October 5, 2022

Mr. Acting Pres ident, I hereby present for the information of the Sen-ate the National Sports Policy 2022 –2027: Sport Ma tters, as produced by the Department of Youth, Sport
and Recreation. Senators can access copies of the
policy on their tablets and/or on the parliamentary
website.

The Acting President: Thank you, Minister Peets.

ANNUAL REPORT OF BERMUDA SPORT
ANTI -DOPI NG AUTHORITY FOR THE
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

I also have an additional announcement.
Mr. Acting President, I hereby present for the
information of the Senate the Annual Report of the
Bermuda Sport Anti -Doping Authority for the year
ended March 31, 2022.
Senators can also access a copy of the report
on their tablets and/or on the parliamentary website.

The Acting President: Very good. Thank you, Mini ster Peets.

NOTICE S OF MOTION S

The Acting President: Again, the Honourable Dr. E.
G. V. Peets.

NATIONAL SPORTS POLICY 2022 –2027:
SPORT MATTERS—MOTION TO TAKE NOTE

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
I hereby give notice that at a later point in the
meeting, under the Orders of the Day , I propose to
move the following motion:
That the Senate take note of the “National
Sports Policy 2022– 2027: Sport Matters.”
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Minister Peets.

PETITIONS

The Acting President: There are non e.

STATEMENTS
The Acting President: There are two in the name of
Senator Lindsay Simmons, the Junior Minister for S ocial Development and Seniors. The first one is entitled
Expression of Interest —Gender Affairs Council Membership.
Over to you, Senator.



Bermuda Senate EXPRESSION OF INTEREST —
GENDER AFFAIRS COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Mr. Acting President, I rise today to inform
Members of the Senate and the general public of the progressive steps being made to formalise the
Gender
Affairs Council . According to the United Nations, any
gender council has a basic moral and strategic imperative to ensure that all people, regardless of their gender, can realise their full potential.
Mr. Acting President, some may recall that in
2008 the Gov ernment officially added “ gender equity ”
to the Department of Human Affairs mandate, and
approval was granted to establish an Equity Council
for Bermuda. Mr. Acting President, in 2010, the then Mini stry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation established a
non-statutory body, a Women’s Council, under the
former leadership of The Hon. Neletha I. Butterfield.
This Women’s Council was established to focus on improving the quality of life for women, families and
society. The Council had been charged to address
urgent issues, highlighted in a 1997 Women’s Issues
Report, such as equal pay, workplace sexual haras sment, maternity leave, marriage licences and violence
against women.
Also in the year 2010, Mr. Acting President,
the Government engaged in the process to have the
United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
extended to Bermuda. CEDAW is the landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around
the world and is often referred to as the Women’s Bill
of Rights . Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles,
this Convention defines what constitutes discrimina-tion against women and sets up an agenda for nation-al action to end gender discrimination. On the 16
th of
March 2017, the United Kingdom extended CEDAW
to Bermuda.
In 2015, with the dissolution of the Depar tment of Human Affairs, individuals were never appointed to the Women’s Council, and the body r emained inactive to this date. So, Mr. Acting Pres ident,
in keeping with global best practice and the modern
dynamics of gender politics, this Government has
made the commitment to the establishment of a Gender Affairs Council that incorporates the philosophical
shift such that individuals in our communit y can reap
the gender benefits that are systemic, inclusive and
sustainable.
Mr. Acting President, the importance and relevance of gender -based issues has been prominent in
our small community. These issues have included
domestic violence, employment, increasing poverty, burden of care, sexual orientation, political representation, economic opportunity, and safety and security. Mr. Acting President, over the years Bermuda
has seen a drastic increase in gender -based domestic
violence rates, which is conc erning. In 2020, the D irector of Public Prosecutions revealed that 30 per cent
of cases were domestic -related. Additionally, in 2020
the Centre Against Abuse shared that they have exp erienced a sharp increase in domestic abuse reports.
Between 2018 and 2020, there was close to an 88 per
cent increase in abuse reports, with 91 reported in
2018, and 161 reported in 2019, and 171 reported in
2020.
Mr. Acting President, there are also economic
and employment gender -related issues which, unfortunately , lead to further disparity in Bermuda. In 2020,
on average, the median gross annual income by sex shows women earned $68,294 per year compared to
$61,946 for men, representing a 9.7 per cent difference in pay. In 2021, the Bermuda Job Market E mployment Brief illus trated a widening in the earnings
gap between the genders.
Mr. Acting President, although these are just a
few examples of gender -based issues that Bermuda
faces, the Government understands the relevance and importance of working toward resolving them. T he
Gender Affairs Council will assist the Government in
an advisory capacity to bring perceptions, experience
and interests of women and men to influence legisl ation, policy and decision- making. This is key to driving
change toward a more productive, profi table and equ itable culture to improve society. It demonstrates the
Government’s commitment to issues on gender ba lance as it relates to employment, economic opportun ity, safety and security.
Mr. Acting President, the newly established
Gender Affairs Council will comprise individuals representing government agencies, civil society organis ations and entrepreneurs. Mr. Acting President, many of you have seen
the press conference Minister Tinee Furbert, JP , MP,
held on Wednesday, September 21, 2022. The pr ess
conference was used to provide the importance of
establishing a Genders Affairs Council and the overarching remit of the Council. Also, the press conference provided an opportunity for Minister Furbert to
encourage individuals to submit an expression of i nterest so that they can be considered to serve on this non-statutory body that will drive change toward a
more equitable community.
Mr. Acting President, Minister Furbert look s
forward to receiving expressions of interest, and I
would like to thank t he community in advance for their
support, interest and commitment to what the Go vernment seeks to achieve. I encourage individuals in
our community who wish to serve on the Gender A ffairs Council to be part of the progressive change to
submit an Expression of Interest form by October 7,
2022.
The form must be submitted electronically and
can be accessed online at :
620 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate forms.gov.bm/Departments/The-Cabinet -Office/E xpressionof-Interest .
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY
THE ACTING PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Before I ask you to address your second
Statement on Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series, I would just like to recognise the presence this morning of Minister Tinee Furbert, JP, MP, Mini ster of Social Development and Seniors.
So, Minister, welcome. It is nice to have you
[here] this morning.

[Statements , continuing]
The Act ing President: Back to you, Senator, for Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series.

NURTURING OUR NATION: IMPERFECT
PARENTING SERIES
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I am pleased to rise today to inform the Members of the Senate and the general public about an
exciting initiative,
Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect
Parenting Series , that provides an opportunity for the
Ministry o f Social Development and Seniors; the D epartment of Child and Family Services (DCFS); and
industry professionals to collaborate in providing r esources that are designed to assist families.
Mr. Acting President, DCFS conducts quarterly Family Strengths and Needs assessments on all
families engaged in intervention services with the department. Annual data gathered from these asses sments indicate that two of the highest priority areas of
need for most primary caregivers are the needs for support in the areas of coping and parenting skills.
Being aware of these needs within the community, the Ministry of Social Development and Seniors, and
DCFS, was keen to find a way to ensure primary
caregivers were given the support and tools to help them strengthen themselves as parents and guardi-ans.
Mr. Acting President, the Ministry and the D epartment of Child and Family Services collaborated
with industry professionals to develop this initiative,
Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series, to provide valuable resources and connections through the following:
• livestream panel discussions ;
• focus groups ;
• a Parenting Expo . The purpose of this initiative is to educate
primary caregivers and assist them in providing practical solutions such as coping and parenting skills that enable community development. Mr. Acting President, Nurturing our Nation:
Imperfect Parenting Series panel discussions are held twice a month starting at 12:30 pm live on Fac ebook
(@mosds.bda and @bdagovernment
), Twitter
(@bdagovernment ), YouTube ( @citvbermuda ), and
CITV (One Communications Channel 2 and WOW Channel 102). Since the launch of the panel discu ssion on Wednesday , the 22
nd of September, [during
which] panellists discussed and answered questions
on the topic of Routines . There has been a second
panel discussion. This discussion was held on Thur sday, the 29th of September 2022 and focused on the
topic of boundaries —for example, setting boundaries
for your child.
Mr. Acting President, the upcoming livestream
panel discussions schedule is as follows:
• Effects of Bullying and Domestic Violence on Children on Thursday, October 20;
• Co-Parenting and Nurturing Parents on
Thursday, October 27;
• Personal Care and Wellness on Thursday,
November 17;
• Nutrition and Meal Planning on Thursday, N ovember 24.
I reiterate these discussions will start at
12:30 pm on all Government of Bermuda virtual platforms and CITV. I encourage members in our com-munity to submit questions to the e- mail address
askus@gov.bm
before discussion dates to add to
what I believe will be a wholesome discussion.
Mr. Acting President, the panellists who will
be participating in the panel discussions include rep-resentatives from numerous government departments and community organisations, namely, the Depar tment of Child and Family Services, Child Develop-ment Programme, Department of Health, Bermuda Police Service, the Family Centre, the Coalition for the Protection of Children; ParentGuide LLC, Tele Co nnect, PsyNeu Wellness, Centre Against Abuse, Wo men’s Resource Centre, Ocean Rock Wellness, and
Beyond Therapy.
Mr. Acting President, I encourage parents,
guardians, grandparents and other members of our community who are part of a family support village to
watch these panel discussions. Many times parents
and guardians ( and caregivers) feel helpless trying to
cope with their children and think issues their child or family is experiencing are in isolation; but this is not
true. You are not alone. Many parents/guardians and families , regardless of factors such as race, sex, ed ucational background, religious denomination and f inancial status , have similar experiences when raising
a child. These similar experiences could be, for ex-ample, not being able to cope at times, finding home and work -life balance, unaware of the support r eBermuda Senate sources within the community, and not being able to
communicate with your child.
Mr. Acting President, I would like to take this
opportunity to remind parents/guardians that we are
not perfect, and we all will make mistakes when parenting a child. We must remember not to be hard on
ourselves and also not to be judgmental of others.
Parenting is definitely not easy. However, I believe
this initiative will provide awareness of information,
support and services th at are readily available in the
community that can assist with coping and enhancing
positive parenting skills.
Mr. Acting President, as stated earlier, the
Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series i ncludes a Parenting Expo. This expo will have ve ndor
participants who represent various industry professionals from government departments/agencies and
community organisations. These participants provide
community programmes, child development support
and services, mental health support and services,
parent support, education support and extracurricular activities. The Parenting Expo will be held on Thur sday, November 10, 2022, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
on the Front Lawn of City Hall in Hamilton. Please
save the date and look out for further information t hat
will be announced in the media and on social media
platforms.
Mr. Acting President, residents should be r eceiving a Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series mailer sometime soon. This mailer includes the
panel discussion schedule and monthly parenting tips,
which I believe will be help ful in educating primary
caregivers. The parenting tips can provide ways for
not just the primary caregiver to enhance themselves
and other caregivers, but also suggests ways to engage and encourage your child. I recommend you try
to use these tips in your daily routine.
Mr. Acting President, the Government r emains committed to our parents, children and families
and recognises that there are gaps in the level of
awareness [for some primary caregivers ]. Many of the
caregivers in our community can truly benefit from
sessions to assist with coping strategies, parenting skills and attaining community support. I believe Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series will help
to close some of the existing gaps by educating and providing resources to primary caregivers. It is hoped
this would allow us to start healing the foundation of
our families —the primary caregivers. Once our fam ilies experience healing, then together we can work collectively to heal our nation.
In closing, the quote by Art Solomon, A nishinaabe Elder, comes to mind: “T o heal a nation we
must first heal the individuals, the families and the communities. ” I will repeat that: “T o heal a nation we
must first heal the individuals, the families and the
communities. ”
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY
THE ACTING PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The Acting President: I would now like to recognise
the presence of Ms. Marva O’Brien, the Permanent
Secretary for the Ministry of Social Development and
Seniors.
Ms. O’Brien, welcome.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

The Acting President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2022

BERMUDA COLLEGE AMENDMENT ACT 2022

The Acting President: Senator s, the following public
Bills have been forwarded from the Honourable House
of Assembly and are hereby given their first readings
in the Senate: The Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2022; and the Bermuda College Amendment Act
2022.
Note that the second reading of these Bills is
expected to be taken up later today under Orders of
the Day.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The Acting President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD
The Acting President: Questions and question per iod from a previous session.
The first questions relate to questions that
were asked by Senator Tucker to Senator Simmons. I
will read each question and I will let Senator Simmons
respond to each one.

QUESTION 1: OVERSEAS
PSYCHO -EDUCATIONAL CARE FACILITIES

The Acting President: The first question that was
asked was, Would the Junior Minister please inform
the Senate as to the total number of children and
youth who were sent to overseas psycho- educational
care facilities over each of the fiscal years ended
2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, and the total overall cost
to government in each of those fiscal years for the
overseas psycho- educational care programme?
So, Senator Simmons?
622 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
It should be noted that the psycho- educational
care budget is inclusive of overseas therapeutic services and education, medical service inclusive of ps ychiatric services, travelling including the course of
medical and ambulatory services and medication, an d
the client’s basic needs such as clothing outings.
For the fiscal year 2019, which is between
April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, there were 10 cl ients sent overseas for psycho- educational care facil ities. During the same period of time, government’s overall cost was $2,028,701.90.
For the fiscal year 2020, from April 1, 2019, to
March 31, 2020, two clients were sent to overseas
facilities. A total of $2,346,466.56 was the psycho- ed
budget.
From April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, that
makes up the fiscal year 2021, one client was sent
overseas to an overseas facility. During the same period of time, the total cost to the government for the psycho- educational programme was $866,687.12.
Seven clients were sent to overseas facilities
during the year 2022, which started April 1, 2021, to
March 31, 2022. A total of $636,922.30 was the total
cost incurred by the government for the psycho- ed
programme as stated in the Budget Book.
It should also be noted that this information is
in the budget briefs that were presented previously. More information would breach confidentiality, and it is
also of a very sensitive nature. As many are aware,
those involved in psycho- educational care pr ogrammes require specialist treatment, which is not
available on Island. These do llar-value amounts represent the level of care required in this programme.
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Senator Tucker, do you have any supplementary questions to ask of Senator Simmons?

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: It is a bit of a mouthful.
[Laughter]

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you. I appreciate the Ju nior Minister’s responses and certainly thank her.
I would like to know if she is able to give a
breakdown of the specific amounts that were paid out
to each facility for those years. Thank you, sir.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Unfortunately, I cannot give
a specific breakdown for specific facilities because it is
confidential, to protect our clients.
The Acting President: Senator Tucker.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I understand what the Junior Minister is sa ying in terms of confidentiality. However, I am not asking the Junior Minister to tell me the actual facility
name. If she is able to give me the amounts specific to
those fiscal periods, that would be helpful. Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons, would you like fur ther
time? We can move on to other questions , if you
would prefer, to allow you time to gather that information which Senator Tucker just asked for.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Again, we cannot specifically answer questions that would breach confidentiality.
Just like our personal records are private to us, so are
these young people’s. So we cannot divulge.

The Acting President: Senator Tucker, any further
supplementary questions?
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Mr. Acting President.
Can the Junior Minister then let us know how
much was spent on travel for families to go and visit
their children in those facilities over those fiscal per iods? Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: I would try to get that information. I do not have the dollar amount in front of me.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.

QUESTION 2: OVERSEAS
PSYCHO -EDUCATIONAL CARE FACILITIES

The Acting President: So we can move on to the
second question, which was, Would the Junior Mini ster please inform the Senate as to the total number of
visits that have been made by the Director and staff of the Department of Child and Family Services [DCFS]
to conduct welfare checks on the Bermuda children
and youth who were sent to overseas psycho-educational care facilities over each of the fiscal years
2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022?
Senator Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you.
The total number of face- to-face welfare
checks completed by the Department of Child and


Bermuda Senate Family Services on Bermuda clients sent overseas for
psycho- educational care facilities for the fiscal years
2019 to 2022 are as follows:
• Fiscal year 2019 ( which start s April 1, 2018, to
March 31, 2019) there were 38 welfare
checks were conducted.
• In the fiscal year 2020 (which is from April 1,
2019, to March 31, 2020) there were 45 we lfare checks completed.
• From April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021 (which
is known as the f iscal year 2021), two welfare
checks were conducted.
• In the fiscal year 2022 ( from April 1, 2021, to
March 31, 2022) there were 13 welfare
checks completed.
It is also important to note that [during] 2020
and 2021 we were in a lockdown period with restric ted
travel. And even though we noted “face- to-face” visits,
welfare checks additionally were done through tel ephone and virtual communications.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Senator Tucker, any supplementary questions?

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Mr. Acting President.
I appreciate that there was a period that the
Junior Minister just mentioned [when] there were
some virtual and telephone welfare checks.
I would like to know if the Junior Minister
could inform the Senate as to how many in- person
face- to-face visits the Director of Child and Family
Services made to the psycho- educational facilities
during the requested fiscal periods.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons : Mr. Acting President, the
question that Senator Tucker just asked and the question about . . . the prior question she asked, if we
could get that deferred and sent to us in writing so that
we have the specific numbers . . . as you can apprec iate, we do not have those numbers in front of us.

The Acting President: All right. Thank you, Senator
Simmons.
Senator Tucker, any supplementary question?
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Mr. Acting President.
I would like to know if the Junior Minister
could inform the Senate as to whether any complaints
related to mistreatment by facility staff were raised by the children living in the facilities, or their guardians or
any members of their families , either before, during, or
after welfare checks. And, Mr. Acting President, I do recognise that
there is confidentiality around any response to this. Again, I am asking for whether there were complaints.
And in my thinking, that is a yes -or-no answer.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Over to you, Senator Simmons.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: We will get back to you with
that answer.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
We will move on to question . . . I think, Senator Smith, we determined that it would only be the
Senator who asked the initial question who is able to
ask supplementary questions today. So if we can
move on to question 3.

