December 16, 2020

Thank you, Madam
President.
I hereby present for the information of the
Senate the Annual Report of the Legal Aid Office for the Fiscal Years from 2013 to 2019.
The President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
[Inaudible interjection]

The President: The second item is the Audited F inancial Statements, and this is in the name of the Junior Minister of Public Works.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Good morning, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Good morning.

BERMUDA LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
LIMITED AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND
REPORT FOR THE FISCAL YEARS ENDED
MARCH THE 31
ST, 2012– 2017

BERMUDA LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND REPORT
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED
MARCH THE 31ST, 2018
Sen. Owen Darrell: I hereby present for the information of the Senate the Audited Financial Stat ements and Report on the operations of the Bermuda
Land Development Company Limited for the fiscal
years ended March the 31
st, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015,
2016 and 2017; and also the Audited Financial Stat ements and Report on the operations of the Bermuda
Land Development C ompany for the fiscal year ended
March the 31st, 2018.
The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell, Junior
Minister for Public Works.
The next is the Treatment of Offenders Board
report.
Senator Richardson.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREATMENT OF
OFFENDERS BOA RD FOR THE YEAR ENDED THE
31ST OF DECEMBER 2018

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TREATMENT OF
OFFENDERS BOARD FOR THE YEAR ENDED THE
31ST OF DECEMBER 2019

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Good morning, Madam
President . I hereby present for the information of Senate
the Annu al Report of the Treatment of Offenders
Board for the year ended the 31st of December 2018;
and the Annual Report of the Treatment of Offenders
Board for the year ended the 31st of December 2019.

The President: Thank you, Senator, Junior Minister
for Nati onal Security.
The next item is the Annual Report of the D epartment of Financial Assistance. This is in the name
of Senator Hodgson.
Senator, you have the floor.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: One minute, please.

[Pause]

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF FIN ANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR FISCAL YEARS
ENDING THE 31ST OF MARCH 2019 AND THE 31ST
OF MARCH 2020

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I hereby
present for the information of Senate the Annual R eport of the o perations of the Department of Financial
Assistance for fiscal years ending the 31st of March
2019 and the 31st of March 2020. Senators can access copies of the report on their tablet and at the parliamentary website. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson, Junior
Minister for Labour. It is greatly appreciated.
The next [announcement] is the Public Health
(COVID -19 Emergency Powers) Regulations. And that
is in the name of Senator Richardson.
You have the floor, Junior Minister of Health.

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Good day, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Senator Richardson.

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID- 19 EMERGENCY
POWERS) (NO. 3) AMENDMENT
REGULATIONS 2020

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID- 19 EMERGENCY
POWERS) (NO. 3) AMENDMENT (NO. 2)
REGULATIONS 2020

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID- 19 EMERGENCY
POWERS) (NO. 3) AMENDM ENT (NO. 3)
REGULATIONS 2020
Sen. Curtis Richardson: Madam President, I hereby
present for the information of the Senate the following
regulations. Each is made by his Excellency the Governor on the advice of the Minister of Health and in


Bermuda Senate exercise of the power conferred by section 107B of
the Public Health Act 1949:
• the Public Health (COVID -19 Emergency
Powers) (No. 3) Amendment Regulations
2020;
• the Public Health (COVID -19 Emergency
Powers) (No. 3) Amendment (No. 2) Regul ations 2020; and
• the Public Health (COVID -19 Emergency
Powers ) (No. 3) Amendment (No. 3) Regul ations 2020.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson. You
can continue when you are ready.

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID) EMERGENCY (NO. 3)
EXTENSION ORDER 2020
Sen. Curtis Richardson: Yes. Madam P resident .
I hereby present for the information of Senate
an Order entitled the Public Health (COVID) Eme rgency (No. 3) Extension Order 2020 , as made by the
Minister responsible for Health under the provisions of
section 107A of the Public Health Act 1949.

QUARANTINE (COVID -19) (NO. 3)
AMENDMENT (NO. 5) ORDER 2020

QUARANTINE (COVID -19) (NO. 3)
AMENDMENT (NO. 6) ORDER 2020

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Madam President, I hereby
present for the information of the Senate t he following
Orders as made by the Minister responsible for Health
in exercise of the powers conferred by section 9 of the
Quarantine Act 2017: the Quarantine (COVID -19) (No.
3) Amendment (No. 5) Order 2020; and the Quarantine (COVID -19) (No. 3) Amendment (No. 6) Order
2020.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson, Junior Minister for Health.

NOTICES OF MOTION

The President: The first one is in the name of Senator Simmons, Junior Minister for Home Affairs.
You have the floor.

