I am happy to be a Senator and an appointed Minister for a party, the Progressive Labour Party, that stands by all of our election pr omises, are putting Bermudians first, strong
leadership for us, moving Bermuda forward. And it is evident when things like Cash App are put into the public domain that the efforts of this Progressive La-bour Party, led by the Honourable E. David Burt, is definitely the party of choice for Bermudians.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator, Minister Owen
Darrell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
I do not hear anyone.
Senators, the Senate stands adjourned to
March 15. Stay well and we will see you on the 15th.
Thank you.
[
At 11:46 am the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Wednesday, 15 March 2023.]