QUESTION 3: OVERSEAS
PSYCHO -EDUCATIONAL CARE FACILITIES

The Acting President: Would the Junior Minister
please inform the Senate as to the total number of
children and youth who completed their overseas ps ycho-educational care and returned to Bermuda to undertake reunification plans, over each of the calendar
years from 2015 to 2020?
Senator Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Acting Pre sident.
The total number of clients who completed the
overseas psycho- educational care and returned to
Bermuda to undertake reunification plans during each
calendar year between 2015 and 2020, inclusive, are
as follows:
• Eleven clients in 2015;
• Five clients in 2016;
• Eight clients in 2017;
• Seven clients in 2018;
• Eight clients in 2019; and
• Five clients in 2020.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Senator Tucker, any supplementary questions
for the Senator?

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Mr. Acting President.
Would the Junior Minister please inform the
Senate as to how many children and youth who had reunification plans during the specified period have
returned to live with their families?
Thank you, Mr. Acting Preside nt.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons.
624 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate [Pause]
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you.
The reunification to families and foster fam ilies in 2015 was eleven clients; in 2016 it was five cl ients; in 2017 it was eight clients; in 2018 it was six
clients; in 2019 it was six clients; and in 2020 it was
five clients.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Senator Tucker, do you have a supplementary
question?
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Mr. Acting President.
I would like to know if the Junior Minister
could inform the Senate as to what services DCFS
provided to the children and youth who did not suc-cessfully complete the reunification programme during the specified period.
The Acting President: Senator Simmons.
Sen. Lindsa y Simmons: I would undertake to get
back to you on that question.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Senator Tucker, thank you.
I think you have one more, if you care to ask
it.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, please. Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
If I have written this down correctly, I believe
in 2018 and 2019 there were a couple of children, based on the Junior Minister’s responses, who com-pleted the reunification plans, right, who have not r eturned to their families. Can the Junior Minister tell us what happens to those children who return from over-seas facilities and have not completed the reunific ation plans? Thank you.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: So in 2015, two; 2016 it was
zero; 2017 it was zero; 2018 it was one; 2019 it was two; and 2020 was zero. I cannot go into the specifics
obviously because it is confidential to each individual’s
case.
The Acting President: Senator Tucker.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting Pre sident.
I do not have another question, but I would
like to make a comment if that is okay. I am a bit con-cerned at the fact that we have children coming back from overseas facilities on taxpayer money, and we do not have information about what happens to these children after they return. Again, I am not asking for
names. I am not asking for any specific details, just
generally how the department addresses and handles the children when they return. What happens to them? Do they end up on the streets? Do they end up in prison? Do they end up going to foster care? What happens?
I am a bit frustrated as I am concerned about
what is happening to these children. And the public, who is funding this, does not know what is becoming of them. Thank you. That is my comment.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
The Acting President: Senator Tucker, thank you.
Senator Simmons .
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President. First of all, I would like to say that the Depar tment of Child and Family Services works hard to keep
our children off of the streets. They put plans into
place. But to specifically talk about two specific chi ldren, or one child here or one child there, could ident ify them. So, obviously when they come back, like we said, there are plans for reunification. They are not
just brought back to Bermuda and left on the street.
I have worked as a foster parent personally ,
and have worked with the department since I was 24
[years old]. And they go over and beyond to make sure that these children have a plan. We have meet-ings up to a year or so before children even are 18
[years old] to see what the plan is like. Most children
who are in these foster families stay with their foster families. So if they are not staying with their foster families, plans are made to make sure that these children have options.
We cannot force anybody once they are 18
[years old], but we do [undertake] what we can to
make sure that these children have the best life and ways to move forward. So I want to commend the d epartment and the Minister and the director and the PS for continuing to put our children first , and making
sure that when they come back from these facilities they have plans in place to either go back to their fos-ter families or go back to their families.
Thank you again.
And I am happy that you guys are working for
our children. Thank you, because you are unsung h eroes.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
I think this now concludes the questions that
were asked by Senator Tucker in a previous session.
So thank you for that.
We now move on to the questions that were
asked by Senator Ben Smith to Senator Rev. Dr. Em ilygail Dill.


Bermuda Senate QUESTION 1: BERMUDA FIRE AND RESCUE
SERVICE

The Acting President: And on behalf of Senator
Smith I will ask the question: Question 1. Would the
Junior Minister please inform the Senate as to the t otal number of firefighters in the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service who are required to fill posts in each
division —East, West, Central and Airport operations —
and what is the current number of Bermuda firefighters employed in each division?
Senator Dill, over to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
[To] Senator Smith, the information is as follows: For the Port Royal Fire Station, there are 26 r equired, and we currently have 21. For the Hamilton
Fire Station, there are 28 required, and we currently
have 22. For the Clearwater Fire Station, there are 34
required, including the ambulance service, and we currently have 21. For the Airport Fire Station, there
are 48 required, and we currently have 17.
With regard to the Airport Fire Station, we
have the number 48, but it is not certain yet exactly how much will be needed once we get the results from
the recent audit.

The Acti ng President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, [do you have] any supplementary questions for Senator Dill?

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
And first I would like to thank the members of the
Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service for what they co ntinue to do to represent Bermuda at the highest level. I
would like to thank the Junior Minister for answering
the questions today.
To start with, on that first question, as I was
quickly trying to write down the numbers that w ere
provided, obviously there seems to be a significant difference between what is required in each of the
divisions and what Bermuda actually has at the m oment. So my first question is, Can the Junior Minister
give us an indication of what impact the Berm uda Fire
Service is [confronted with] by having this significant
shortage of staffing? Is this an overtime issue? Is it a
mental health issue? Is it a health issue?
If the Junior Minister can give us an indication
of what impact this is having on the members of the Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service when the numbers are so significantly out of whack. Thank you.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill.

Thank you. Senator Smith, as you know, there has been
an increase to the number of firefighters with the arr ival of the 24 contract firefighters. However, this number will reduce to 39 by the 15
th of December as a few
of the contract workers have accepted full -time e mployment back in Canada. We can all c ertainly concur
with you that our current [Bermuda] Fire Service has
done a mammoth job in terms of, basically with the
austerity measures that were put in place a few years
back, which is what has found us in this position.
We certainly want to commend our team for
their ingenuity and their steadfastness in coming up
with an interim solution with the added increase of
demand for the firefighters since February of this year.
So they are working assiduously to address the issue. There are currently individuals who are being trained.
And it is our hope that we will be able to address the shortfall in the not -too-distant future.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, any other supplementary
questions for Senator Dill?

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting Pres ident.
So I guess because the specific question that
I just asked was not answered about what impact this
was having on the actual members of the [Bermuda]
Fire Service, my next supplementary is, If you have a
reduced number of members within each division,
does that mean that when the Fire Service responds
to a call they do not have the regulated number of
people who should be on a truck, as an example? Does that mean that they do not have the regulated
number of people in an ambulance, as an example?
What impact does that have on how our Fire Service
members are being able to perform their job, which is
to protect and save the members of our public?
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill.

Thank you, Senator
Smith.
Currently, our Fire Service have been using
overtime in order to be able to manage. And with r egard to [the question], has it created stress for them?
Yes, it has. But as I said previously, we ar e working
assiduously to be able to address that issue. We have
brought in extra staff from overseas in order to ensure
that there is not any extra added strain on our current service. And it is our intention to be able to remedy
the situation if not improve it in the not -too-distant f uture.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, you have one more suppl ementary question should you choose to ask it.
626 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
So in both of the responses by the Junior Mi nister, she referred specifically to airport operations.
The problem with the fact that we have put all of our
time and energy and effort in trying to deal with what has happened at airport operation, that seems to be
ignoring the fact that there was a significant shortfall in
the east, in the west and in central. So can the Junior
Minister tell us that, while we are trying our best to
deal with the situation that is happening at the airport,
there is a plan and a focus on how we are dealing with the other divisions that, for the citizens of Bermuda,
are equally as important?
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
Senator Smith, if I can be clear, all shifts have
been staffed adequately. As I explained earlier, our
staff have used overtime, and their rest and leave,
and they have worked rather assiduously.
I bring up the airport because in the numbers
that I gave to you earlier the largest number was at the airport, and I wanted to ensure that when you looked at that you did not for one minute believe that
that was impacting the services that are provided to
the rest of the Island.
As you can see in terms of required numbers,
with the exception of the Clearwater Fire Station, which also has the ambulance added into that num-ber, there was no number over five in terms of the
required to the current . And with regard to our staffing
we have ensured that each shift has been adequately staffed, and t he Ministry has been very creative in r esourcing the current staff. We currently have 11 local
recruits to be on- boarded soon.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY
THE ACTING PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Before you move on to the second question, I
just want to recognise the presence of Mr. Chris Far-row, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of N ational Security.
So, welcome, Mr. Farrow, this morning.

[Question Period, continuing]

QUESTION 2: BERMUDA FIRE AND RESCUE
SERVICE
The Acting President: Second question from the pr ior session asked by Senator Smith was, Would the Junior Minister please inform the Senate as to the
monthly remuneration and benefit package cost for
each of the posts filled by Canadian Fire Service personnel brought in for airport operations?
Senator Dill.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
To be clear, the Canadians are not filling
posts, but they have been retained under contract.
The benefits are as follows: A monthly fee in arrears of $5,850.30 per month, which is the lowest level of
compensation for firefighters here in Bermuda. They
have housing provided for them, which is approx imately $4,500 per month per person; they have two
days per month leave; their retur n flights and their
luggage allowance, which varies.
Just a little information. As I said previously,
they are not employees, but they are hired as consul tants to ensure that they do not become employees. They are paid a fee and not a salary. They do not enjoy the same benefits as local firefighters, who are full -
time employees. They are required to register locally for taxes and pay them. And they also may be liable
for taxes in their home country.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, any supplementary question?

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes, thank you, Mr. Acting Pres ident.
So my first supplementary, in looking at the
figures that were just provided by the Junior Minister
would be, can the Junior Minister could provide us
with the amount that a Bermuda Fire [and Rescue]
Service member, with the same certification to do the
same job would get paid, considering that regardless of whether they are a consultant or not the local Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service person is looking at
the fact that we are giving $4,500 [to the overseas
temporary firefighters] for housing when [Bermudians]
do not receive that level of benefit, which obviously
will cause a significant amount of angst by the people who have been serving this countr y all this time?
So if the Junior Minister can give us that di fference between the total per month that is being gi ven to the overseas consultant firefighter compared to
the same level of certified Bermuda firefighter so we
can have a clean comparison bet ween that muchbigger number and the smaller number that the Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service member currently is
seeing . . . the difference between the two.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Over to you, Senator Dill.



Bermuda Senate Sen. Rev. Dr. Emil ygail A. Dill: While I await that
number, what I will say, Senator Smith, is the housing
that is provided for these individuals is critical in terms
of . . . you know that we currently have a housing cr isis here on the Island of Bermuda, and it is extremel y
difficult to find short -term housing. And these individ uals . . . you know, this has been a very challenging
task for the Ministry in light of the fact that this was
something that we had not anticipated, given that pr eviously they had only required five firefighters per
shift. And in February after that audit, in order for us to remain open we had to very quickly source additional
firefighters in order to be able to meet this challenge.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, supp lementary question?

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. So, Mr. Acting President, I am
still waiting for the answer to the question, correct? So my supplementary is not in relation to that.
Mr. Acting President, in the answer that the
Junior Minister just gave, she spoke specifically about
the audit process that happened in February of 2022.
So I am going to ask a question specific to the r esponse that I received.
Was the Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service,
or the Government of Bermuda, or the airport told at any point prior to February when that audit happened
that there would be a requirement for a significant di fference in the number of firefighters that were needed
at the airport?
The reason for that question is that we are in
the emergency presently because all indi cations are
that we did not know anything until February. It would
be very important for us to know whether anybody in
Bermuda knew prior to February that there was a
possibility that this number would be significantly
higher, because if that is the case, and we did not
plan, this emergency is the fault of somebody who did not plan.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill, back to you.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
In response to your questi on regarding what
local firefighters would be making, a local firefighter
would make just over $70,000 per annum. And added
to that would be the other benefits that they receive,
which include . . . okay. The benefits that local fir efighters receive from . . . not only do they benefit from
having full -time employment, but they have annual
leave, sick leave, maternity or paternity leave, parental leave, bereavement leave, long- service leave, time
in lieu, special personal leave, public holidays, pension benefits, retirement benefits, medical benefits, dental benefits, ophthalmic benefits and a telephone
allowance.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.

QUESTION 3: BERMUDA FIRE AND RESCUE
SERVICE

The Acting President: I think we will move on to the
third question, which is, Would the Junior Minister
please inform the Senate as to the number of recruits
who have completed training certification and were
hired by the Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service, and
what division t hey were assigned to for each of the
last five recruit classes?
Senator Dill, over to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
[To] Senator Smith, since 2011 to date, the
Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service has conducted
five recruit foundational courses with 49 fire officers.
However, as of the present date, 40 remain.
They were assigned to their respective div isions as follows: In the year 2011 there were 12 fire
officers who were trained and hired; six were assi gned
to the structural division and six to the airport oper ation. In 2015 there were seven. They were all assigned to the Airport Operation Division. In 2017 there were five, who were assigned to the Structural Div ision. In 2018 there were 13, who were ass igned to the
Structural Division. And in 2020 there were 12, who were also assigned to the Structural Division.
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, any supplementary questions?
628 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate SUPPLEMENTARIES

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes, thank you, Mr. Acting Pres ident. Just a quick comment on the response that I received prior to this. I believe that most people in
Bermuda would really appreciate having a housing
allowance of $4,500 with the present state of our
economy.
So moving on to the supplementary on this
last question, from 2011 to present, 49 officers . . . if
you average that out, it is just about five per year.
Considering the numbers that we have that are def icient in each of the divisions, and the specific area
that we are deficient in at the airport operation, can
the Junior Minister tell us how many people are presently in the recruit class who are working toward becoming Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service officers?
I believe it is March 2023 when that will happen. The number of people who take that course does
not actually indicate how many of them will actually
pass, because it is my understanding that we have issues with getting the required number of people
passed in order to become Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Servic e members.
So if the Junior Minister can let us know how
many people are in the class so that we have an ind ication of how long it is going to take us to reduce the numbers, not just at the airport operation, but at every
division.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill, over to you. Thank you.

[Pause]

The Acting President: Senator Dill.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
[To] Senator Smith, I shared earlier that we
had 11 individuals who are curr ently on schedule to
be on- boarded. However, we all understand that we
can only recruit to posts that are approved and have
had budgets approved by the legislature. There are
currently 33 vacant and unfunded posts, which would
require that additional posts be approved before we
can actually go out and get individuals to fill them. And
we all understand the austerity measures that were
applied. Certainly we are seeing the result of that
years down the line.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, any further supplementary
questions?
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
So I guess the question that I want to ask now
is, Can the Junior Minister tell us how many recruit
camps will be required if the average is 11 in order for us to fulfil the posts that are required for the Bermuda
Fire [and Rescue] Service to be at their required number? Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill.

[Pause]

The Acting President: Senator Dill.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
[To] Senator Smith, once we have confirmed
the numbers that are required for the airport, we will
review the needs of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service as a whole and the service numbers that will be required. We cannot answer right now as to how
many recruit camps will be needed, but we can assure
you that we will ensure that our core mission is accomplished.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Senator Smith, further?
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
My final supplementary question will be, Can
the Junior Minister indicate the approximate cost of
each recruit camp so that as we look forward to getting to the number, we will see what the cost of that is
going to be to the c ountry?
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Dill.

[Pause]

[To] Senator Smith,
we would have t o get back to you on that, as there are
many variables that will have to be taken into consi deration.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
So I think that concludes the three questions
that were posed by Senator Smith in a previous session, Senator Dill.
So we move on to the third oral questions to
Parliament which were made by Senator De Couto to
Senator Darrell in a previous session.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, if I may.
Before you move on to those questions, I have r eceived word from the Permanent Secretary for the
Cabinet Office, as well as the Postmaster General,


Bermuda Senate that the particular topic that Senator De Couto has
posed, or the questions for, is actually before the
courts as we speak. So therefore, I believe it is sub judice and we are unable to discuss it in this session.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
So that is in respect to all thr ee questions?

Sen. Owen Darrell: Yes, sir.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Yes, Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.
I appreciate that the overall topic, there is a
court case. But I believe t he questions are quite fact ual in nature relating to facts and figures, not opinions
or judgments and so forth.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, I have also
been informed by Chambers that, due to the nature of
these questions, we are unable to touch them in this
session.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator.
I will just confer one second with Mr. Somner.

[Pause ]

The Acting President: Okay. So we will accept that
the Government is unable at this point in time to answer the three questions.
We will move on to the questions on the
Statements that Senator Simmons spoke to earlier on
the Expression of Interest —Gender Affairs Council
Membership and Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Par-enting Series. So, any Senator has an opportunity
now to express a question or opinion on the first one,
the Expression of Interest —Gender Affairs Council
Membership.
Does any Senator wish to comment on the
first Statement?
Senator Tucker.

QUESTION 1: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST —
GENDER AFFAIRS COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
We are speaking about the Gender Affairs
Council. I do believe that it is a good thing, and I thank
the Junior Minister for bringing the Statement to the
Senate Chamber. I do think that helping to provide
equality as it relates to gender inequality in Bermuda is a long -overdue endeavour. And so I think that the
plan to create the Gender Affairs Council is a good thing. The question that I do have for the Junior Mi nister is, Can she give an idea of the breakdown of the anticipated gender makeup of the council appointments? I think that would be important. And if you do
not mind, I do have two questions if I can just join them together?

The Acting President: Yes, please do.

QUESTION 2: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST —
GENDER AFFAIRS COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you. And then the second
question is whether the council members, any of the
council members, will receive any type of stipend or if
it is a volunteer opportunity.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons, over to you.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Okay. Just give me one
second.