SUBMARINE COMMUNICATIONS CABLES
(REGULATORY AUTHORITY FEES)
REGULATIONS 2020

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
consideration of Senate the draft Regulations entitled
the Submarine Communications Cables (Regulatory
Authority Fees) Regulations 2020, prepared t o be laid by the Minister responsible for telecommunications
under the provisions of sections 14, 33, 45, 58 and 65
of the Submarine Communications Cables Act 2020
as read with section 44 of the Regulatory Authority Act
2011.
And I give notice that at the next day of meeting I will move that the said draft Regulations be approved.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
The next item is the Electronic Communic ations (Regulatory Authority Fees) Amendment Regul ations 2020 in the name of, again, yourself , Senator
Simmons.
You have the floor when you are ready.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS (REGULATORY
AUTHORITY FEES) AMENDMENT
REGULATIONS 2020
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
consideration of Senate the draft Regulations entitled
the Electronic Communications (Regulatory Authority
Fees) Amendment Regulations 2020, proposed to be
made by the Minister of responsible for Telecommunications under the provisions of sections 6 and 11 of the Electronic Communications Act 2011, as read with
section 44 of the Regulatory Authority Act 2011.
And I give notice that at the next day of meeting I will move that the said draft Regulations be ap-proved.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
The third notice of motion is in th e name of
the Junior Minister of Finance, Senator Hodgson, the Government Fees Amendment (No. 2) Regulations.
You have the floor.

GOVERNMENT FEES AMENDMENT
(NO. 2) REGULATIONS 2020
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
consideration of the Senate the draft Regulations ent itled the Government Fees Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2020, proposed to be made by the Minister of
Finance under the provisions of section 2 of the Go vernment Fees Act 1965.
And I give notice that at the next day of meeting I will move that the said draft Regulations be ap-proved.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson, the
Junior Minister of Finance.
That completes item number 6, the Notices of
Motion.

70 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate PETITIONS

The President: There are none.

STATEMENTS

The President: And we have two Statements that I
can see. One is the Parole Board Report .

[Inaudible interjection]
The President: Oh. That is going to be . . . oh, yes, I
am sorry.
[Inaudible interjections ]
The Clerk: We will have to carry that one over.
The President: Senator Richardson.
Sen. Curtis Richardson: Yes.

The President: Can you respond regarding the P arole Board Report?
Is that available?

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Yes, it is available.

The Clerk: We do not have a copy of it.

The President: Have copies been shared with the
Senators?

Sen. Curtis Richardson: I did send an email to the
PS [Permanent Secretary] to send them out. I am not sure why they were not .
The President: We have not received them so far. So
in that case . . .

The Clerk: Carry that over to Monday .

The President: Can we carry this one over until Monday then, Senator Richardson? Because it is i mportant for the Senators to have copies of it, partic ularly—

Sen. Curtis Richardson: I agree, Madam President.
So the Parole Board combined Report 2017–
2019 conveying the activities of the Parole Board [for
the] period of the 20
th of December 2017 to the 31st of
December 2019 will be carried over to the next sitting.
The President: Yes. So tha t would be Monday.
Thank you.
And then the Statement then is the Emplo yment and Labour Legislative Amendments. And this is
in the name of Senator Hodgson. Senator Hodgson, Junior Minister for Labour,
you have the floor.

EMPLOYMENT AND
LABOUR LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, today I am pleased to announce the tabling of two critical pieces of legislation:
the Employment Amendment Act 2020; and the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) A ct 2020.

Background

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, the overarching aim of the Ministry of Labour is the expansion
of jobs within Bermuda. The Government previously
announced that it would introduce amendments to the
Employment Act and a consolidated Labour Act
.
These two Bills seek to strengthen the rights and obl igations of employers and employees in Bermuda’s labour force, as well as modernise an d clarify areas of
the existing legislation to ensure that it is in line with
international best practices. In addition, the legislation
will revise the labour dispute mechanisms in Berm uda.
Both of these legislative changes are a long
time coming and hav e had substantial input from employers, trade union representatives and the Gover nment over the years.