The Acting President: Sure.

[Pause]

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: There is a minimum of seven—a chair, a deputy and anyone i nterested. No st ipend at this time; it is under consideration.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Senator Tucker.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I just want, I guess, a point of clarification.
When I was asking about the makeup of the council, I
was really speaking more to if there is an idea about
the gender makeup of the council.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: We cannot speak to that
right now. We have asked people to fill in. But of
course, we are going to try to make it males and f emales. We have to wait for the interest to come in. But
it will have males and females in the council.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Would any other Senator care to ask a question regarding the Expression of Interest —Gender
Affairs Council Membership?
Senator De Couto.

630 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate QUESTION 1: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST —
GENDER AFFAIRS COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Thank you, Mr. Acting
President. Thank you, Senator Simmons, for sharing this with us. Like all of my colleagues, I certainly su pport anything that moves us toward a fairer society.
So thank you for bringing this toward the Senate’s
attention.
My questio n is, What powers, if any, would
this council have? Or is it strictly advisory?

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Simmons.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: As in its name, it is an adv isory council.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Are there any further questions?
Senator De Couto.

QUESTION 2: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST —
GENDER AFFAIRS COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Thank you for that.
In the Statement, the Government’s commi tment to issues on gender balance and employment
and opportunity and equity has been referred to. I r ecall in another place there was an Equality Bill that the
Government was not in support of. So I am trying to
understand how this council’s aims are different, in terms of general aims and that Equality Bill, which the
Government did not support, that would have also
assisted us towards. Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: I will be right with you.
I would advise that you please share your
Equality Bill with the council when it is formed. And
then we will be able to give an answer to that.
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Would any other Senators wish to ask a question on Expression of Interes t—Gender Affairs Council
Membership?
Hearing none, we will move on to the second
Statement that was delivered by Senator Simmons, Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting Series .
Would any Senator wish to ask a question?
Senator Tucker.
QUESTION 1: NURTURING OUR NATION:
IMPERFECT PARENTING SERIES

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Again, I think that this is a great initiative. Certainly honouring our parents with as much information and education as it relates to raising children is a
hugely important endeavour. So again, I commend the
Junior Minister for bringing this Statement to the Senate Chamber.
The only question that I do have is, Is there
any thought or consideration for having mini -sessions
that were similar to what was dis cussed and certainly
what appeared on CITV, the Minister’s presentation?
Is there any scope for also providing that level of ed ucation for parents in PTA meetings? So in a very structured way, because I am just wondering whether it would be more effective or as effective to actually
take the presentations to the parents versus solely
leaving it to the parents to come and get the information.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator Simmons.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you.
The good thing about its being on Facebook
and other government websites [is that] they are easy
to access. Any principal, any guidance counsellor,
anybody who wants to access it can view it at any
time. So they could take the informat ion and get the
information and show [that] to their parents or teac hers. So I thank the Minister for making sure that the panel discussions are accessible to everyone at any
time, not just during the live show.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Any further questions?
Senator Tucker.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I just want to put a comment to the Junior Mi nister. The reason why I posed the question is because
I do not want to assume that every parent has access
to the Internet and that every parent has cable. So I
am just wondering . . . again, that is why I was wondering whether we would be taking this information to
the parents via a medium like the PTA.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Understood. Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to ask a question on Nurturing Our Nation: Imperfect Parenting S eries?


Bermuda Senate Hearing none, we can now move on.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

The Acting Pr esident: The first Order of the Day is
the second reading of the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022, in the name of Senator Arianna
Hodgson, the Junior Minister of Finance.
So, Senator Hodgson, over to you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Mr. Acting President, I move that the Bill ent itled the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022
be now read a second time.

The Clerk: Are we going to move Standing Order 25
first?

The Acting President: Standing Order 25?
The Clerk: Move that the provisions of that [Standing
Order] be granted.

[Pause]

The Clerk: Just move that the provisions of Standing
Order 25 be granted.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Mr. Acting President, I move
that the provisions of Standing Order 25 be granted in
respect of this Bill.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator.
Are there any objections to that motion?
No objections.
Thank you.

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022 to be read a seco nd
time on the same day as its first reading.]
The Acting President: Back to you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022 be now read a second
time.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator.
Any objections to that?
Hearing none, [continue].
BILL

SECOND READING

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Senators are requested now to give cons ideration to the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022 .
This Bill proposes to amend the Customs Tariff Act 1970 (or the principal Act) with t he introduction
of duty relief on fuels. The measures in the Bill affect
the Fifth Schedule to the principal Act.
Mr. Acting President, in the 2022/23 Budget
Statement, this Government promised relief now and
more relief to come. And in keeping with that promise,
a relief package was introduced to seek to provide
working families direct support during this period of
global inflation, which included protection to the peo-ple of Bermuda from rising fuel prices.
Mr. Acting President, in March 2022, as one
of the Premier’s early actions upon resuming the role of Minister of Finance, he rejected the recommendation to increase the cost of gasoline and diesel, and, in
working with the fuel importers, has kept the prices at
the pump frozen at the February 2022 rates. Without
this action, the average working family would be pa ying $23 more this past summer to fill up their cars that
they use to transport their family to school, camp activities and work. Without this action, taxi and minibus
operators would have been paying $35 more each
time they fill up their tanks to transport tourists around our Island during this last stronger -than- expected tourism season.
We all know that this move has generated
some controversy, as any time you take urgent action
there are bound to be some challenges in implemen-tation. But it was important that we acted quickly to
protect our residents, businesses and our transport ation providers. This quick action ensured that no one
on this Island has paid more at the pump than they did in February to refill their vehicles despite the signif icant fuel price increases that other countries around the world are experiencing.
Just as we acted quickly when the pandemic
was ravaging the world, this Government once again
acted quickly at the onset of the war in Ukraine. The
introduction of a new end- use duty relief in the Fifth
Schedule to the principal Act will facilitate the ongoing freeze in fuel prices at the pump, while seeking to ensure continued safety of delivery and continuity of
supply. This extension will create an effective mechanism which can allow for relief to be given to families,
taxi operators, fishermen, tour operators and local businesses. The amount of relief under this initiative
for the fiscal year 2022/23 is estimated to be $6.1 mi llion.
632 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Mr. Acting President, the new end- use duty
relief introduced by the Bill will grant the Minister of
Finance the ability to vary the rate of duty for gasoline,
kerosene and diesel fuels that are being removed
from a bonded warehouse for use in Bermuda. It pr ovides a mechanism to positively assist residents in a
prudent and considered way.
In February, when the Premier addressed the
Honourable House of Assembly and pledged to this country that this Government would provide relief now
and relief later, there were some who doubted that the Government would keep that pledge. However, Mr.
Acting President, this Government is committed to
doing whatever we can to reduce the burden that
working Bermudians are facing every day.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Arianna
Hodgson.
Are there any questions that any Senator
would like to ask, to speak on the Bill?
Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.
And I want to start by saying that myself and
my colleagues in the OBA . . . really, it is important
that people recognise that we understand what is g oing on out there in the world of people who are struggling with their grocery bills, their fuel bills, their rent.
So the direction that this Bill goes is the right direction.
Like so many things that are going on with
this current Government, though, it is a bit of a Band -
Aid over a long- term structural problem. And I wish
that the Government would truly ackno wledge that it is
going to be tough for people for a long time due to things out of our control, instead of seeking a pat on
the back for these Band- Aids. And it would be nice to
see a more cohesive, coherent long- term approach to
assisting people in this country economically.
Now, I say that because I want to say that the
direction of this Bill we like. But overall, we have a lot of questions. I notice that the Bill was retroactive, Mr. Acting President. So, I am curious how that retroactive
duty break, w hich I presume will somehow be a
cheque that goes back to the service station owners,
how that is going to get reflected in prices for the fuel
that all of us have already paid in the last several
months.
[There are] a lot of questions as to what the
new d uty break would be. How long will that be a pplied for? What criteria would the Government or the
Ministry use to assess whether or not the duty break
should be supplied and when to stop the duty break?
For example, will we have this duty break in five
years? Should people count on it in the long term?
And we did hear a little bit how much it would cost the
government. But of course, without knowing how long
or under what criteria the Government would plan to apply this duty break, in fact it is quite diffic ult to est imate the long- term cost of this.
You know, I did a little research. And I am just
going to refer to some comments from the economist Craig Simmons, who I know is well respected here on the Island. It is something I actually agree with. For
the dollars spent by the Government to provide this
relief for people, Mr. Acting President —I know that the
Senator was quite keen to highlight the relief that the
Government is providing —are we targeting that relief
to the people who most need it? So, for exam ple, if
you have two well -off people, households with two
jobs, they are going to feel the fuel bill. Let us say they
have got good white- collar jobs. They worked all
through the pandemic because they worked from
home. Yes, they would like a relief; and that is fair
enough.
But there were those for whom dollars of relief
are a matter of, Am I buying my medicine this week?
Am I buying my groceries? Am I paying my rent? Or,
Can I afford child care? And we did hear from a Senator previously today about the aus terity situation that
the Government is in (and those are her words). And I
think it would be important to note that, when you are
in such an environment, you have to think quite car efully about how you target your funds to get the most
impact. And that is a key point I would like to make.
So, while we are thinking about energy costs
and this Fuels Bill, I mean I know we have talked about BELCO in the past. And in terms of providing
relief to people, I do not understand why the Gover nment is not, for exampl e, working with other energy
providers, like streamlining the ability for people to
deploy solar panels. I understand that industry has, for
example, put forward suggestions on how to allow
people who have less money to provide a cost -
effective way to save on their energy costs. So those
are the kinds of things I am talking about when I say,
How could things be more targeted?
Speaking on relief and taxes, which is what
we are talking about today, we have yet to hear from the Tax Reform Commission. Because I feel like this
kind of topic as to which taxes should be waived and
how they should be waived certainly would be in the
remit of that commission. And I understand . . . I think
I heard that the start -up or the work of that commi ssion is pending, waiting o n this issue of this global
minimum tax that is out there.
But we have just been through this hurricane.
And I think I can apply a little folksy wisdom here. Just because you are not sure which side of the Island the storm is passing by on does not mean we should wait
to start to board up the windows. So I would urge this
Government to get that Tax Reform Commission in
place and use some high- level strategic thinking to
think about how taxes are affecting everybody across this country and how we can adjust them so that those who most need relief can get that relief.


Bermuda Senate And I am going to leave you with one last
folksy analogy, if you will allow me, Mr. Acting Pres ident. You know, if someone is drowning you throw
them a life ring. But you know what is a better th ing?
Make sure they do not fall overboard, and make sure
they know how to swim. That is what I am looking for
from this Government. How can they focus on those
most in need to help them before there are problems?
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator wish to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, Senator Hodgson, over to you
to move this Bill.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson : Mr. Acting President, I am
just hoping to give a bit more information to provide answers to Senat or De Couto’s questions.
[Pause]

ANNOUNCEMENT BY
THE ACTING PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The Acting President: While we await the answers, I
can just mention the presence of the Honourable Dia llo Rabain, JP, MP, Minister of Education, who is here.
Minister, welcome. Nice to have you here this
morning.

[Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022, second
reading debate, continuing]
[Pause]
The Acting President: For the listening audience, we
are just awaiting a response to a question that has
been posed to the Senator.

[Pause]

The Acting President: Senator Hodgson, whenever
you are ready.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson : Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Regarding the new duty rate, it will actually be
set at zero in the first instance, and then it can be adjusted going forward. The rate will of course vary depending on the amount of the rebate.
The duty break is only in place to provide a
relief to the fuel companies themselves. As we all know, the fuel companies are, for all intents and purposes, losing money by not being able to sell fuel at
the rate that has been calculated. The rebate will al-low them to recoup the money that they would have lost because of the Government’s actions to keep the
rates lower.
The duty break of course has to be retroactiv e
because we need to be able to calculate the amount of rebate that will be needed to be provided to the fuel
companies themselves.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Any follow -up questions?
Senator De Couto.

I just want to clarify my
understanding. Would it be safe to say, then, that the
individual who buys fuel at the pump should not expect to see that price change right now? And I was
hoping for some estimate of the process by which they might consider how l ong to extend this, Mr. Ac ting President.
Thank you.

The Acting President: Senator De Couto, thank you.
Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson : I am not quite sure I am
clear on Senator De Couto’s question. Perhaps he
can repeat it?

Thank you.
I guess it was a two- part question. The first
part is I wanted to clarify . . . I am putting together
parts of your prior answer, Senator. I believe the i mplications of your answer were that an individual who
buys fuel at the pump, at t he service station down at
East Broadway for example, should not expect to see
that price change as a result of this amendment.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Hodgson.

[Pause]

The Acting President: Senator Hodgson.
Sen. Ari anna Hodgson : Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Essentially, Bermudian residents will not see
the increase because we will continue to absorb those
increased costs until the costs go down globally. It is
also worth noting that fuel rate oversight will eventua lly be transferred to the Regulatory Authority very soon.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Any further questions from any Senator?
Senator De Couto, last question.

Yes. Thank you, Mr.
Acting President.
634 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate I appreciate the Senator’s comments on the
Government’s plans, which I believe are not approved
legislation yet, to put fuels into a regulatory environment. I did not realise that those plans would also i nclude the setting of the duty rate. So my specific qu estion is, What would the criteria be that the Gover nment would use to revert to the regular rate of duty on
fuels and to maintain this duty break? Would there be
a way that we could project things that we would observe in the outside world and say, Oh, ri ght. I could
see that the Government will probably put the duty
back up now because of A -B-C, as an example?
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Hodgson.

[Pause]
The Acting President: Senator H odgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson : Sorry, Mr. Acting President. I
was actually just checking the Royal Gazette to make
sure I was correct. The Deputy Leader actually spoke of this transfer in the session on Friday. So it is not
something that has just come up today.
The actual rate of duty is not changing. The
duty change, the change in the rate of duty is only relevant as we look at the rebates for the fuel companies, if that makes sense. Yes, I think that does satisfy
your questions.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Senator Smith.

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting Pres ident.
I think the question that we are asking is, So
what is the line that the fuel cost has to go to? Like
can we have a number that says, When it goes to this number, the rebate will no longer be needed? And
then we will go back to the way business normally
happens. Because really what most people in Berm uda are looking at is, they think the cost of fuel, even presently with the freeze, is high. So they were proba-bly thinking, as I believe my colleague was alluding to,
that this would lead to a lower amount paid at the
pump. But obviously, with what is happening internationally we all know that the prices of fuel have conti nued to fluctuate mostly up because of conflicts.
So what is the number that we have to reach
for the rebate to stop? Because the truth is this rebate
is really . . . because up until this point, the burden of
this freeze has been on the importer of fuel. This rea lly is not about everybody i n Bermuda; this is about
giving the money back to the importer. So in order for
us to get back to the normal way that fuel is dealt with
in Bermuda, what is that figure? Then on a go- forward basis, is there something that is going to be impl emented that wi ll lead to lower fuel rates in Bermuda?
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson : Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I guess the short answer would be that the
rebate will no longer be needed once t he price goes
below the February levels. And I just want to make it
clear that this is not about giving money back to the
importers. Our residents have seen the benefits of this
price freeze. I know I have.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Are there any further questions before we ask
the Senator to move this Bill?
Hearing none, Senator, over to you.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson : Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022 be now read a second
time.

The Acting President: Is there any objection to a
second reading?
Hearing none, carry on, Senator Hodgson.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I move that Standing Order 26 be suspended
in respect of this Bill.

The Acting President: Is there any objection to that
motion?
Hearing none, [carry on].

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I move that the Bill entitl ed the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2022 be now read a third
time.

The Acting President: Is there any objection to the
third reading?
Hearing none.

BILL

THIRD READING



Bermuda Senate CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The Acting President: It has been moved that the Bill
entitled the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 2) Act
2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill has passed.

[Motion carried: The Customs Tariff Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2022 was read a third time and passed.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you.
The Acting President: Thank you.
So, we now move to the second reading of
the Bermuda College Amendment Act 2022, in the
name of Senator Owen Darrell, the Junior Minister for
Education.
Senator Darrell, over to you.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Mr. Acting President, I move that the Bill ent itled the Bermuda College Amendment Act 2022 be
now read a second time.

The Clerk: He needs to move that the provisions of
Standing Order 25 be granted.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you.
I move that the provisions of Standing Order
25 be granted.

The Acting President: Thank you, Sen ator.
Any objections to that?
No objections.
[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Bermuda Co llege Amendment Act 2022 to be read a seco nd time
on the same day as its first reading.]

The Acting President: Carry on, Senator.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Mr. Acting President, I now move that the Bill
entitled the Bermuda College Amendment Act 2022
be now read a second time.