Legislative Development Process

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, it is i mportant for me to provide context as to how we arrived at this point today. The Labour Law Reform Commi ttee [the LLRC] is a subcommittee of the Labour Adv isory Council [the LAC], which is a tripartite council
chaired by the Minister responsible for Labour. In 2013, under the direction of the then Minister of Home
Affairs, the LAC was asked to review the existing employment and labour legislation in Bermuda and to recommend amendments that addressed problems within the legislation. The focus was on areas of ambiguity and areas considered archaic and outdated for
the 21
st century , particularly when compared to examples of more modern legislation in other jurisdictions and the standard set for best practices by the International Labour Organization [ILO].
Madam President, the LLRC provided its re commendations on reform to the Mini ster responsible
for Labour in 2018. The LLRC’s review included the
following employment and labour legislation: the E mployment Act 2000; the Labour Relations Act 1975;
the Trade Union Act 1965; and the Labour Disputes
Act 1992.
The LLRC consisted of the following me mbers:


Bermuda Senate Union Representatives:
• Edward Ball, Jr. (BPSU)
• Chris Furbert (BIU)
• Michael Charles (BUT)
Employer Representatives:
• Keith Jensen (BEC)
• Stephen Todd (BHA)
• Graham Redford (BEC)
• Carlita O’Brien (Bermuda Government)
Indepen dent Representatives:
• Wendell Hollis (Chairman)
• Thad Hollis (Deputy Chairman)
Ex Officio Members:
• Marcelle Lawrence (Bermuda Government)
• Gabrielle Cann (Bermuda Government)
Madam President, t he LLRC reviewed each
Act in its current form and brought into consideration
the ex perience of the LLRC members in dealing with
such legislation. The LLRC’s approach was to overcome the various challenges of the current legislation
and to bring the legislation in line with modern princ iples for laws governing the relationship between a business and a trade union, and between an employer
and an employee.
The following points are very important to note:
• Various industry stakeholders were invited to
provide their comments and views on the current legislation with suggested amendments,
which were reviewed and considered by the
LLRC during its review.
• Once the LLRC presented its recommendations to the Minister, consultation took place
with the various members of the LAC , who
represented the views of their respective members.
• The LAC members were invited to pro vide
submissions and consultation with the Minster responsible for Labour , and this took place
between August 2018 and February 2019.
Madam President, t he Ministry of Labour
worked closely with the Attorney General’s Chambers
to produce an Employment Amendment Bill and a
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Bill
that is equitable and promotes good and fair emplo yment practices.

Employment Amendment Act 2000

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, please
allow me to highlight s ome of the major amendments
to the Employment Act 2000:
1. Probationary periods: Timeframes have been
built into the legislation to avoid the practice of
lengthy extensions of the probationary period.
Employers will now be required to provide employees with a review of their performance
midway through their probationary period so
that employees are aware of areas that need improvement to enable successful co
mpletion
of their probation. There are e xclusions to this
section to take into a ccount those services
which require a lon ger probationary period
due to the nature of the work conducted .
2. Antenatal care. Em ployees are no longer r equired to work for one completed year before
being entitled to paid time off from work to attend antenatal appointments.
3. Bereavement leave. Persons for whom bereavement leave may be taken have been extended to include grandparents, great -
grandparent s, grandchildren and great -
grandchildren.
4. Payment upon termi nation. Employers will be
required, upon the termination of an emplo yee, to pa y any wages and other remuneration
or benefits owed to an employee within seven
days or at the next i nterval that the employee
would have been paid.
Madam President, n ew sections being added
to the Act in this Bill include the following :
• Independent Contr actor —The Labour Rel ations Manager may issue guidance surround-ing the employment relationship as it relates
to independent contractors to ensure that persons are not being incorrectly classified.
• Meal Breaks —Employees are entitled to a
meal break of at least 30 minutes after wor king continuously for five hours .
• Bullying and Sexual Harassment —Employers
are required to have a policy against bullying
and sexual har assment in the workplace that
applies to all employees. The inclusion of this provision is to ens ure that all workers are pr otected from bullying and sexual harassment at work and from colleagues. This addition follows guidance set out by the ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment in the world of
work.
Madam President, it is anticipated that the
Employment Amendment Act will come into operation
on the 1
st of June 2021 to allow employees, emplo yers and their respective representatives to familiari se
themselves with its provisions and make the necessary changes to their current contracts of employment
and/or handbooks to ensure compliance.

Trade Union and Labour Relations
(Consolidation) Act 2020

Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Madam President, n ow I
turn to the new Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 2020. This is a consolidation of
the Trade Union Act 1965 , the Labour Relations Act
1975 , and t he Labour Disputes Act 1992. It is important to provide a brief summary of some of the
72 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate more significant changes contained in this compr ehensive and ground- breaking legislation.
Tribunals and Boards of Inquiries. In the current labour legislation in Bermuda, there are the following nine tribunals and boards: (1) the Permanent
Arbitration Tribunal; (2) the Essential Industries Di sputes Settlement Board; (3) the Trade Union Act Tr ibunal; (4) the Labour Dis putes Tribunal; (5) Sole Arb itrator; (6) Arbitrator with Assessors; (7) Independent
Chairman with Arbitrators; (8) Mediator; and (9) the Board of Inquiry. Additionally, the Employment Act
2000 established the Employment Tribunal to hear
employment -related complaints.
The legislation being tabled today will streamline and consolidate the number of tribunals across all
labour and employment legislation into one to be
known as the Employment and Labour Relations Tr ibunal. This means that there will be one t ribunal to
handle all employment complaints and labour -related
disputes. This is a significant improvement on the current state of affairs.
Mediation. Under the current Labour Relations
Act, the Minister has the option to refer a dispute to a mediator. In t he proposed amendments, referral to
mediation by the Minister has been removed, as m ediation outside of the Labour Relations Section has been found to be unnecessary , as it prolongs resol ution, and most parties opt out.
Civil Penalties. Under the Labour A cts, pe rsons who commit offences are liable on summary
conviction to a fine or imprisonment. In the proposed
amendments, establishment of civil penalties up to
$5,000 will replace most offences requiring court ap-pearances. A civil penalty regime entails a faster , less
laborious process with both the Labour Relations
Manager and the Employment and Labour Relations
Tribunal able to impose a penalty.
Definitions. A number of definitions are out of
step with best practice. Therefore, this legislation will
revise definitions for “employer ,” “lockout ” and “management person. ” This legislation will also add the
following new terms: “employers organi sation” and
“civil penalty. ”

Conclusion

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, t he E mployment Amendment Act 2020 and the Trade Union
and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 2020 will
constitute the Employment and Labour Code of Bermuda. This task and the process to get to the tabling
of this Bill was a collaborative effort by the Ministry of
Labour and the members of the LAC. The LAC ’s abi lity to work together in the interest of their members
and the labour force of Bermuda is highly commended
and greatly appreciated. It is the vision of the Ministry of Labour to comprehensively engage employers, l abour and Government to reinvigorate the Bermuda
economy, which benefits everyone. Thank you.

[Pause]

Mr. Somner, her microphone is
muted. Tell Madam President her microphone is mu ted.
The Clerk: Madam President, your microphone is on
mute.
The President: Sorry. I was looking at the wrong button.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

INVESTMENT FUNDS AMENDMENT ACT 2020

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

TAX REFORM COMMISSION
AMENDMENT A CT 2020

MARINE AND PORTS SERVICES ACT 2020

MERCHANT SHIPPING
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

EMPLOYMENT AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

TRADE UNION AND LABOUR RELATIONS
(CONSOLIDATION) ACT 2020
The President: The following public Bills have been
received from t he Honourable House of Assembly and
are now read for the first time; their titles are, respectively: the Investment Funds Amendment Act 2020;
the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020; the Tax Reform Commission Amendment
Act 2020; the Marine and Ports Services Act 2020; the Merchant Shipping Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020; the
Employment Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020; and the
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act
2020.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The President: There are none.
So, Senators, we will now entertain questions
on the [Statement entitled] Employment and Labour
Legislative Amendments which has been read by the
Junior Minister of Labour, Senator Hodgson.


Bermuda Senate Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?

Sen. B en Smith: I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Marcus Jones.

Sen. Marcus Jones: I give way to the Opposition
Senate Leader —

The President: I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon.

Sen. Marcus Jones: I give way to the Opposition
Senate Leader. He actually stated that he had a question. I will yield to him first.
The President: Minister Weeks [sic] , you have the
floor.

Sen. Marcus Jones: No. That is Senator Ben Smith.

The President: I beg your pardon.
Senator Ben Smith, you are on mute. You
have the floor.
Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Good morning, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Good morning again. You have some
questions on this Statement?

QUESTION PERIOD

QUESTION 1: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR
LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. I would lik e to thank the Junior
Minister for her Statement this morning.
Specifically , on the Statement on page 2 r eferring to the LLRC, which provided the recommendations. Can the Junior Minister tell us if there were any
recommendations that were put forward by the LLRC
that did not make it into this set of amendments , that
we might be looking to see changes in coming
amendments?
Madam President, should I ask another question now or allow the next person to go?

The President: Well, Senator Hodgson, do you want
to respond to that question?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I will actually just confirm that I will have the information at our
next session.

The President: Fine.
Then, Senator Smith, if you have a second
question, you can [ask] it now.
QUEST ION 2: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR
LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, small businesses and m edium -sized businesses in Bermuda are already quite
taxed for the amount of things that they have to do. Because of that, a lot of times they might not have in
the HR department access to lawyers as part of their
organisation.
Can the Junior Minister let us know whether
there will be some guidance provided for smaller businesses so that they can make sure that the pol icies that they have in place covers all of the amendments and all of the changes so that they do not find
themselves in trouble in the future because they did
not have certain things lined up in their policy?