The Acting President: Is there any objection to the
second reading?
Hearing none, it is over to y ou, Senator.
BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA COLLEGE AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, the Berm uda College Amendment Act 2022 proposes t o amend
the Bermuda College Act 1974 to allow the Bermuda
College (referred to as the college) to appoint its own
auditor. While these amendments refer to the audit
requirements of the college, the greater purpose is to
ensure that the Bermuda College has the autonomy
and control over its operations. This is necessary so
that the college can maintain its hard- earned accreditation status for the benefit of students, alumni, staff,
employers, and our economy and society.
Support for these amendments will hel p to
ensure that the Bermuda College continues to be on a sustainable path of continuous improvement, which is
one that we should continue to appreciate, support
and celebrate.
As our only tertiary -level institution, it is critical
that we continue to invest in the college and do what we can to protect this very special, unique and vital
organisation of training and higher learning. These amendments will help the college to maintain its accreditation status with the New England Commission
of Higher Education [NECHE], which is [quote] “one of
the seven regional higher education accrediting bodies in the United States.” NECHE is a voluntary, non -
profit, self -governing organisation whose primary purpose is the accreditation of educational institutions.
Mr. Acti ng President, my fellow Senators may
be aware that the college achieved NECHE accredit ation in 2010. Accreditation is an intensive and demanding process. Its successful completion demonstrates that the college meets NECHE’s Standards for
Accreditation and complies with its policies. Accredit ation by NECHE is invaluable. It gives confidence to the public, employers and other educational instit utions that the college is operating at a high level of
educational quality.
I agree with the college that accreditat ion st atus is a testament to its commitment and capacity to deliver a level of education to students that meets ri gorous North American recognised quality standards
that are subject to external review and verification.
Every five years, NECHE undertakes a review of its
standards. Effective January 1, 2021, it adopted a
new set of nine accreditation standards, including
Standard Three, titled Organization and Governance,
which requires an accreditation seeking body to have
(quote) “sufficient autonomy and control of its pr ograms and operations consistent with its mission to be
held directly accountable for meeting the Commi ssion’s Standards for Accreditation .”
As a condition of continued accreditation,
Standard Three requires the following:
636 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate a. The governing boar d is the legally const ituted body ultimately responsible for the
institution’s quality and integrity.
b. Where the institution’s ownership or affil iation structure or other circumstances or requirements may involve more than one
legally constituted body with authority, the
institution demonstrates that the gover ning body with direct responsibility for the institution’s quality and integrity has suff icient autonomy and control to be held accountable for meeting the Commission’s
Standards and to ensure that it can act in
the institution’s best interest and that the
legally constituted bodies with authority
have an aligned understanding of their r espective roles.
The college must comply with all accreditation
standards, including Standard Seven, Institutional R esources . This Standard states [the following]:
a. The institution has sufficient human, f inancial, information, physical, and techno-logical resources and capacity to support
its mission. Through periodic evaluation,
the institution demonstrates that its r esources are sufficient to sustain its educ ational programme’s quality and to support
institutional improvement now and in the
foreseeable future.
b. Through verifiable internal and external
evidence, the institution demonstrates its
financial capacity to graduate its entering
class. The institution ethically administers
its resources and assures effective sy stems of enterprise risk management, re gulatory compliance, internal controls and
contingency management.
In addition to ensuring the integrity of its f inances through prudent financial management and
organisation, as per Standard Seven, audits must be
completed in a timely fashion. I must reiterate that the
proposed amendment is needed because of the new
accreditation standards introduced in 2021. The col-lege m ust show that it has autonomy over its oper ations and must ensure that its audits are complete [and] on time every time.
Mr. Acting President , Senators may be aware
of the historical challenges that the college exper ienced regarding lack of timely complet ion of audits.
The issue began in 2003 when the [then] Auditor
General, the auditor, declined to audit the college’s accounts until a report was tabled in the House of A ssembly on the Coco Reef lease. This resulted in d elays and backlog of the college’s fi nance, audited accounts and affected the tabling of its annual report for a number of years.
The college worked hard in this extremely di fficult context, and I am pleased that in recent years it is now up to date and remains in good standing with its audit s. However, issues still remain. That means it
cannot fully meet NECHE’s revised accreditation standards.
Due to the difficult effects of the COVID -19 in
2020, the college needed more time to prepare for that year’s audit. However, this did not align with the
schedule of the auditor. The college was advised by
the Office of the Auditor General that this would cause
a delay of several months and that the audit would not
be completed until the spring of 2021. Understanding
the extensive responsibilities and priorities of the O ffice of the Auditor, the college requested the appointment of an external auditor so that the audit could be
completed within the usual timeframe. As per her di scretion, the Auditor General declined the request.
Based on this recent sit uation and historical
challenges concerning its audits, the following quickly
became apparent: The college does not have suff icient autonomy and control of its preparation of its
audits. Therefore, it cannot be directly accountable for
meeting NECHE’s stan dards as it relates to the timely
submission of its audited financial statements.
Without these amendments, Mr. Acting Pres ident, the college is at risk of falling behind in its audits. This would put its accreditation status at risk,
which would then hav e negative implications and poor
outcomes for Bermudians and our society. Therefore, it is critical that the college be granted the autonomy by these amendments to comply with its accreditation
standards, which includes sufficient independence to
ensure th at its audits are completed on time.
Mr. Acting President, in correspondence with
the college in April of this year, NECHE welcomed the
efforts to meet the required standards by developing a
long-term resolution to ensure timely financial audits.
The coll ege is required to submit an annual report on
finance and enrolment and demonstrate progress t oward relevant standards in this regard. The next report is due to NECHE on December 1 of this year and for
consideration in spring of 2023.
Prior to pursuing legislation, the college consulted with the auditor on its intention to seek an amendment to the legislation. The auditor was r esponsive to the invitation and indicated her disagree-ment with the proposal. In her reply, the auditor r eminded the college that th e office is the statutory aud itor for the college as per the [Bermuda] Constitution
Order 1968 and the Audit Act 1990, and that it is the
auditor’s responsibility to audit the accounts regar dless of the appointment of any additional auditors through legisl ative amendment.
After considering whether there were any vi able alternatives and after consulting with the auditor,
the Minister of Education determined these amendments to be the best possible way forward. They r espect the role of the auditor, as per the Audit Act
1990, and do not interfere with the rights and statutory obligations of the auditor. They simply empower the
college to appoint its own auditor so it has the autonBermuda Senate omy it requires to maintain its hard- earned accredit ation. The Bill provides a rol e for the auditor as it r equires the college to consult with the auditor before
the college selects an external auditor.
To ensure standards in the auditing process,
any auditor appointed by the college must be entitled to practise as a public accountant under the Chartered
Professional Accountants of Bermuda Act 1973. The
college will also ensure that a copy of the audited f inancial statements is provided to the auditor and will continue to work closely with the auditor in line with any and all requirement s.
Mr. Acting President, some Senators may still
wonder why these amendments are necessary. The answer can be found within the value that accredit ation of the college brings to Bermuda and our people.
Accreditation indicates that the college meets or exceeds minimum quality standards for educational inst itutions. It gives credibility to the programmes for st udents, employers and overseas education institutions. According to the college, most employers prefer to hire job applicants with degrees or certificat es from an
accredited institution and also look to see that em-ployees have been educated at an accredited instit ution when making the decisions about promotions
within the firm.
Accreditation status is often considered by
employers who provide tuition assi stance or rei mbursement for those employees who desire or need to
further their education. Accreditation helps to keep the
college on a path of continuous improvement and one
that is externally and independently assessed. A ccreditation is also a prerequisi te for establishing transfer agreements with overseas educational institutions, which allow for the college graduates to transfer into
the third of a four -year degree programme or into the
second year of a three- year degree programme. And
as Bermuda’s only higher education institution and as
a two- year institution, it is critical that students are
able to transfer their earned credits to overseas edu-cational institutions.
In the United States and Canada, most Bermudians are international students and are often subject to out -of-state [or] international fees. Transfer
agreements mean that Bermudians can receive the first two years of their education here at a local rate, which is more affordable than overseas colleges or
universities. The college affords students the opportunity to grow and develop as post -secondary lear ners. It also opens up possibilities for further education offered overseas. Success at the college also attracts
tuition assistance and scholarships to help support overseas study.
It is dif ficult to quantify the value for money
that accreditation provides to students of all ages and their families. We know that without it many students would not be able to afford to travel overseas to obtain
bachelor’s and master’s degrees or access fields of study not yet available or feasible to deliver in Berm uda, and we would be worse off for it.
Accreditation also affords the college the abi lity to offer several professional certifications, pr ogrammes and courses through its division of professional and career education, also known as PACE, for
students at all stages of life who wish to pursue var ious passions, career enhancement or career chan ges.
Mr. Acting President, it is important to put
these changes in place to protect and maintain the college’s ac creditation status. Our failure to do so t oday will create unnecessary risk to the college and the
benefits it affords to Bermudian students and emplo yers. The lack of accreditation would cause Bermuda to
lose critical personal and professional educational
growth opportunities and result in a huge hit to the
continuing development of Bermuda’s workforce and
our growth as citizens.
Mr. Acting President, understanding that an
audit is an arduous process, the college hopes that
duplication in the auditing of i ts accounts will be
avoided and that the Auditor General will choose to
work with the college and its external auditor to meet
the obligations of the Audit Act 1990.
As per the Bermuda Constitution Order 1968
and the Audit Act 1990 the auditor is not subject to the
direction or control of any other person or authority. Therefore, the college cannot and will not direct the
actions of the auditor in this regard. However, it is
clear that the Auditor General and the college share a
common interest of having hi gh-quality audits conducted to ensure that the college is accountable for its
finances.
Mr. Acting President, as a body accredited by
NECHE, the college shares esteemed company with
colleges and universities in the United States and i nternationally, all of whom meet the requirement of accreditation. Some of these institutions, Mr. Acting
President, if I may, are Amherst College, Berklee College of Music, Boston College, Clark University, Harvard University, Lesley University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Yale University, Brown University,
Johnson & Wales University, New England Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College.
Mr. Acting President, I welcome my Senate
colleagues’ support for these amendments and hope to ensure that the Bermuda College can maintain its
accreditation status for the benefit of current, past and
future students, staff and businesses of our economy and society.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Smith.


638 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
First I would like to take this opportunity to
thank all of the staff of the Bermuda College and the
Board of the Bermuda C ollege for all of the hard work
that they have done and continue to do to make sure
that we have this opportunity locally to have access to
tertiary education and courses that are invaluable to
our population.
I believe that the Junior Minister has hig hlighted specifically all of the important reasons why
this accreditation that has been provided through the hard work of the Bermuda College is critically i mportant. So, Mr. Acting President, the Junior Minister
mentioned that he was sure that the Senators m ight
have questions about why we need to have this specific amendment. I wanted to highlight the fact that we
as an Opposition are in agreement with the Gover nment on the point that the accreditation of the Berm uda College is significantly important and not som ething that we should do anything to mess up, because
of all of the reasons that the Junior Minister has really laid out well for us this morning.
But the questions that I have are because
when you make a decision like the one that is being
made today, the potential of creating a precedent has
to be highlighted. The reason I bring that up is because on Friday in another place, some of the speeches that were on this particular debate talked
about other ministries potentially wanting to follow this
same path even though in this particular debate it is
very specifically attached to the accreditation portion
of this. I want to make sure that we are looking at this
through the proper lens and understanding exactly how we got to today. So I have some questions that I
am hoping that the Junior Minister will be able to answer that will give us clarity on how we got to today.
The Junior Minister referred to the changes
that came into effect in January 2021 for the Organ ization and Governance. First of all, I also want to give
specific thanks to the Minister and his Permanent
Secretary for giving us the opportunity as the Oppos ition to go through this information and ask questions
prior to the debate. It is much appreciated because it gives us an opportunity to see exactly what the
presentation is and what they are trying to accomplish
and why they are trying to accomplish it.
But, Mr. Acting President, within t he meeting
that we had with the Minister, the specific words were
that the Auditor General vehemently disagreed with
this change. Those are the words we were told. For
that reason, I think that it is important that we take a
pause to find out exactly how w e got here.
So this change to [the requirements] necessary for the accreditation happened. And we looked
and saw the information that has been provided. The
specific word that was used was “ autonomy .” So my
first question is, Did the Bermuda College speci fically
ask the [accreditor], NECHE, whether having the A uditor General be in charge of our audit was necessary for them to move to a private auditor in order for us to
continue to have our accreditation? Because if that
was the specific request by NECHE, then I think ev erybody here understands how we got here. But so far in the presentation today, the presentation that we had with the [Junior] Minister and the presentation that
happened in another place, we have not heard that
specific, that this question was asked and NECHE
specifically said, You no longer can have your audits
[done] by the Auditor General. You have to have them
[done] by an independent auditor because that is what we require to show autonomy.
So I am now going to go back to the specifi c
cases that were brought forward by the Junior Minister
when he laid out the reason why we are here today.
So specifically he went back to, there were delays that
were caused because there was a lease agreement with Coco Reef that the Auditor General needed to
have resolved. My second question to the Junior Mi nister is, Would a private auditor have requested similar information from the college to have that specific
piece resolved, which would have caused the exact same issue that the Auditor General put f orward?
The reason I ask that is because what we are
trying to do today seems very specific. Is it going to fix the problems that we have seen in the past? Because
as I said, we agree . . . I believe everybody in the
Senate Chamber agrees that the accredi tation is i mportant. We do not want to have something that ha ppens that messes up the accreditation. But if the same
issue would have happened under the private auditor,
then this change is not fixing it.
So, Mr. Acting President, I then move forward
to what happened in the COVID -19 year when the
financials of the college were late. And because they
were late, the college asked specifically if they could
have the audit done because of the accreditation i ssue. So my next question [would be], Is there a spec ific date that the Auditor General expects to have financials in by? And if that is the case, would a private
auditor also expect a specific date? Because if the
problem was that the financials were late, changing
the auditor does not fix the problem.
So now I have these questions. Has the Aud itor General ever used a private firm to do the audit on the Bermuda College? Can the Junior Minister let us
know the approximate cost of doing an audit on the
Bermuda College knowing that the potential now is
that after this amendment the Bermuda College will be
audited by the private auditor and then potentially also
get audited by the Auditor General, who obviously is not happy with this change in the process?
Will we now know, going forward, that if the f inancial s of the Bermuda College are presented on
time they have an option for the Auditor General to
continue to do the job the way they have always done
it? And if the answer is no, what we have done is cr eate this double work to fix a problem that seems to be


Bermuda Senate more about not having the information at the time that
it was necessary.
So I have this question: In the COVID -19 year
that was discussed by the Junior Minister, did the A uditor General do the audit? And if the Auditor General
did the audit, was the audit on time? Because if that is
the case, we have created an amendment to fix som ething that was not the fault of the Auditor General. And
most of us will have seen how much of an issue this is
starting to create, because once you start to unravel
this you are going to be connected to all of the other
financial statements that have not been put in on time,
not by the Bermuda College, but by lots of the departments of government.
If we can get the answers to these questions,
I think it would be helpful for us t o understand how we
got here and then understand whether the change
that is being proposed in front of us will actually fix the
problem. Or if the future financial statements [are]
late, [will they be] given to a private firm, who then says, Sorry, we can’ t do the audit on that timeline
(which in essence is what the Auditor General said),
and now the problem that we have tried to fix today
remains? Because that seems to be what the problem
was, and instead of laser focusing on that part, which
would still i mpact our accreditation, we are coming in
to deal with the Auditor General.
I have a final question before I allow others to
speak to this. When you have this kind of issue, did
the Minister of Education have an opportunity to sit
down with the Auditor Ge neral and discuss this very
important topic because of the implications of affecting
the accreditation of the Bermuda College? Because if the Bermuda College is looking at this and saying,
Well, we don’t want to be in this specific situation
again, and as I have said, presently it looks like that
was late financials as opposed to the Auditor Ge neral’s fault, was there a discussion that could have
come to a solution before we ended up with an
amendment in front of us today?
Because, understand after today, i f this dec ision is followed and we start to pull this thread and we hear what we heard last Friday in another place, we are not going to be able to put the genie back in the
bottle. And although on this particular deal it seems
that we are doing everything we can to help the accreditation, I am going to tell you that I listened to
90 per cent about the accreditation and how important
it is to the country, but very little about this particular
amendment. And this particular amendment may have
ramifications f or the future of Bermuda that were uni ntended when we [are] making this decision today. So
it is important that we get the answers to the questions that I have asked so that we understand how we
got here and where we are going.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith. So
to be clear, can you repeat the questions? There were a lot there that you went through. So I think it would
be helpful for all of us if we could hear the specific
questions again.