The President: Thank you, Senator Smith. Do you
have a supplementary or a third question?
[No audible response]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, our Mini stry will provide the support and clarity that businesses
need during the transitional period.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Woul d any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President. I would
like to ask a few questions.
The President: Senator Marcus Jones, you have the
floor.

QUESTION 1: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR
LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS
Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President,
and good morning to you, and good morning to my
fellow Senators as well as the listening audience.
I do thank the Junior Minister for giving us this
Statement. I think it is very helpful. I do have a ques-tion from page 5, item two, it talked about the anten atal care, where employees no longer have to wait for
an entire year before they can utilise these benefits.
Now, does that year start from the end of the probationary period or is the probationary period i ncluded in
that year?

QUESTION 2: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR
LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS

Sen. Marcus Jones: My second question is also on
page 5 under item four, Payment upon Termination.
We see now where there has been an improvement
where the wages of the terminated employee have to
74 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate be paid within those first seven days. Now, will that
payment in that short period of time, will that also be
used in lieu of two weeks’ notice, which is the normal
practice of some employers, if the employee is told
short -notice, then they are paid, in lieu of the short
notice, those wages?

QUESTION 3: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR
LEGISLATIVE AMENDMENTS

Sen. Marcus Jones: My third question is on page 7,
and I am actually pleased to see that these nine tribunals will be consolidated into one. I think it is a great
idea by this Government. And I would like to ask a
question. Are the members of this consolidated trib unal—[are these] paid positions? And can the Junior
Minister at the next session please give us an indic ation of what that remuneration is?
And finally, my —

The President: Is it a supplementary? You have had
three questions. Is this a supplementary to that third
question?

Sen. Marcus Jones: I have utilised my number of
questions. Thank you very much, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I will have
those details at our next session.

The President: Thank you for that.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Hearing none, then I thank you, Senators.
And thank you, Senator Hodgson, for your
Statement.

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The President: The first item on the Orders of the
Day is the second reading of the Companies and
Partnerships (Electronic Registry) Amendment Act
2020, and t his is in the name of Senator Hodgson, the
Junior Minister of Finance.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
Companies and Partnerships (Electronic Registry)
Amendment Act 2020 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Hodgson.
BILL

SECOND READING

COMPANIES AND PARTNERSHIPS (ELECTRONIC
REGISTRY) AMENDMENT ACT 2020
Sen. Arianna Hodgso n: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, the Bill before the House is
the
Companies and Partnerships (Electronic Registry)
Amendment Act 2020 . This Bill am ends the Companies Act 1981, the Partnership Act 1902, the Limited
Partnership Act 1882 [sic] , the Exempted Partnerships
Act 1992, and the Overseas Partnerships Act 1995 to
provide powers for the Minister of Finance to make
regulations to require that all documentation under
each of those Acts required to be filed with, or issued
by, the Registrar of Companies is to be filed or issued
by means of an electronic record, in accordance with
the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 and to make
other minor amendments to the Companies Act
[1981].
Madam President, the Electronic Transactions
Act 1999 makes provision for the validity, admissibi lity, or enforceability of information required to be in
writing in the form of an electronic record, as well as
the delivery an d dispatch. The electronic registry sy stem has been designed to: (a) receive such information, which upon approval will be posted in the
company’s public record; (b) automatically notify the
applicant of its receipt; and (c) if required, a certificate
will be automatically generated.
Madam President, following an RFP process
in 2019, the Registrar of Companies engaged the services of Foster Moore, the world’s expert in electronic
registries, to design and build the Registrar of Companies’ electronic regist ry system replacing the current paper -based system.
Madam President, the Registrar’s electronic
system will be implemented in several phases, begi nning with some of the registration services available in
February 2021. The remaining services will be made available over the ensuing months, with the expect ation that by summer 2021, the Registrar of Companies will be fully operating its electronic registry system.
Madam President, upon the full implement ation of the electronic registration system, all filings r equired by the various pieces of legislation will be submitted via the electronic platform, which will be hosted
on the Registrar of Companies’ website. Certificates
and notices required to be issued by the Registrar will
be generated by the electronic registration system.
This also means that all records that are required to
be available to the public will be available for viewing online.
Madam President, the other main amendment
relates to the requirement to publish and file a pr oBermuda Senate spectus with the Reg istrar of Companies by companies that offer shares to the public.
Madam President, Bermuda is viewed by i ndustry in Bermuda, as well as onshore advisors, as
administratively burdensome in relation to share offer-ings. The prospectus requirement increases t he cost
and time that it takes to complete the offering, making
Bermuda far less attractive than competitive jurisdi ctions such as Cayman and the British Virgin Islands
that do not require publication and filing of a prospectus where a non- local company of fers shares to the
public.
Therefore, Madam President, this Bill elim inates the requirement for exempted companies that offer shares to the public to publish and file a prospec-tus with the Registrar of Companies. It is therefore
proposed to eliminate the requirement for exempted
companies that offer shares to the public to publish
and file a prospectus with the ROC [Registrar of
Companies].
Madam President, with those brief introduct ory remarks, I now present the Bill entitled the Companies and Partnershi ps (Electronic Registry) Amendment Act 2020 and welcome comments from other
Senators.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson, Junior
Minister of Finance.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Michelle Simm ons, you have the
floor.
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Good morning again, Madam President and fellow Senators.