Sen. Ben Smith: I will try to do that, Mr. Acting Pres ident.
So, Did the Bermuda College specifically ask
NECHE whether it was necessary for them to take the
audit from the Auditor General and give it to a private
audit firm in order for them to reach the autonomy that
is necessary?
On the Coco Reef situation, would an independent auditor have asked the same questions that
the Auditor General asked, which caused the delays?
During COVID -19, the financial statements
were late. Because they were late, that is what tri ggered this issue that we are discussing today. Can the
Junior Minister give us the date of . . . is there a date
that the financial statements have to be in by the Auditor General and would that date be the same for an
independent auditor? Because if that is t he case, late
financials would cause the same problem regardless.
In that COVID -19 year, did the Auditor General do the audit? And if so, did the Auditor General
get the audit in on time? Because once again, if that is
the case, then we are making an amendment when
the problem that we are discussing that triggered it did not actually happen.
Do we have an approximate cost of an audit?
And knowing that the Auditor General will have to
have potentially a secondary audit, does that mean
that we are doubling that price tag to the taxpayers of
Bermuda?
Did the Minister speak directly to the Auditor
General to try to fix the situation before we got to this
point?
Has the Auditor General ever used a private
auditor for the audit of the Bermuda College?
And wil l it be possible for the Auditor General
to do the audit after this date if financials are in early the way they need to be? If everything is there, would
it be possible for the Auditor General to continue to do
business as usual? Or does this remove that? And in
that context, have we created this double work for the potential of a problem that we might not have actually had if we got clarification?
I believe those are the questions that I asked.
If I remember something else that I actually asked prior, I will bring that up when the Junior Minister pr ovides us with the answers. Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Darrell.
Oh, I’m sorry. Are there any other questions?
Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Mr. Acting
President. I have one specific question, and I have
some comments if you would indulge me.
640 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate I guess, I mean, really, what could I do on the
back of my colleague’s questions? But I do have a
very specific question, which is, Did the c ollege or the
Government ever consider a solution such as applying for the resources —money, staff, things like that —to
ensure all of the relevant preconditions for the audit,
such as delivery of financial statements, were met
prior to this solution that has been . . . well, this pu rported solution that has been put in front of us? So I
am going to put that question out there and now pr oceed onto my comments if you do not mind, Mr. Ac ting President.
I am probably going to say a lot of the things
that my col league has said, but maybe say them in a
different way or provide some context for our listening
audience. You know, first of all, the college [plays] an
incredibly valuable role for Bermuda. And I wanted to
echo my colleague’s comments and the Senator on
the other side there, his comments about the i mportance of this college and how it plays a role in
providing a variety of pathways for people to develop themselves to achieve their educational goals and
professions. In fact, I even used to teach a class at
the college a long time ago. So, I can appreciate what
that class meant for the people who [were] coming
after work to try and increase their learning or build
out their professional skills —so important.
And especially now, you know, we see this
theme of the answer is not always, Oh, you just need
to go to this very expensive four -year college and do it
just that one way. We really recognise how important
it is to provide the flexibility in the path. The fact that the college is accredited is very important. But I want to put that to the side because we have heard so
much about the accreditation. This is not about accreditation. This is about, can the college get its financials audited?
Now, I want to give another analogy. So I am
on the board of a non- profit registered charity here in
Bermuda. And for those who are— and many in Bermuda are—involved in such registered charities, you know that it is a requirement that we provide audited
financials. That is one of the requirements to keep your registration. So we have an auditor. And in turn,
you know, we seek fundraising, right? We are not tal king about accreditation here, but we seek fundraising.
The more sophisticated donors will say, Well, we were happy to consider your application, but we need to
see your audited financials. And they have timelines,
much as I am sure the accreditor, NECHE in this
case, will have certain things they want to see.
So the timelines that we were working to did
not work for this specific potential donor. So did we
complain, try to change the auditor, this and that? No!
The reality is, the auditor also has other clients. They
need the time that they need to do the work. What we did is we changed our own approach. We adjusted
our timelines. We adjusted our requirements to ensure
that we could deliver to our auditor what they required to properly evaluate the finances. And that is accountability.
We heard a lot of comments about direction
and control. Again, for those who are familiar with this,
the whole point of the auditor is to provide an outside independent view. Organisations do not control the
auditor. I mean, they can direct them to provide an
audit. But they cannot direct them how the audit is
done other than some negotiations around schedules.
They cannot direct the output. That is the whole point!
If you wanted to know what the organisation thought about its own finances, you would not bother with an
audit. You would just say, Send it along.
We heard some reference about, you need to
have an independent auditor. In fact, the Auditor Ge neral is independent. That is one thing that is going on
here. She is quite firmly asserting her independence, I believe, in legislation and in fact. So let us take a look
at that Coco Reef example. That is exactly what is
supposed to happen. Yo u take what is going on with
an organisation, you present it to this external party, and they come back and say, Not good enough. In my
place of employment, things I do, we have internal
audit as well as external audit. And they come along,
and they will s ay, Hey, over here. Pull your socks up.
It is actually a valuable part of creating accountability
and performance in the organisation. By the way, it is
also an important tool. You can take that audit and
you can use it to say, We need more money to do A,
B and C. So this is the flip side of this.
I guess I would echo a question; I might say it
a different way. Did the [NECHE] communicate any
specific concerns about the use of the Auditor General
other than the fact that the audits might not have been
getting done in time? And I guess I would close and
ask, Does the Government think that any other parts
of the government might seek an alternate approach?
That would be my last question.
And then my final comment is, I am really
frankly disappointed because the proposed approach does not solve the problem. The underlying problem is
that financial accounts and other prerequisites are not
being done on time. And we see a similar . . . I mean,
I have been in the Senate now not quite a year, nine months. And time after time, the Government is bring-ing forth legislation that does not solve the problems it
purports to solve. And I just wish that they could figure
out how to address the true problems facing us here
today in Bermuda.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Are there any other questions?
Senator Tucker.
I am just going to mention we are just past
12:30. So it looks as though we are going to have to return at two o’clock. So the question is, we could


Bermuda Senate break now or we can continue and finish this second
reading. Is there a preference one way or another?

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
I have no problem with continuing if that
meets the benefit of everyone who is here.

The Ac ting President: Is everybody okay with continuing on?
Okay. Very good. Thank you.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Like a few of my Senate colleagues, I too am
an alumna of the Bermuda College. I had the benefit
of graduating from there on two occasions.
My question really is about, What happens in
the event that the Auditor General refuses an audit for
an issue like Coco Reef in the future? So what is the
consequence? T hank you, Mr. Acting President.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Are there any other questions that any other
Senator would care to ask on this Bill?
Comments?
Nothing further.
So, Senator, it is over to you to respond.
Sen. Owen Darr ell: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
I will first go by and . . . I am sorry. I was li stening so I did not get all of Senator Smith’s questions
down. But I did manage to get a lot of the answers. So
one of the questions he asked was about an external auditor. And an external auditor can be more flexible
than the Auditor General. More choices equal more
flexibility.
Another answer to a question he asked: The
Auditor General has used a private firm for the Bermuda College audits in the past.
Another answ er to the question: The Bermuda
College pays the Auditor General about $50,000. It
was noted that private audits could be cheaper, but
[this would be from] firms wishing to give Bermuda College discounts. We have spoken to the Auditor
General, [requesting that] hopefully [she will not be]
auditing the audit, but we cannot force the Auditor
General to not do that if that is what that office wishes
to do.
Another question you asked was, the request
for autonomy is the responsibility of the college. And
they have come up with a solution. The solution was
to go to an external firm, after seeking solutions, after
talking to the Auditor General’s office. The Auditor
General did a 2020 audit, but it was six months late. It
would have been much faster with an exter nal auditor,
audits are required to be submitted by June.
I guess the question was, Did the Minister sit
with the Auditor General? The college actually did the
consultation with the Auditor General, and the board then reports to the Minister. The Auditor General said
that accreditation could be looked at. The auditor’s discretion does not provide any autonomy that is r equired by NECHE. Based on the Audit Act, the auditor is not directed by anyone, which I did say in my brief.
On to some of the questions b y Senator De
Couto, he asked about more resources to the auditor.
An answer to that is that more resources do not necessarily mean autonomy for the Bermuda College,
which they are seeking.
Senator De Couto asked, Can we just adjust
our timelines? The Berm uda College accreditation is
subject to the requirements of NECHE, which is what
my entire brief was pretty much about. Senator De
Couto made a comment that this is not about accreditation, which I just read off a 14- page brief which explained in great det ail that it was all about accredit ation. And more importantly about Bermudians and the people whom we are here to serve. So I would say
that he is absolutely wrong that this is not about accreditation. It is. And our accreditation can be declined —let me st ate that again—if we cannot satisfy
NECHE standards.
Senator De Couto wants to go back and
speak about a Coco Reef lease. The Bermuda Co llege cannot submit a lease to the House of Assembly.
This proves the point about needing autonomy around the audits. Se nator De Couto asked, Will other go vernment departments seek the same approach? This
amendment that we are talking about today in the
Senate is specifically about the Bermuda College and
the importance of our people in Bermuda who are seeking degrees and c ertifications from the Bermuda
College. And I will not and cannot speak of the future of what other departments will do. Again, it sounds
like some individuals have been reading and listening
to news that has nothing to do with this amendment.
Senator De C outo, again, I will say in my
words, Mr. Acting President, [makes] another reckless
statement when he says that this amendment does
not solve anything.

Imputing improper m otives.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Reckless, Mr. Acting President.
Quite simply, that is what it is.
The Acting President: Point made. Okay. We can
move on.
642 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you.
Sen. Owen Darrell: This Bill is solving the problem
that is specifically about accreditation. We can sit here
through lunch, after lunch and into dinner if we like,
Mr. Acting President. And we can get into all of the
nuances about what happened in the past and get into
all of the media statements that we have heard about
who is upset by this possible amendment and what it means and all of the other jargon t hat, quite frankly,
the people whom the Progressive Labour Party repr esents do not understand and do not care about.
What they do care about, Mr. Acting Pres ident, is that if this amendment does not go through,
there is a real risk that the accreditation of the Berm uda College does not get reappointed. And again we sit here week in and week out, and we say that we are
here for the best interests of our people. We say that
education in this Island is important. And we like to laud the efforts of the profess ors and Dr. Greene and
all of her staff and anyone who works at the Bermuda College. But yet when it comes to this administrative
task, when it comes to the audits and the financials,
and an amendment that we could make that will allow
the college to conti nue on with the great work that
they are doing, we seem to get caught up in a lot of
to-and-fro about things that will not matter to individuals who are at the Bermuda College to get an educ ation at a much cheaper rate than going overseas.
Mr. Acting Pres ident, I would like to remind
my fellow Senators once again that the purpose of this
Bill is to allow the Bermuda College to appoint its own
auditor, not to seek other possible precedents or what
other departments may do. It is focused on the Bermuda College right now. These amendments will help
to ensure once again that the Bermuda College has
the autonomy required to maintain its accreditation
standards. Once again I will repeat. These changes
are required because of the new NECHE accreditation
standards that were introduced in 2021.
The Bill respects the Auditor General. So any
talk that we are not respecting the Auditor General
and her role could not be further from the truth. We
are trying to solve a different problem. In respect to the Auditor General and the Audit Act of 1990, it i nvolves the Auditor General by requiring consultation
before an external auditor can be appointed. And it
requires the audited financial accounts to be provided
to the auditor. As the Auditor General and the college
share the common interest of high- quality audits performed, it is my hope that the auditor will work with the
college to avoid any duplication.
Again, for clarity for those who may have
missed it, the key purpose of this amendment that we
have in front of you today , Mr. Acting President, is to
help to protect the future sustainability and accredit a-tion of the Bermuda College. Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Senator Tucker, was your question answered? Okay.
I thin k there was one question that Senator
Tucker asked at the end.
Maybe if you could ask that question again,
Senator Tucker.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Yes, I did ask a question,
Mr. Acting President.
And the question really was about, If there is a
conflict, the Auditor General will be consulted. And in
a situation whereby even if the Auditor General has
some kind of influence, retains some kind of influence, if a private auditor is engaged and there is a conflict
and the Auditor General refuses to accept the audit as
reasonable or acceptable, then what is the cons equence? What happens in an instance like that? That
was the question.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, I must declare that I am not an accountant. I am a social sc ience major. And Senator Tucker talked about conflicts. (Give me a second.)

[Pause]

Sen. Owen Darrell: We also talked about cons equences. I would like to talk about the c onsequence
first before I get into the details of her question.
The consequence of our not passing this
amendment is that the Bermuda College could poss ibly lose accreditation status. And I would like the One
Bermuda Alliance and my other Senate colleagues to
really think about that for a moment, about the cons equence of our only tertiary education institution losing
accreditation because we as Senators could not approve an amendment that will make a process of
keeping that accreditation easier.
To Senator Tucker’s question: The cons equence is that the auditor can conduct her own audit.
However, the amendment speaks to the external firm being registered in Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda Act of 1973. So I am sure any conflicts that will come up will be discussed when the A uditor General meets with the external auditor befor ehand.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Before we ask you to move the Bill, are there
any further questions?
Senator De Couto had his hand was up first,
Senator Smith.



Bermuda Senate Sen. Dr. Douglas De Couto: Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.
I do not believe this following question that I
had was answered, which was, Has there been specific feedback from the NECHE as to the suitabilit y of
the accreditor (I got that name wrong) —as to the sui tability of the Auditor General from their perspective as
the accreditor? Or have they raised any other specific
concerns with respect to that audit arrangement?
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Smith, do you have one more?
Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting Pres ident.
My first question, which was my most specific
one, I do not believe was answered, which is at the heart of this entire debate, and the Junior Minister has
repeated it several times in his answers that the ac-creditation is on the line and the chances of the accreditation being removed is because of this specific
debate that we are having right now. Have we specif ically asked the accreditat ion group, NECHE, whether
it is necessary for the Bermuda College to remove the Auditor General and replace her with a private audit firm?
That question is fundamental because we are
making an amendment based off of the thought that
that is what is necess ary for autonomy. That is literally
what they said over and over again in this debate.
The Acting President: Okay. I think we have it.
Thank you, Senator Smith.
So we have two final questions, Senator Darrell.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Acting Pr esident.
I wish that my Senate friend, Mr. Smith, would
get passionate like that about education in Bermuda
and the Bermuda College possibly losing their accreditation.

[Inaudible interjections]
The Acting President: Let us just move on, Senator
Darrell. If you could answer two questions, please.
Sen. Owen Darrell: To answer Senator De Couto’s
question: Suitable feedback, no. They set the standard. NECHE sets the standard. And it is up to the Bermuda College to deter mine the best way to meet
these standards, which is why we have come with this
amendment this morning. NECHE is not familiar with
Bermuda legislation. Why would they be? But they do know what autonomy looks like.
And did we ask NECHE about removing the
auditor? First of all, I do not accept the premise of that question. NECHE, however, does support this
amendment and has agreed that it does meet the r equirements of their standards, which once again, Mr.
Acting President, will allow the Bermuda College to
continue with its accreditation, which— I do not think
the One Bermuda Alliance said it once— will be in the
benefit of Bermudians who are being educated at our
only tertiary institution in this Island.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
The Acting President: Senator, yes, you can move
the second reading.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
Mr. Acting President, I now move that the Bill
entitled the Bermuda College Amendment Act 2022
be now read a second time.

The Acting President: Is there any objection to that
motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Darrell. Thank you.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, I now move
that Standing Order 26 be suspended in respect of
this Bill.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Any objection to that?
Hearing none.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

The Acting President: Carry on, Senator.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, I now move
that the Bill entitled the Bermuda College Amendment
Act 2022 be now read a third time.

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

BILL

THIRD READING

BERMUDA COLLEGE AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Owen Darrell: Mr. Acting President, I now move
that the Bill do now pass.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
It has been moved that the Bill entitled the
Bermuda College Amendment Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection t o that motion?
No objection.
644 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The Bill has passed.

[Motion carried: The Bermuda College Amendment
Act 2022 was read a third time and passed.]

The Acting President: Thank you.
So we move on to Order No. 3, the consider ation of the following motion to be moved by Senator

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
I move that Standing Order 71(2) be suspended so that Senate may now proceed with the consideration of the take- note motion I gave notice of
earlier in this meeting.

The Acting President: Thank you, Minister.
Any object ion to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]
The Acting President: Carry on. Thank you.

Mr. Acting Pres ident, today I lay the Government’s new National Sports Policy 2022 –2027 and invite all Members of
the Senate to debate the policy.
I am pleased to say that the National Sports
Policy for Bermuda fulfils the 2022 Throne Speech
promise of a policy and a roadmap for this Gover nment to raise the value of sport in Bermuda and i ncrease the participation and regional success over the
next five years.
Mr. Acting President, on a global level Bermuda punches above its weight in sport, and Berm udians are known for their love of sport. Our potential is
great, and our aspirations are far -reaching. The Government has a bold vision for sport in Bermuda, and
we will achieve it through this policy: Sport Matters.
Mr. Acting President, there are five primary
goals of the policy, namely, increase participation,
achieve sporting excellence regionally, improve access to sports facilities, increase the value of sport and establish a framework for talent development.
These goals are interrelated to ensure we address the
key relationship between participation, sporting excel-lence, high performance and talent development, and
facility access more broadly.
Mr. Ac ting President, the five policy goals
each have a specific objective and metrics to ensure that we can measure and track outcomes. The policy
aims to improve public awareness of athletes, teams and Government’s commitment to sport; increase free
access to training at the National Sports Centre for athletes competing in international competitions; i ncrease the participation of children, women, persons with disabilities and persons from under -represented
groups; establish a high- performance framework; establish the National Sport Governing Bodies’ longterm athlete development plans; and to strengthen coaching development.
Mr. Acting President, by achieving these ou tcomes, the Government looks to solidify its commi tment to Bermuda sport. We aim to make communities stronger through sport and physical activity from grass roots right up to the pinnacle of elite competition.
However, we cannot deliver this policy in isolation.
Central to the achievement of the policy goals will be our National Sports Governing Bodies [NSGBs], the
Bermuda Olympic Association, the National Sports
Centre, the Bermuda Tourism Authority and other key stakeholders and partnerships. The combined use of
these expertise [and] knowledge, as well as insight of
this sporting fraternity will be essential for the successful implementation of the policy.
Mr. Acting President, the Department of
Youth, Sport and Recreation will be responsible for
the implementation of the policy and will work collab oratively with the stakeholders and wider communit y to
champion the role that sport can play in engaging Bermudians regardless of their race, gender, physical and cognitive disability and economic status.
Before closing, I must stress that this is a fiveyear policy. Our aim is to strengthen our foundati on so


Bermuda Senate that in the long term we can take Bermuda’s sporting
achievements to even greater heights. But we must
start with a solid bedrock first. I believe the sports po licy achieves this and will set a springboard for the f uture years to yield even further s uccess.
I certainly, Mr. Acting President, would like to
thank the dedicated staff at Youth, Sport and Recreation. I want to personally thank all of our NSGBs and
others who had a part in the creation of this sports
policy regarding their stakeholder input. Without them,
we would not have this policy here today.
So thank you, Mr. Acting President. That concludes my presentation on the Sports Policy 2022 –
2027: Sport Matters.