The President: Good morning.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: I certainly support this Bill.
It just brings the processes by which companies are
required to f ile documents with the Registrar of Co mpanies into the 21
st century. We live in a very technological world now, and it will facilitate these filings, and
at the same time it will also enable the Registrar of
Companies to provide electronic records back to
those said companies. So once again, I support this
Bill. I think it is very appropriate at this time. Thank
you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam Presi dent., Senator Jones.
The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: I will say, Madam President, I
did lose technical connectivity in the last couple of
minutes of the Junior Minister’s presentation. And I
also see that my lovely f ace is not on the screen.

The President: Yes.

Sen. Marcus Jones: But I believe that you can hear
me.

The President: Yes. We can hear you, and hopefully
your technical problem will resolve itself. But you can
make your comments.

Sen. Marcus Jones: Okay. Yes.
First and foremost, we welcome this amendment, this Companies and Partnerships (Electronic
Registry) Amendment Act of 2020. We see this
amendment as necessary. It is an upgrade from the
Registrar of Companies’ filing and issuing the doc uments. I thi nk it is great that we are finally moving
from this paper -based system to an electronic recor ding system. I believe it is long overdue. And we realise
[that] to accomplish this, additional amendments are
required in all of the other associated Acts.
I will also make an observation. During the
Junior Minister’s presentation, she did mention the
Limited Partnership Act. It should be 1883. That would be the correct year of that particular Act.
We do have one question. And I did take note
that the vendor that was utilised by the Registrar of Companies was Foster Moore. My question would be,
Was this particular transformation of the system —was
there a tender for several vendors to vie for the contract? Or did the Government see that the vendor that
had been, t he vendor that was on record, was doing a
sufficient job and there was no need to do an outside
tender? And that would be my one question.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then, S enator Hodgson, it is
over to you.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I will confirm those details at our next meeting.
The President: Thank you.
With that, then you can move the Bill, the
second reading.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam Pres ident, I move
that the Bill entitled Companies and Partnerships
(Electronic Registry) Amendment Act 2020 be now
read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
76 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Carry on, Senator Hodgson.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING OR DER 26

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I move
that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of
this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

COMPANIES AND PARTNERSHIPS (ELECTRONIC
REGISTRY) AMENDMENT ACT 2020
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled Companies and Partnerships
(Electronic Registry) Amendment Act 2020 be now
read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I move
that the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled Companies and Partnerships (Electronic Registry)
Amendment Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Companies and Partnerships
(Electronic Registry) Amendment Act 2020 was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: We are now moving on to the second
item on the Orders of the Day, and this is the Res idential Care Homes and Nursing Homes (Transfer of
Functions) Act 2020. And this is in the name of Sen ator R ichardson, the Junior Minister for Health.
You have the floor.

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
Residential Care Homes and Nursing Homes (Trans-fer of Functions) Act 2020 be now read a sec ond time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. Carry on.

BILL

SECOND READING

RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES AND NURSING
HOMES (TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS) ACT 2020