The Acting President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
Would any Senator care to s peak on this Motion?
Senator Smith.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
So first I would like to thank the Minister for
bringing this policy here for us to debate after having
the opportunity to read over it over the last week and
a bit.
First, I am really excited as somebody who is
involved with sport and has been involved with sport
for an extended period of time. Because sport does
not normally get highlighted the way this opportunity
that we have been given today, we should highlight
sport. Within the information that is provided in this
policy document, it speaks specifically to the really
important lessons that can be taught through sport and what impact being involved with sports can have
on a young person’s life, and in many cases throug hout your life.
Mr. Acting President, I want to start my chat
with everybody today on this specific important topic based on my experience within sport. And I know that
a lot of us would have started our sport journey in pr imary school. We would have been involved with what
happened in physical education. Your exposure to multiple sports would have happened at that time. And then you had the opportunity to maybe participate in
certain teams or certain sports that were available
through the education sy stem and then within private
entitles that regulate sport in our country.
I remember clearly as a young boy in Berm uda. I went to Port Royal School, participating in a
sports day and showing some ability as an athlete and
seeing the pride in my parents that I was able to show
my athletic prowess in front of family and friends. That
followed a conversation with my father about being
involved in a sport. He was not specific about what
sport. He just said, You will participate in some sport .
And then we went about a journey to find out what
sport that would be. I participated in junior golf, I participated in junior tennis, I took karate classes, I went
to training (at the time it was the national track) be-cause of what I had been able to do in primary school.
And as you are going through that journey you start to figure out what you are good at and what you are not
good at. You meet friends, you meet different people.
But throughout that journey, you are actually engaging with other people that are like- minded, looking for that
experience that sport can give you.
I was lucky enough to find swimming at some
point. And I found that this was the sport that I was
passionate about, that I loved. And knowing that there
were coaches that would give up afternoons, mor nings, weekends in order to help young people to
achieve their goals was something that was burned in
who I am. I bring this up because I followed that path
and became a coach when I was an adult. Now I have
had the opportunity to coach young people over a n
extended period of time. And now I am seeing those
young people who have grown into adults coming
back and participating in sport as coaches, giving
back.
I bring these personal messages because
sport and the highlight of the sport is important to me,
and I know that it is important to a lot of people within
our population. Minister Peets and I have had several
opportunities to sit and discuss where sports sits
presently in Bermuda and where we thought sports
could go. Minister Peets specifically just sa id about
how Bermuda punches well above its weight. Region-ally, Bermuda does very well in multiple sports, and
has done so over an extended period of time.
When you look at the history of sport in Bermuda . . . and I will say take the opportunity to look at
some of the information that has been pulled together by someone like Ross Macau on what happened in
the history of sport, the photography that happened that shows you kind of a snapshot of where sport was
and where sport has continued to develop.
So, I was excited for us to have this opportunity to have a sports policy to start to move in the direction of making sports significant in Bermuda, because
as Minister Peets and I have discussed in the past, in
Bermuda, a lot of people get excited about s ports. But
in most cases it is excitement about sports that happened outside of our borders. They are excited about
international stars. The problem with that is that until our athletes reach the point of being at that top level,
we do not pay as close att ention to them. Now, parents and friends do. But as a population we have to
change the way that we look at our sports development.
Mr. Acting President, the part that is important
to me is what I do not want to see. And this is definit ely not a hit at the Minister or at the people who spent a
lot of time and energy developing this policy. But in
Bermuda we tend to create a glossy document that
then grows dust on it because sport, over multiple
Governments, has never been a priority. But the mes-sage that you read in the early pages of this document
tells you what we can do with sport to help our coun646 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate try, to help the ills that most of our population wants
us to move away from [in order for] the development
of our young people to be respected adults.
Coaches have an opportunity to stand up in
front of young people every afternoon, some mor nings, mostly on weekends, and present a positive a lternative to the negativity that we normally see on the
front pages of our daily. That's the opportunity that is
there. And that is the opportunity that is here if we can
actually start to make sports a priority in our country,
and we can start to develop a mind- set in the country
that, together, through participation in clean sports
and drug- free sports, we allow that message to go
from our youngest all the way through to the people
that have been participating in sports and will continue to do so into their later years.
So, Mr. Acting President, through that lens, I
want to speak to some of the details that are within
the p lan that I thought needed to be highlighted for the
important idea that they have. But how are we actually
going to implement it? I mean it when I say I do not want to see this fall away. And I am willing to work
with the Minister to make sure that we do n ot have
another glossy document that is sitting on a shelf. We
have had those conversations. But the reality that we
have in this country today, and potentially for several
years to come, is that our economy is going to be front and centre for every decisi on that we make going forward. So, although I was excited seeing that there was going to be, or there is the potential to see, the
growth in the budget line for sports, the reality is the
Minister is going to have a really difficult task of trying
to claw that money from a Cabinet that is trying to fix
the multitude of issues that we have in this country.
And although trying to move the amount of
money in the budget from (I want to say it was) half a
per cent to a percentage point . . . just think that
through. As a country that has been punching above
its weight for the amount of time that it has, look at
how many people we have put in finals who won
medals across the region, across the world in multiple
sports for generations. And a half of a per cent —a half
of a per cent —of the budget goes towards that sport,
total—all sports.
So in the document, the policy is looking for
us to have an opportunity to maybe go to the corp orate sector and ask for more money. But, Mr. Acting President, we all know that spor t is not the only group
with her hand out at the moment. We are having a
hard time feeding people. So we have to go to the
corporate sector. We need help in almost every area
of our economy presently, and were having to ask the corporate sector to help. But let’s understand that the
corporate sector has been helping in sports for an extended period of time. Once again I will give a personal note to what that meant to me.
As a young swimmer qualified for an overseas
competition, we had the ability to have a sponsor specific for each athlete. That meant that we built a rel a-tionship with that [particular] individual. We had to give
them information on what our grades were, what the
accomplishments were that we had so far, and moving forward to what goals we had for the future. The
person who was my sponsor at the time was Mr. Jack Lightbourn from the Bank of Bermuda. I remember
sitting with him and having a discussion about what it
was that I wanted to achieve as an athlete. But when I
look back on that, I had no understanding at the time
that without payment, that sponsorship, I probably was not getting on the plane. That was a really long time ago.
That support from the corporate sector has
continued this entire time for multiple sports. You will see it in the youth programmes that have title sponsors. You will see it when you go to Cup Match. We have continued to ask from them. What happens is that we are going to be asking them for more at a time
when there are a lot of people asking for more.
So, I have a question for the Minister. And I
know that he and I will discuss this in the future. What
are we going to do to pay for this plan? Because, Mr. Acting President, the cost of getting a flight off the I sland does not seem to be going down. It is going up.
The cost of hotels, when you take a team overseas, is
not going down. It is going up. And I know that the
Minister will have seen the budgets that the National
Sports Governing Bodies are presenting every year looking for a government grant and will know that the
amount they are asking for is not matching what he is
able to provide them. So, at some point we are having
to tell young athletes that we are trying to develop that we do not have the resources to send them where
they need to be.
So, Mr. Acting Pres ident, when we talk about
how we want to increase how many people we have
in sports, when we talk about how we want to i ncrease the results that we are having in the region and
move up what we are going to be able to get from r esults base, I know that a lo t of this is triggered by our
Dame Flora Duffy reaching the gold medal podium.
The Minister and I had a discussion about how this
was an amazing opportunity for us to finally get sport
to the front of the agenda. It is a golden opportunity.
But we have to be acutely aware of what it will take to replicate it. Flora had the opportunity to work in a pr imary school with a gym teacher that went out of his
way to help young people. When I say out of his way,
doing extra work at recess and at lunch time, really
trying to push young athletes to reach their full potential at a young age. She was lucky enough to be in
that specific class. There are multiple educators in
Bermuda who are willing to give that extra mile.
So one of the things that we have to do is
make sure that we are drawing a closer relationship
between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Sport, because in order for us to start this process we need to make sure that physical education is happening at a minimum at the level that we grew up wi th.


Bermuda Senate But really that it has increased, because we have a
population of people that are, in most cases when you
look at the statistics overweight, not physically active,
unhealthy. And what we are producing is sick adults.
So I believe that this is a perfect opportunity to not
only connect what we are doing from an education
standpoint and a sports standpoint, but also health.
And if we use this sports initiative to get our young
people moving and get them healthier so that they are
healthier adults, that is the way we help our economy—by lowering the cost of health care. We can connect all of the dots.
Some may say that I have taken a step too
far. But I am telling you that we can take this oppor-tunity to move the country forward by putting a real focus on s ports and a real focus on what that means
for the development of our young people, which will mean the development of a better country as we
move forward.
But as I was saying, when it comes to Dame
Flora, from that primary school activity that she had,
she had the opportunity to be a part of some pr ogrammes within swimming, within cycling, and then within triathlon. She also was participating in the local
events that were provided through track and field. And
we have continued as a country to be able to pr oduce
really good youth programmes that are leading to the
development of these athletes.
So when we talk about long- term athlete development, I believe that we have started the process
really well. We do a great job of creating young at hletes that have t he potential for world- class performance. And when we get to about the early teens or
just before, Bermuda is punching well above its weight
through multiple sports. But something happens next.
And that is the piece that is going to take a concerted
effort by all of us. And it is going to take significant
financial support. As I said, when you are developing
that young person and you need to give them an opportunity to go overseas for competition and potentia lly extra training, each of those things has a cost, and
it is significant. What I would not want to have happen
is for if the next Dame Flora is a young student in a public school, who does not have the parental r esources that Flora had, fall significantly short of their dream because the support that i s necessary for them
to reach that goal is not available.
Mr. Acting President, that is a real situation as
we sit here today. There were multiple athletes across multiple sports that have to make the decision that
they are going to get a part -time job, t hat they are g oing to have to help out with the family. And all the ta lent and all the hard work gets put aside for the reality
that our economy has created. It is not that they did
not have the desire. It does not that they did not have
the goals. It is not that they did not have the work et hic. It is just the reality that they had to make the choice
between helping the family and being able to partic ipate in sport. Mr. Acting President, there is an important
lesson that gets learned through sports that c ould
have an impact on a lot of the ills that are happening in our country at the moment. It is the ability to work
together, to work with as a team, to be able to set goals, to put the hard work behind reaching those
goals, being able to listen to instruc tion and then tur ning that instruction into a performance. The better we
are at providing those opportunities to our young pe ople will mean the better workforce that we have, it will
mean the better adults that we have, because we
have created that environ ment through sport s. But if
we actually look at it as important , that it is that critical
. . . we have to understand that a lot of people in this
Island are volunteering their time and helping out in
any possible way they can. And I want to take this
opportunity to thank all of the coaches in Bermuda that have sacrificed their time week in and week out,
in rain, blow and shine, all of the volunteers that allow
for events to happen on weekends that all of us get to
go to and watch, because a lot of times they do not
get to hear that. But this opportunity here that we were given because the Minister has brought this sports
policy gives us this opportunity to thank them and let
them know that they are appreciated, and let them
know that what they are doing is important to our
country. And what we need to do is continue it, grow from it and maybe get more people to be following what they are already doing.
Mr. Acting President, there is a portion in this
document that refers, I believe, to the need for anot her multiple sports facility. I do not know whether the
Minister could give us some clarification on what that
facility would be, what the thought process is. The
reason that I bring it up is because there are some
details that we need to get on some of the facilities
that we have. I believe that there was some convers ation that from the data collected in getting this policy a
lot of people were talking about needing more facil ities, or better facilities.
So the first question I would have would be,
based on t he Sandys 360 facility that was created in
the West End that ran into trouble and has been si tting under Works and Engineering for an extended period of time, whether we will get an update about how we can move that into sports and get it moving
forward so that we can give an opportunity for our
young people in the West End to have a choice between being on the street and having a positive env ironment to go to.

The Acting President: Senator, if I can just . . . I think
there is a 20- minute limit.
Sen. Ben Smith: I actually asked Mr. Somner that
question, and he gave me an hour.
The Acting President: An hour? Okay, fine.
Okay. Thank you.
648 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
So looking forward from that point, there is also discussion about, you know, the National Sports
Centre and the National Sports Centre’s impact on the
country. And I know I have had this conversation with the Minister when we were debating budgets. One of
the issues is that the cost of running the National
Sports Centre facility needs to be something that we say, This is the amount that it costs and this is the
amount we will cover . To me, that is the first step t owards settling what has been a long- term problem.
Because we look at it and say, We have to reach this
amount of money , the decisions that get made are not
based off of what is best for development, it is what is
best to reach revenue. And if you listened to what I said earlier, not all athletes have that financial ability.
So now we are not helping the group that we should
be focused on.
An example of that is an Aquatics [and Fi tness] Centre, [at the] National Sports Centre, which,
when it was opened, the hope was that it was going to give that opportunity to all of the young public school
students to have access. Instead, that has not ha ppened because it is cost prohibitive. Purvis Primary
does an amazing job of collecting funds over the year
so that they can take their students to use the facility
for one week out of the year. Now you understand why I say how critical the finance part is. We have to
move away from that model.
It does not make sense. If the goal is for us to
actually reach that target audience, we need to make
sure we set up a system that allows us to reach that
target audience. If the government grant that is given to a N ational Sports Governing Body has to be used
to pay the National Sports Centre, that is a broken
system. You are moving it from one government account to give it to another government account. It just
seems to me that these are the kinds of things that we
need to focus on about how we can fix the system so
that we can develop more athletes, get more people
involved, continue to move in a positive direction.
Mr. Acting President, the important piece to
that is that we need to make sure that we are holding
these facilities accountable to their finances so that
we know exactly what it is that we are spending b efore we go down this road of covering. Because audi ted financials for the National Sports Centre would
have been an important thing for us to have when we
are talking about a sports policy and moving towards
developing more facilities.
Mr. Acting President, I want to make sure that
I am clear that what I am looking for is for us together to come up with solutions to the obstacles that have
stopped us fro m moving our athletes forward, b ecause I am going to say that most sports that see the
document are going to want to be excited about the direction that we are moving. But if that excitement is
going to go away because it is not really going to happen— and in some cases it cannot happen— then we go back to the frustration piece. And remember, every
one of our young people that we can get involved in a
positive activity instead of being in a negative activity
helps everybody. So how do we make sure that this
becomes the focus, that this becomes what it is that
we are doing as a country?
When we look at the competitions that our
athletes are going to and we look at the support level
for our athletes (because there are multiple levels to
sport, and this is somet hing that the Minister and I
have discussed), there is this recreational level to
Bermuda sports. And the part that we discussed is
there seems to be almost a recreational mentality for
our population, so they do not respect it at the same
level because that is the way they look at it. But they
look at people from outside of the country as the pr ofessionals, the ones that are doing it the right way.
And some of that attitude is impacting decisions that
get made.
So in my role outside of the Senate Chamber I
have had the opportunity to work with young people,
not just within the sport that I coach, but within mult iple sports by travelling to international competitions
and listening to the feedback of those athletes. It tells
[me] that this is a real problem of how they are going
to move from youth athlete to regional athlete to
world -class athlete, that next step, that piece which
everyone got excited when we got a Flora Duffy
moved to that, when we got a Jah- Nhai Perinchief
moved to that, when we got a Nahki Wells moved to
that. Everyone gets excited. They want to support it. But there were a lot of steps that have to happen to get them to that point.
Everyone likes to say Bermuda is one of the
richest countries in the world. We also know that we
are one of the most expensive. But we have sailors
that win the Opti Worlds. So in the youth level they are world class. And then I was at a major competition
listening to two young brothers who were talking about having to have their boat on top of a car with their
mast on the boat driving around Europe to compet itions, when they arrived the other teams they were
racing against had trailers with all kinds of staff. And
that is what they are racing against. And guess what?
In Bermuda, we do not look at those differenc es, we
just want the result.
But the difference is real. What happened b etween them being a youth world champion to that is significant. And we have a world- class sailor that is
developing right now as we speak. The question is, without the financial supp ort of his parents, would he
make it? And the reason I bring this specific subject
up is because there is something that has been ha ppening in the country over the last few years, where
schools from overseas are coming to Bermuda look-ing for talent. Mr. Ac ting President, I am going to say it
started with coming to Bermuda looking for talent. But
in many cases it is just coming to Bermuda looking for
money. And they are telling parents Your child can be


Bermuda Senate at world- class level . And of course, if you are a parent
of a child, you want to hear that. You want to hear that
your child has that opportunity. But the hook is a
$65,000- a-year price tag to get you there.
So in this policy I am hoping that we are going
to start to figure out a way to keep some of that mon-ey in Bermuda to develop the athletes, because so
many of our athletes are leaving here and going to
another country and competing against the same
people that they were competing against in Bermuda
in some school overseas. No one is actually gauging whether they are improving or not and how many of
them are coming back, after their parents have blown
the entire budget, without making it? And that's a story
that we have to start to tell parents who are potentially falling prey as we speak to that same thing.
There are major opportunities that happen
outside of our country. But that does not mean that
every athlete needs to go. And it is important that we
understand that if people are coming into Bermuda to
prey on our young people and their parents and the stars in their eyes, that we are highlighting it. Because
it is not good enough for the parents of Bermudian children to have somebody come in and take their
hard- earned money because they have sold them on
a dream that the person that was selling had no int ention of giving them. Just remember, for all of the hu ndreds of people that are going away with that stars -intheir-eyes dream, we do not have a lot of people who
are making it to the next level. But each of those peo-ple is paying that same fee to these o verseas entities.
So does it make sense for us to say we have
resources in Bermuda? Do we pool those resources
together? Do we figure out a way for us to be able to
do this locally so that, for the athlete who cannot afford it, we are giving them that opportunity, using the
expertise in Bermuda across sports to maybe save
some of the money that gets wasted because we are
duplicating the activity? These are things that I am
hoping that we will be discussing going forward so
that we can make sure that this document is not going
to just fall to the side. Our young people deserve for
this to work.
So the policy that has been put forward is a
first step, which I have highlighted we probably cannot pay for. That does not mean we give up. We try. We have to figure out a way to increase the resources.
We put our heads together and figure out how to get it
done. Step one is to make us understand that it is i mportant. Having it here today . . . I thank the Minister
because that is the first step to say that it is impor tant.
And now we have to go on the quest to get the country to understand how important sport is to our young
people and the development of a strong future for
Bermuda.
Mr. Acting President, I will finish with this part.
One of the things that has been important is that sport gives this opportunity for our young people to not be
idle and not get involved with some of the issues that happen with young people who do not have activities
to deal with. I am not happy that where we are now is
that many of our ath letes are falling prey to the same
issues as everybody else. There needs to be a speci fic level to what we are doing within sports and an ex-pectation across the board that we have drug free
sports, that we have a standard of what is expected
from our young people so that we can develop the
citizens that we want. As long as we continue to tell
them that going to training and smoking weed is okay,
they will continue to do so. And when they see a coun try that is self -medicating at the level that we are,
that i s the pull which takes a lot of our athletes that
are about to make it to the next level off the path.
We have seen too many really strong, talented athletes lose their lives on bikes, lose their lives to gang violence, and get caught up in a situation th at
everybody in the country is saying we need to be
moving away from. We need to figure out a way to
balance those two things, and we need to figure out a way to help our young people to make the right dec ision. And I believe that having a policy within sport of
how we can do that and how we can help sports organisations and sports admin to move us away from
the negative aspects, is well overdue. And it is a di scussion that has to happen.
In Bermuda there are two national sports that
received more money tha n everybody else. And the
truth is I am not going to hit them because they are
attracting a very important critical part of our popul ation. And what is happening is, because our country is
having problems, those sports are having to deal with the problems more than everybody else, which means
we need to give them more support. We actually have to give them the tools so that they can help these
young people that they deal with day after day b ecause they get the opportunity to stand up in front of them. So let’s give them the tools to make sure that
they are doing everything that is possible to help our young people to make the right decisions.
So thank you, Mr. Acting President, [and]
thank you, Minister, for this opportunity. And I hope that what we see is t his document does not go on a
shelf and we will work together to make sure that sport is highlighted every day going forward.
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Tucker.