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Madam President, I stand
before you to intr oduce the Bill entitled the Residential
Care Homes and Nursing Homes (Transfer of Functions) Act 2020 . Madam President, the Ministry of
Health is committed to impr oving and advancing our
health and long- term care system. This Bill is another
step towards improving care home regulation. Fundamentally, these advancements will ensure goodquality care for seniors and persons with disabilities in
care homes.
The Residential Care Homes and Nursing
Homes Amendment Act 2017 introduced new service standards, and strengthened regulation to improve
quality of care and quality of life for residents in the 20
care homes that fall under this Act.
In addition to a strong regulat ory framework,
right-touch compliance monitoring, and education and
training are essential to maintaining these standards.
The Ministry has made good progress in these areas.
However, to sustain and advance these improvements
in an efficient and effective manner requires more r obust coordination and regulatory oversight.
Madam President, historically, regulatory r esponsibilities for health services and professionals
have been spread across various entities under the
Ministry of Health. This has resulted in challenges with
securing required compliance resources and efficient-ly improving regulatory policy and practice. As a r esult, the Ministry is consolidating appropriate health
regulation under the Bermuda Health Council. This
decision was based on [the fol lowing factors]: (1) the
council’s quango structure [which] enabled greater
flexibility and innovation; (2) the transfer of functions aligning with the council’s mandate; and (3) the council, and thus these functions, remaining under the po licy oversight of the Ministry of Health.
Madam President, in 2017 there was an initial
transfer of regulatory responsibilities for health ser-vices from the Office of the Chief Medical Officer to
the Health Council. At this time, regulation of care
homes was also identif ied as a function that should be
consolidated within the remit of the Health Council.
However, changes were already pending for updates
to the regulatory framework for the care homes, and
thus the transfer was placed on hold. With implementation of the framework now complete and the council having prepared itself to assume this role, I stand before the Senate with this proposed amendment to
transfer the regulatory functions for the care homes


Bermuda Senate from the Ministry of Health to the Bermuda Health
Council. Madam President, I am pleased to present
this Bill supporting our efforts towards a more efficient
and effective regulatory policy and practice. Thank
you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Madam President. I would.

The President: Senator Robin Tucker, you have the
floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Senator Curtis Ric hardson.
Madam President, the Residential Care
Homes and Nursing Homes (Transfer of Functions) Act 2020 brings oversight and regulatory responsibility
for [residential care homes and nursing] care homes that provide room, board and personal care for two or
more seniors or a differently abled person. The r esponsibility has been spread across several areas
under the Health Ministry’s remit that have included
Ageing and Disability Services, the Ministry’s Elder
Care Team, the Health Department’s Community R ehabilitation Programme, Nutrition Services, Environmental Health in community nursing and other areas.
The number of resources required to oversee and
regulate the functions of the care homes and nursing
homes is obviously resource intensive, as evidenced
by the spread of areas that maintain oversight and administer services.
So, demand is high for quality care home services. We know that we are an ageing population.
Many of our residential care services are at 90 per
cent, and some are at 100 per cent capacity and have
waiting lists. There are still people at the hospital in
the Continuing Care Unit because there—

The President: Senator Tucker, you are fading away.
Can you speak closer to the microphone, please?

Sen. Robin Tucker: Certainly.
The President: Thank you.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Madam President.
Many of our residential care services are at
90 [per cent] to 100 per cent capacity and have wai ting lists. There are still people in the old hospital annex in the Continuing Care Unit because there are
insufficiently equipped facilities, or [there are] families
who are unable to bring their loved ones home. Operating a quality care home is expensive. Property costs are high. Capital requirements in having appropriately
trained and qualified staff are crucial. The issues will become greater over time without being addressed
properly.
There is alignment with the Bermuda Health
Council’s mandate that could bring about some pos itive changes. And that is such that legislation makes
sense in its intent to consolidate residential care
homes and nursing home functions under the Berm uda Health Council, transit ioning responsibility from the
Ministry of Health. By accomplishing this, it is antic ipated that the stronger ties with the Bermuda Health
Council will bring about further improvement in the health and quality of care of our seniors and differently
abled persons who reside in our residential care
homes and nursing homes.
Madam President, with that said, our seniors
and differently abled persons are amongst our most
vulnerable in this society. And while improvements have already been realised to improve the quality of
care, this legislation has potential to do much more.
But a lapse of execution could set back current, and
impede future, strides. So while the Opposition supports this legislation, there should be some assurance that a transfer of functions fr om the Ministry of Health
to the Bermuda Health Council will not see any uni ntended impacts to service for our seniors and other vulnerable persons as a result of insufficient r esources needed to carry out its very important func-tions in accordance with th is new legislation.
So with that said, I would just like to ask if
Senator Richardson could confirm how much of an
impact the requirements of the Residential Care
Homes and Nursing Homes (Transfer of Functions) Act 2020, together with the requirements of the other
recently passed legislation, namely the Health Profes-sionals (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2020, that
will see the Bermuda Health Council having regulatory
oversight of five new health professional bodies —how
much of those responsibilities will add to the Health
Council’s existing workload? So I would like to know what assurances can be provided to the public that
the Bermuda Health Council will be able to balance its
pre-existing and new requirements without falling
short on delivering on its mandate to regulate, coord inate and enhance the delivery of health services in
Bermuda, which also includes improving the health and quality of care for our seniors and differently
abled persons in care home?