Sen. Robin T ucker: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
There is not much more to add considering
that Senate Leader Smith has covered quite a bit very
comprehensively. Just one observation that I did want
to make.
When I read through the policy, I did not see a
whole lot said about addressing the needs of disabled athletes. I did see a picture of Jessica Lewis, but I did
650 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate not see anything that specifically addressed the special needs of disabled athletes. And I also noted that I
did not see anything that specifically spok e again to
the needs of even disabled spectators and their ability to be able to access the facilities, that, you know, this sports policy covers.
So those are the two things that I just really
wanted to highlight, because again, as we have more and more people participating, more and more dis abled people participating in such activities, I think that it would be great in the policy to address the specific needs of that population. Other than that, that is the
only comment that I did want to make.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Any other comments by any other . . . Yes,
Senator Dill.

Thank you, Mr. Ac ting President.
I [would] just like to take this opportunity to
congratulate the Ministry on this National Sports Pol icy. I heard a lot in the last hour or so, but I want to just
really say how this gives us hope as a community that
as we continue to identify areas that are working and
that can be strengthened, that we continue to build as a community. One of the things that the National
Sports Policy indicates is that they will be monitoring
this on a continual basis, that, annually, it will be r eviewed. But the part that I love best is that they will
course- correct if necessary.
So I want to just congratulate this Ministry and
the team that worked so hard on this National Sports
Policy. I want to thank all of the stakeholders that
gave input. I just celebrate what we are doing as a
Government and that, given all of the challenges that we are facing in this community, it is important for us
to continue to identify areas that are working, continue
to put strategies in place that can help us to improve
and continue to invite everyone in this community to
be a part of this community's continued growth and
success.
Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill. I appreciate that.
Any other comments?
Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Mr. Acti ng
President.
First, I would, of course, have to associate
myself with all of Senator Smith’s comments. He is
certainly an expert in the area. And I would like to extend my thanks to the Minister for bringing this in front of us. I won't repeat Senator Smi th’s comments on
this, but it is important. Sport is important. And I want to wish the Minister the greatest success in bringing this agenda to the Cabinet. He will have his work cut
out for him.
I am going to talk a little bit about money. And
I know you are all probably sick of hearing me talk
about money. But, you know, in sailing we have this
thing that we say: When you are fast, you always look
smart. Let’s talk about money. Pe ople say, Oh, money
doesn't solve problems. But that sounds like people
who already have the money. Money can solve a lot
of problems and can make you look smart.
I would love to see this Government grip the
problem of our Island’s financial situation with bold action and take the kinds of risks that they are in a
position to do, to take the tough principal decisions
that would right our financial situation so they could
properly apply resources to important things like sport,
really important. Frankly, with due respect to the Mi nister, I am not optimistic that he will be able to get the
support that this topic truly needs. I will leave it at that.
We heard about the impact of cannabis use.
And I do not want to be moralising, but my personal experience . . . and I went to a high- end university,
you know. One of those at the top of the list. I personally observed cannabis use in my friends, some
friends. And I personally observed how it held them
back from their potential. And we heard about how
that affects our sportsmen and women here in Bermuda. It is not a moral issue, but if you want to get
certain results, you will not be able to achieve them
consuming that.
And we hear from other people in the community and the helping services about the impact of
that on the Island. And this sports policy, you know,
kind of highlights how a l ot of topics like that come
together at a nexus —money, self -medication, social
issues.
I would like to take the opportunity to also
congratulate and really say thank you to the people on
this Island, whether it be through paid coaching jobs, government positions, volunteer positions, who really
contribute to sporting life on the Island. We in Berm uda set a very high standard for ourselves. We are
quite proud. And we like to talk about what's not to the
standard we want, we do not have this and we do not
have that. And, you know, I noticed in the report or the policy, 44 per cent of stakeholders highlighted inadequate lack of modern facilities as hindering sport or
lack of experienced, qualified coaches. But I would
like to flip that around and ask, Where could you find a
town of our size that has the variety of sports and f acilities that we have? Is it everything we would want?
No. But like I said, we set ourselves a high bar.
Just think about the hours that people put into
that every day. And even those who are in the paid
positions, whether they be a teacher or league coach,
we know that their success that they create in the
people that they coach or support does not come through just showing up to the job. It comes through


Bermuda Senate the heart and the passion that t hey put into it. And I
just really want to acknowledge that.
Continuing on this theme, the key to success
. . . so money is like a necessary condition. But the
other key condition is the passion, the commitment in
the heart that people have. And we have seen that in
Flora Duffy. We have seen that in many of our at hletes. We see it in our athletes who travel overseas in
track and field. That is what is required. And that can
also be connected with our social issues, people who
are struggling with other issues outside of the home or in the home. That is obviously going to prevent them
from achieving their potential. So that is an example of
how sport is a sort of nexus for looking at the issues in
our Island. And I wish the Minister luck in bringing these issues to the Cabinet and urging them to create
bold action to address them.
I have two more specific topics I would like to
cover. I want to talk about sailing. This Government is
a Government that has referred to the America’s Cup
as the rich, White man's ya cht race. But I want to give
you a list of some well -known Bermudian sailors, two
of whom are Olympians who are Black Bermudians: Glenn Astwood; Stevie Dickinson, Comet champion;
Tré Maxwell, a young up and coming Black Bermudian who came through the Endea vour programme and
is now working with America’s Cup programme teams.
Mustafa Ingham, who is building a career, not in Bermuda, but racing. And he came through the Red Bull
competition with the America’s Cup. Rockal Evans,
Howard Lee, his grandfather, Olym pian. And while we
have several other Olympians, and I won't name the
names, but I have a list of like six or seven Olympians, off the top of my head, I have just written down that
represented Bermuda in the sport.
Some time ago we had a Government -run N ational Sailing Programme at White’s Island. I think that
was a great way of exposing the sport of sailing to a
broader contingent of people that at that time would
not have been supported by the private clubs. Now, of
course, the private clubs actually are quite open, and
anybody who can put together the funds can attend,
and in many cases they have bursaries and scholar-ships because they recognise, and most of the sailors
on the Island recognise, how important it is that we
open up the sport to everybody w ho could provide
talent.
If you think about Bermuda, we have what I
would call a relative advantage here. Here we are sur-rounded by water. We are surrounded by amenable
training conditions. The America’s Cup sailors who
came here; they loved it. They could train all day conveniently and comfortably. Go home and then go sai ling for fun in a way that was not possible in any other
venues. So, while I know that, you know, we have
many sports in Bermuda, I would urge the Minister to seriously think about how we can provide strong r esults internationally here in Bermuda. And I believe sailing is certainly a low -hanging fruit for us. Then the last topic I want to I want to talk
about is . . . it is actually immigration policy. And how
do I get from sport to immigration policy? We have
many people on this Island who are engaging in sport.
Some are Bermudians, some are PRCs, some are here on work permits, their children are here. And
what happens is when these children come through
the programmes and start to compete internationally,
they get caught up in, frankly, what is our byzantine
immigration system when it comes down to topics of
national representation and who should be selected. And what has happened, in my view, is the Gover nment has just kept its hands off of this and left it to the
individual sports governance bodies to deal with,
which, frankly, results in disaster at times for those
bodies.
What can I say on this? I know there have
been court cases that have sucked resources and energy from sports bodies that should be focusing on
the children and the sport. And because our immigr ation system is a mess, I do not think anybody would
pretend it was anything but. So I also urge the Mini ster to take that back to Cabinet because that would
create more certainty and remove a source of great
stress from many people’s lives here, and, I think,
clarify how people can strive to represent Bermuda,
which we would benefit from.
So overall I would just like to thank the Mini ster again for bringing this policy. I wish him the grea test of luck in achieving the desired outcomes. I hope
for a success. And I salute everybody who supports
sport and is engaged in sport throughout the Island. Thank you.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Does any other Senator wish to speak on this
motion?
Hearing none . . . thank you. We can just take
note of all the discussion that took place.
[We can move on to] the next item on the
agenda, Motions. There are none.

—and respond to
our debate. But like many, I am also looking forward
to lunch.

[Pause]
The Acting President: I think I am being advised that
there is a need for you to see it forward with the m otion. Yes, thank you.
So, we do move on to the motions on this
one.
652 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Dr. Ernest Peets: Absolutely. Thank
you, Acting President.
First of all, I want to thank everyone here today who spoke on this particular sports policy , and the
fact that you guys were willing to give up lunch to do
so is to the credit of this particular body regarding this
particular [policy] and conversation. So I will try to
keep my comments real brief. If need be, I will be
more than willing to take this conversation offline if any Senator wishes to continue the conversation.
But, Mr. Acting President, I just wanted to
note that when I was in Jamaica for CARIFTA, which
was an extremely beneficial experience for me, I got a
chance to meet very, very briefly, Lord Sebastian Coe. And I cannot remember everything he shared during the time that he was speaking to the delegates, but I left that conversation and meeting with something that has stood with me. And I think it is a guiding principle
on what we ac tually have here today. Quote/unquote,
at least the best way I can remember it, he said that a
good sports policy is also a good education policy. A
good sports policy is also a good health policy. And he went on. In other words, what he was saying is that
sports has this ability to touch different facets of who we are as a whole person, and that any country and any community that sort of gets a sports policy right, at least to some degree, is actually touching more than just sports because it involves the whole person.
But just a note for the listening audience, particularly to answer Senator Ben's question, you brought up a question about another facility. Just pe-ruse the document real quick. I believe that is goal number three. And there is some information, in an-nex number three, section 3.3, which is on page 27. If I just reference that real quick, it reads as an objective
to ensure one more sports facility is multi- use and
abled to accommodate a range of sports programmes.
The metrics or the timeframe regarding that, of course, is a little ways off at the moment. And that is to complete that, I believe by 2027, if I am not [mi staken].
So, we certainly recognise two things. One, I
do not have any information off the top of my head on the current status of Sandys 360, other than the fact
that it does not fall under the Ministry’s remit at the time. But anybody involved in sports, at recreation or
at the professional or elite level, understand that with
a small jurisdiction like ours, we do not have the ben efit of having multiple multi -use facilities. As such, there
are some problematic issues with that. For example, we wanted to have a track meet here. We only have one track to train on, as well as to compete on. Which
means, well, how are you going to have a track meet
and have athletes warm up? Because we are actually
running on the track that we need to warm up on.
So, ye s, there are questions and issues r egarding multiple- use facilities like that. And this parti c-ular sports policy does recognise that and has some
actions to try to address that.
You did speak also to the fact that, you know,
Bermuda, by and large, at least in my opinion, an yway, we have a recreational sort of mind- set towards
sports. And this sports policy, I think, is capturing the idea and the sentiment that Bermuda perhaps is
ready, at least in initial stages, to move away from a recreational understanding and set up for sports and move towards more of a professional sort of mind- set,
given the fact that we are able to punch above our weight. And now we are having more and more at hletes on the international stage performing quite well.
But this policy, of course, is a five- year policy. So it is
not trying to accomplish things beyond 2027. But it
certainly takes in consideration that we want to get on a certain glide path to get us towards the next sports policy, which will build upon what we have today. And hopefully, Senator Ben, you will be around well beyond 2027 to help sort of carry that torch, moving forward.
There are some other items I think that were
mentioned today. I did try to take some notes while I was listening to the general debate. There is a world
of difference, for example, between team sports and
individual sports, particularly when it comes to fund-ing. And there are some unique issues around training as well. So the cost to get an elite athlete who is in an individual sport to the pinnacle, compared to, for ex-ample, trying to take a team sport like football or
hockey, field hockey, for example, the costs and the
things that are necessary to move that particular sport
along to the elite level, there is a significant difference, and requires different needs.
But one of the things I think is important about
this sports policy, besides for every single page, is the
fact that our NSGBs are going to be engaged in longterm athlete development. And those documents and
those plans are going to be critical for the coaches and for the NSGBs themselves to really highlight one talent. But of course, I will begin to systematically co llect the information that we need to ensure that those individuals and athletes have the support they need going forward.
Thank you for the encouragement on how we
are going to fund it. This particular sports policy does come with a request and a commitment to increase
funding for sport over the next five years. And I am
going to run my leg of the race as diligently as I can. And that is to commit to an additional spending of $10 million over the next five years.
For those of you who have seen policies before that potentially may sit on the shelf, we certainly
do not want that to be the case for this policy. As I mentioned in my opening comments, it touches more than just sports . I think that, certainly, if we get the
sports policy right, we can not only el evate sports , but
we can elevate the entire community. But that is going to require some work. And so, instead of having a


Bermuda Senate sports policy that sort of sits on a shelf, we certainly
want to put together a combination of individuals for a
working group to tak e us through, making sure that
these particular policies and goals are actually impl emented.
So, I am looking forward over the next couple
of weeks to getting out there on the road, talking to
the clubs, talking to the athletes, talking to the community about this particular sports policy. And partic ularly as this thing begins to pick up steam, I know our
elite athletes are already performing well. And, yes, Flora Duffy, and others, certainly were on our minds
when we were coming up with the dialogue that we
were going through with all of our stakeholders as it
relates to the sports policy. So, I c ertainly want to
thank her. I certainly want to thank others like JahNhai Perinchief, for example. I hate to call names because I am always going to forget someone in that
regard.
Yes, Senator De Couto, sailing. Perhaps, I
have been told, sailing actually might produce our
next Olympic medal. So that is something that is real-ly, really encouraging. And I have really enjoyed
watching over this last couple of years sailing getting
this, sort of, resurgence, if you will, in the community’s
eye with programmes like the Endeavour programme
which came out of America’s Cup. I know SailGP has
been a huge success on Island. So, we certainly are
wishing all of those sports that involve the water much
success.
So, implementation going forward is going to
be the key. W e certainly want to be able to get this
done. So besides for commitment of finances, we ce rtainly need the commitment of individuals to actually
steer this policy for the next five years.
So with those comments, Acting President, as
I mentioned earlier, I love this policy. I certainly would
like to see its future success to be beyond what we can think or imagine. I will certainly be grateful to take
some of these conversations offline.

The Acting President: Thank you very much, Mini ster Peets.
So we can move on now to congratulatory
and or —

So I move that the
Bill entitled —
The Acting President: I think that it is a motion. It's a
motion that is being—

[Crosstalk]

[Crosstalk]

The Acting President: So I think I am being advised
that I just say that we have taken notice of this motion
and we proceed forward. That is it.
Minister Peets, I think we are . . . upon the
advice I have just been given, I think we are good to proceed forward with the next agenda item.

[Crosstalk]
The Acting President: We just concluded this, so I
think . . . so there is nothing further. So I think we then
move on.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES

The Acting President: So would any Senator care to
speak at this time?
Senator Lindsay Simmons?

Sen. Lindsay K. Simmons: Yes. Thank you.
I want to congratulate all the teachers in Bermuda. Today is World Teachers’ Day and I want to
thank all the teachers because they are the fabric of
Bermuda. They are the ones who teach our students
to become Senators, doctors, lawyers. Without them, you know, we will be a terrible situation. So thank you,
teachers; thank you for all you do for our students.
Thank you for the time that you go over and beyond.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, to all the teachers
in Bermuda both private and public schools and the
teachers at Bermuda College. Thank you, teachers, for all your continuous hard work for our children in
Bermuda. Thank you.
The Acting President: Thank you. Senator Simmons.
Any othe r Senator care to . . . Senator Tuc ker?

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Mr. Acting President.
First, I would like to say congratulations to our
new Senate colleague, Senator Kiernan Bell. And,
again, officially welcome her to the team. And I think I
could s ay that on behalf of all of us —Welcome.
I would like to associate myself with Senator
Simmons’ comments as well.
I would also like to say congratulations to Barry [Gibbons] and his mom, Susie, who also live in the
constituency 7, where I represent. And als o including
the Gibbons’ but also the Devil’s Hole Family [DHF]
and anybody and everyone, including donors and ev eryone else who played a part in organising the 6
th An654 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate nual Devil’s Hole Family Back to School Community
Event that was held on the 4th of September. I attended and I will do Senator Darrell, . . . also recognition
as well because he was there with me. And it was a
really, really great community event whereby people came and brought their children. There was lots to do,
lots of food, lots of activ ity, and the children actually
received fully kitted out backpacks in preparation for
school, and everything was completely free. So I do
want to say again, congratulations for a very well done
event to Barry Gibbons and his mom and the Devil’s Hill Family .
I would like to also say congratulations again
to the Bermuda Regiment and all the EMO staff and an extra special thanks for BELCO, not only for tur ning my lights back on, but for turning [lights on for]
everybody else who lost power following Hurricane
Fiona. So congratulations to them.
I would like to say congratulations to the Mt.
Zion's Women’s Day committee. They had a fantastic period of events which all culminated in a Sunday Women’s Day Service, which myself and MP Susan
Jackson were privileged enough to attend. So again,
congratulations.
And finally, I just want to extend condolences
to the family of William Bassett. Anybody who knew him, they may . . . some of the older people may know
Uncle Willie. He is my husband's uncle. [They may
have] seen him driving his convertible car with a crash
helmet on his head. People seem to remember that,
seeing him about town some years ago. He always
had a big smile, lots of laughs and, you know, just an
all-around really great person. So I want to extend
condol ences to Aunt Leonie, Debra, Petrina, and all of
Uncle Willie's family.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Any other Senator. . . Senator, did I see your
. . . or Minister Peets?

Yes, thank you.
Also welcome to Senator Bell. I certainly want
to join in on the congratulations and welcome that has
been extended to her.
I would invite our Chamber to consider cond olences for the family of Mary Dolores Williams. She
was in her 10 7
th year. She died at 106 and we cel ebrated her life yesterday. So we certainly would like
for the Senate to keep her family, particularly her chi ldren, grandchildren and, of course, great grandchi ldren in prayer.
Also happy belated birthday to Cleveland
Richardson. And I certainly hope your day yesterday
was really, really great.
But I also want to congratulate the Ministry of
National Security, the Minister, and the entire staff and all those responsible for putting on the community vi olence workshop last week. It was absolutely phenom-enal. And I was so glad to have an opportunity to join
in that conversation.
Thank you, Acting President.
The Acting President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
Senator Dill.

Thank you.
I would like to also associate myself with the
comments of Senator Lindsay Simmons in celebrating
all of our teachers. I would also like to associate m yself with the comments by Senator Robin Tucker and
Senator Peets in welcoming our new Senate colleague, Senator Bell.
I would also like to highlight and celebrate the
Reverend Dr. Jahkimmo Smith and the Mount Zion
AME Church family on the culmination of their Wo men's Season which took place last week. In particular, I would like to talk about the workshop that was held
last Saturday. Their speaker for their celebration was
Dr. Thema Bryant, who is the president of the Amer ican Psychological Association. And it was it was ironic
that their Women's Season actually culminated during
a week where I also want to congratul ate the Berm uda College on their forum, which was entitled “Murder in Paradise,” as well as the Ministry of National Sec urity, and by our community violence workshop.
It was interesting because last week there
was a lot of focus that was placed on finding solutions to the violence in our community. And for me attending that workshop on Saturday, which was open to the
general public . . . but there were also members of the
psychological fraternity who were present at the wor kshop on Saturday. So certainly, w e identified some of
the issues that we are facing in our community during
the course of the week with the Bermuda College
event and the Ministry of National Security. But to certainly cap it off at the end of the week with a workshop
that helped us to put things in context, because that
workshop by Dr. Thema Bryant actually talked about
the importance of self -actualisation.
So this morning, as we have come together,
we have heard about the national sports strategy and just all of the ways that we become who God intended us to be and how we as a community can come t ogether and move forward, that we can shape our young people as we celebrate our teachers today.
Those who are on the frontline who are able to help to
identify the gifts and talents that are embedded in
each and every child that walks through that door, or even those that do not walk through because they
come from dysfunctional homes and they are not
coming to school because their parents have issues
that have caused them to be ineffective in thei r parenting.
Also this morning we heard about the nurturing . . . (say it correctly.) Minister . . . I'm sorry, Senator Lindsay, what is it? Nurturing Our Nation: Imper-fect Parenting Series. There are lots of things that are


Bermuda Senate happening that are very positiv e. And while there are
still challenges that face us, I think that it is important
that we as a community continue to come together.
We see the Bermuda College. We see the Gover nment Ministries. We see the church. Everyone is tr ying their best to move us f orward. So let us continue
to go forward believing that the best is yet to come.
Thank you.
The Acting President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Any other comments?
Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.
As I have remark ed before, at this time period
in prior sessions, there is so much going on in the
community, in the Island, that we cannot hope to cover it all. But I certainly would, of course, like to assoc iate myself with Senator Simmons’ remarks on World
Teachers’ Da y and the respect and thanks we owe
our teachers.
And [I would like to be associated] with Senator Tucker’s [remarks] regarding [the] thank you to
BELCO. Thank you to the Regiment and thank you to
everybody involved in the clean- up. You know, I personally believe we were incredibly lucky. But at the
same time, everyone did a great job. And, you know, we are not often here lauding BELCO. But on this
one, I am going to have to give them the win.
I would like to congratulate Kaden Hopkins for
his great results of the cycling world championships
and as he developed his career in cycling overseas.
I would like to also congratulate the Bermuda
Sloop. I believe they started up their regular middle
school voyages that were put on pause during
COVID -19. And that is a great educational opportunity, and I know that the students who do that get a lot
out of it. So, I want to congratulate them and wish the
students on those voyages a fabulous learning experience and perhaps even some life lessons.
You know, on the not -so-fun side, I just want
to send my condolences to all those who have lost
loved ones in vehicle accidents in this recent time period. It is a real problem here in Bermuda. And of
course, we talk about why do they happen? But pu tting that aside, you know that these things have effects and impacts on the families and community of
those that are lost from us.
I would also like to extend condolences to the
family, relatively large family of Frederina Darrell of
Cedar Hill and wish them peace at this time. And also extend condolences to the friends and family of Peggy
Burke and her partner, especially her partner , George
Powell.
Thank you very much, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto. Any other congratulatory or obituary comments?
If not, I would like to associate with the comments made regarding Senator Kiernan Bell’s first
meeting. We have been going for, I guess, four hours
and 50 minutes without giving a break, so it does not
sound very welcoming, but we do welcome you to the
Senate and we are very pleased to have you have
you on board.
So, I think with that, the l ast on the agenda is
adjournment. So, Minister Peets, it is over to you.

ADJOURNMENT

Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.
I guess a little bit of business; my apologies
for not associating myself with the welcome to our
newest Senator. Having been the most recent newest
Senator, I am quite glad that we now have another
newbie. The downside of this means I can stop using inexperi ence as my excuse, so. But I welcome Sen ator Bell and I look forward to her playing an important
role in bringing accountability and checks and balances. And that will be my theme today, [it] will be ac-countability.
We know we have this system of governanc e.
It is not perfect, but it is the one we have. And the i mportant thing is that we operate it with goodwill and
good intent so that all of its functions can be carried
out. And those functions are not frivolous. There not
just details that people do not c are about; they are
important. They exist to make sure the people, the
trust of the people, is kept and we deliver the results
for people. And frankly, my view is that this current
PLP Government does not feel it should be account able and has a relatively low respect for the people of
Bermuda.
I am going to quote something we heard t oday as we were getting into the college debate to
come here and actually ask, as a Senator, Hey, this is
a law that you want to change. But did you consider this? Did you consi der that? Did you get this specific
feedback ? To me those are opportunities for the Go vernment to fully explain itself, and there are many sat-isfactory answers that could have been provided. But
in reality, no satisfactory answers were provided.
656 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate There was a lot of hot air, a lot of trying to imply that
because we are here to ask questions about important
things, the health of one of our important national i nstitutions, but somehow we do not think it is important.
We do not care about it.
In fact there was somebody in the Senate
from the PLP who said, The people who the PLP re present don't understand or care about these details. I
can assure you, Mr. Acting President, right now people care a lot about money details.
What did we learn today for all this brou haha
about this tax break? No one is going to see an i ncrease. . . I mean an improvement or decrease at the
pump. You would not have found that out if we had
not been here asking those questions.
Let me talk about another piece of account ability. Let’s think back to the Fairmont Southampton situation. There was key information about that deal
that was not provided to the public and would not
have been provided to the public had the Independent Senators not drawn a line and said, We require this
information to make the decision. And I note it was not
until that there was even a public information session that this happened. That is the value of accountability
that brought information to the public about how the
public purse was being spent and the policies that the
Government was putting forward. And I make no apologies for hammering on this topic.
We saw recently in the news [that] Arbitrade is
now under indictment overseas for fraud. When that
came up in Bermuda, many, many people highlighted
that on the face of it, it stunk. Mr. Acting President,
that deal stunk. Anybody who bothered to look at it could see that they were being snowed. But people
who dared to question it were told that they were being naysayers. But in reality, those are people who are
looking out for Bermuda. But instead our Premier associated himself publicly and often with what is most
likely going to be a company convicted of fraud. And
who knows what will happen, but that is what it looks
like. So that is why we need to have accountability.
We have heard the Government Leader of the
Senate state—and you can find this in the Minutes —
that the Senate is just here to serve the House, the
other place, excuse me. In real ity, it is exactly the o pposite . . . or not the opposite. The Senate is here to
serve the people of Bermuda by performing a valued
check and balance. So for anyone to imply that we
come to this room simply to rubber stamp what comes
down, because I know t hat the Independent Senators
do not think that way.
And frankly, I believe it was an insult to you
(you will decide for yourself) to imply that that is your
role here. It is certainly an insult to me as an Oppos ition Senator.
And we are told, Why do n’t you come and
work together? We did not invent this Westminster
system, but it is the system we have, and that's the
one we are operating. Our job is to create accountabi l-ity for the sake of the people with the Government and
ask the questions that need to be answered. I think
today, for those who are listening, was a pretty vivid
illustration of the lack of accountability and answers to
questions from this Government. And they should be ashamed of that —ashamed.
Let’s go back to working together. In another
place, some of my political colleagues busted their
you-know -what to create an Equality Bill. They did not
have legal support. They did not have technical adv isors or an Attorney General Chambers. But in good faith, they created something that the Government
could have worked with them on which would have, in
fact, promoted many of the aims. For example, today
we heard about this council . . . and I just want to
make sure I say it exactly right, the Gender Affairs Council. Many of the aims promoted through t hat advisory council, the proposed legislation, the Equality
Bill, which was voted down by the Government in a nother place . . . let me repeat that. The Progressive
Labour Party Government voted down an Equality Bill
that would have provided a tool for the Government to
achieve many of the aims that they professed through
the Gender Affairs Council.
That was an opportunity for working together.
That could have been picked up, adjusted, modified to address the Government concerns. That would have
been a great outcome for Bermuda.
I was going to actually speak on these topics
at the end of the last session, and I didn't, before we
broke for the summer. But today I just I could not . . . I
could not handle it, Mr. Acting President. We put a lot
of effort in to ask these questions on behalf of the
people of Bermuda. And for them not to be well an-swered is, frankly, incredibly disappointing.
I hope that the people of Bermuda properly
understand what this Government thinks that they understand or care about, because I can tell you, the
Opposition knows what they care about. And we give them credit for what they understand. And I wish the
Government would understand that.
Thank you, Mr. Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Does any body else care to speak at this time?
Senator Simmons?

OCTOBER—DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MONTH

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Acting
President.
I just wanted to highlight that October is D omestic Violence Month. And while I was sitting here
thinking about what I was going to say, I actually went
and researched some things. In 1981, the year I was born, we used to have awareness for one day. Now we are in the year 2022, and we take a whole month
in October to acknowledge domestic violence. Obv iBermuda Senate ously, this is something that I am passionate about
and something that I have no problem talking about.
I do think that we need to recognise people
who came before us who have lost their lives to domestic violence and people who are living in domestic violence re lationships. And we need to highlight that
we all have a job to play in this. We need to talk to our
friends, our families, and allow people to have safe
havens where they have somewhere [to go] where
they could talk about situations that they are in, so
that we can be the shoulder that they need.
I spoke about this before. Domestic violence
is a horrible thing to go through. It is even harder
when it is somebody that you love or think you love.
So, somebody might come to you and tell you that they are goi ng through this situation and they go back,
and then they go back another time, and on the third
time, you are like, Listen, I ’ve heard enough. Be that
shoulder. We never know when it is going to get worse.
While I was thinking about this, I thought
about Tupac when he sang a song, and if you do not
mind I would like to say a couple of words that he said
in his song.
And since we came from a woman,
got our name from a woman, and our game
from a woman.
I wonder why we take from women,
why we rape our women, do we hate our
women?
I think this . . . it was in a song, and I remember singing when I was younger, but the words never
resonated with me back then. But honestly, when I was thinking about this, the words that came to my
mind, was that we came from a wom an. And the fact
that we have men and women, but mostly men that abuse women . . . you come from women. We look at
our mothers, and we think that, Hey, we wouldn't let
anybody disrespect our mothers. And most of these
women that I researched who have died in Bermuda are mothers, are sisters, are friends, the people in our
community that we lost.
When I was researching, I did not realise that
Shak eya DeRoza, her children were 11 months old
and two years old. They would never remember their
mother. They woul d never be able to know what she
smelled like. What she looked like when they were
young. They can look at pictures, yes. But to feel her,
to smell her . . . I know what my mother, at 41 I look at
my mama, and if I smelled something that reminds me of my m ama, I think of my mother. These children will
not have these opportunities.
So, I say that we need to be our sister's keeper. We need to be our brother’s keeper as well. We need to speak. And let our women, especially, to be
strong. So for domestic viole nce ones, I say that we
need to use our voices and stop being silent. R emember that we are our sister's keeper. So today, I said it before, I am Ruth Binns. I am Shakeya DeR o-za. I am Chena Trott. I am Marcus Gibbons . I am a
voice for them. And I hope you a ll in Bermuda can be
a voice for our fallen women and men who have lost
their lives to domestic violence.
And more than anything, there are so many
people in Bermuda who are hurting. When I read my Statement today that was prepared for me, the Mini ster highlighted about how domestic violence has esc alated in the last two years. We went from being under 100 [per year] three years ago to now being almost
200 [per year] that have been reported. And these are just the cases that have been report ed. Just think
about the many people who are not reporting the
abuse.
So today, remember that October is Domestic
Violence Month. Wear your colour purple and support
women and men who are victims of domestic vi olence.
Thank you, Acting President.

The Ac ting President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
Does any other Senator wish to speak at this
time?
Minister Peets.

Yes, thank you, Ac ting President.
I know the day has been long, so I certainly
will keep my comments brief, but I certainly want to be
encouraging before we adjourn.
Just real quick, at least some of the co mments that were attributed to me in a previous Senate
session in reference to a comment about another
place, I just want to be sure that we are talking about
the same thing. Those comments, if I recall correctly,
were in reference to a particular issue and a particular
problem. And the problem was not that the Senate is
a slave to another place and does not provide the
necessary scrutiny and discretion. It was in relation to
a particular issue and a particular problem. And that is
that we as Senators here cannot change heads of
terms in a contract, particularly if those heads of terms
and agreements were made in another place.

NATIONAL SECURITY AND
THE COMMUNITY VIOLENCE WORKSHOP

But having said that,
Mr. Acting President, I just want to revisit some of my
earlier comments in relation to national security and
the community violence workshop that they had last
year. And I will just sort of paint it with a bit of a story
so it leaves us with a bit of an allegory that we can
sort of work with. It may not be particularly obvious to
a lot of people, but something extraordinary happened
on September 26 of this year. NASA had this DART,
which is an acronym, and I cannot remember the ap-propriate terms for the acronym, but it was a rocket.
And this rocket and spacecraft was sent up in space
658 5 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate to slam into a distant asteroid at, like, hypersonic
speed. A nd it was the world's first attempt at a plan etary defence system. The idea that there is this giga ntic piece of rock floating out in space that potentially
can hit the planet and cause an extinction level event is a problem not just for NASA, it is a problem for ev ery living species on the planet.
I brought that up in my mind when I was at the
conference last week, because they spent over $300
million and seven years to come up with that one mi ssile to hit this one tiny target that we cannot see so far
away. And the idea is that the rocket was not designed to destroy the asteroid or to obliterate it, but to
potentially, even to a very small degree, alter its tr ajectory. That over the course of time as it travels
through space, if the course can be just altered slightly, it will harmlessly pass us. I thought about that, particularly as I was at the conference, because, you
know, this whole issue around antisocial behaviour
and violence is something that we are all dealing with
and we are all grappling with.
But the reason why it made sense to me is if
we could just very subtly but, importantly, just help young people and others who are at risk to change
their trajectory just a little bit, who knows what the f uture ramifications of that [would be].
So I leave that with us because the individuals
who attended this conference, of course, I agree, we
have seen conferences like this before. We have had
discussions like this before. And our biggest fear is,
well, after all that is said and done, more is said than
done. But if NASA can coalesce seven years of hard
work and over $300 million to change the trajectory of an asteroid to save an extinction level event for all of
us, I think that if this country came together, we could
change the trajectory just by a little bit for some, really
at-risk kids. That perhaps through sport or through
after school [programmes] or through education, through music, through arts, through whatever the
strategy, whatever the programmes are, that this child
just catches something and ma kes an internal choice.
Even though there are factors around that child that
are largely beyond our control to dismiss or fix from our point of view, that this child catches something.
And lo and behold, two years later, three years later,
five years later , you know, that child is in a completely
different state of mind and in a different environment,
enjoying and pursuing the dreams.
So I do not know. They say that it is too early
to tell whether or not the asteroid's trajectory has
changed sufficiently enough. I am hopeful and have
faith that it has. I do not know exactly where it is or how far away it is, but if this conversation has found at
least some interest, just go to Google and google
“NASA DART.” And you can find all the information
there.
And perhaps if that metaphor makes any
sense, if we can just do our small part in making a difference in a child's life, we can certainly change the trajectory of a child, change the trajectory of the fam ily, maybe even move a community, maybe even move a generation.
Thank you, Acting President.

The Acting President: Thank you, Minister Peets. It
was nice way to finish off our session with.
So, I believe if nobody else has any final
comments . . . Oh, I'm sorry.
[Inaudible interjection]