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have the
floor.
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Good morning, Madam
President.
The President: Good morning.

78 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Michelle Simmons: The supervision of nur sing/care homes is a real ly important function. As Se nator Tucker said, we are in the midst of an ageing
population, and so there is a significant number of
people who need the services provided by care homes. Many of our nursing homes/care homes are
private institutions as opposed to government -owned
and -operated facilities, so oversight is really i mportant to ensure that members of our elderly popul ation are receiving the high quality of care and support
that they deserve and that they need.
As I read through this Bill, Madam P resident,
a couple of thoughts came to mind. First of all, how
many care or nursing home beds actually exist in
Bermuda at this time? I think it is something the public would be interested in knowing. Also, what proportion
of those beds is in private nursi ng and care homes? I
think this is another important piece of information that would help the public to get a sense of how we are
catering to the needs of our elders. I also, as I read
through the Bill, took some time to look at the role of the Health Council. And if you would permit me, Madam President, I would just like to read a little excerpt
from the 2004 Health Council Act.

The President: Certainly you may. Carry on.
Sen. Michelle Simmons: In that Act, a health service
provider, which the nursing and care homes are, is
defined as “a person, group of persons or organization
that operates a business offering health services to
the public, but does not include a person who is an
employee under a contract of service.” (That is the end of the quote.) Ther efore, in my opinion, consol idating the supervision of care and nursing homes under the umbrella of the Health Council is most appr opriate because it is actually part of their original func-tion as defined in the Act. This is a definite way of ensuring that standards are maintained, because the
Health Council is responsible for the supervision, or certainly the registration, of all of those who are i nvolved in health care in Bermuda.
My only concern about this consolidation is
that there should be a suffici ent [number of] people
assigned to the oversight function. And I believe Senator Tucker was going in this same direction. This has definitely been a challenge in the past. And I would
hope that with this change in function and also with
the consolidation of the supervision of nursing and
care homes under the umbrella of the Health Council,
this issue will be addressed and that sufficient manpower will be allocated to the appropriate and regular supervision of nursing and care homes.
So with those few remar ks, Madam President,
I would like to say that I do support this Bill. I think it is very appropriate.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons, Vice President.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?

Some Hon. Senator s: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Minister Weeks [sic].

Thank you so much,
Madam President.
Just a quick note. In the interest of making
sure that the Government Senators have the right i nformation based on our [INAUD IBLE], we are wondering if Senator Tucker would be kind enough to put her
questions in writing so that we can ensure that we
give an appropriate response. Thank you.

The President: Sorry, Minister Weeks [sic].

An Hon. Senator : Weeks?

The President: Sorry . . . Minister Peets, Minister
Peets. I am sorry. I was distracted by someone.
Just to say that the Parliament website is on,
but not the SharePoint. Just to let you know.

Do you need to repeat it?
The President: Thank you. Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Sen. John Wight: Madam President.
The President: Yes. Senator John Wight, you have
the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I too am supportive of the consolidation of
these services. One of the concerns that I have, which
sort of piggybacks on comments made by a couple of the other Senators, is not just the workload involved
by the Health Council, but the Health Council was
created in 2004 to supervise the health insurers. And
being the CEO of a group of companies that has a
health division, I can say that some of the issues that
surface are very detailed and unique and complex. So
with the recent transition from the five (I think) last
week of the other medical boards transitioning to the


Bermuda Senate Health Council, along with the nursing homes this is
not just a very increased workload for the Health
Council, but it is also the complexity of the issues that
are involved in each of these various areas.
So I guess my concern would be, you know,
does the Health Council have the right personnel with the right skill sets to be able to effectively govern all of
these various areas of practice in Bermuda?

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then it is over to you, Senator Richar dson, for response.
Sen. Curtis R ichardson: Yes, Madam President. And
I would first like to thank all Senators for their questions with regard to this particular Bill. I certainly b elieve it is moving us in the right direction.
These questions that have been presented
today, they were backed with statements. And unfor-tunately, I would ask if the questions actually be put
into writing so they can be simplified to be answered.
At this moment, I could sift through the questions and
answers that I do have, but it would be piecing t ogether ans wers as opposed to direct answers to your
questions.
The President: Senators, the Junior Minister has
asked for the questions to be put in writing, and he will respond to each one of them. So will you do so at
your earliest convenience? And they could be addressed perhaps at the next sitting, which is on Monday.
With that then, Senator Richardson.

[Crosstalk]

The President: You can speak further.

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Yes. In addition, Madam
President, the questions that Senator Tucker presented las t week, I could also present the answers to them
on Monday as well. So it will be collectively all toget her if that is allowed.

The President: Thank you.
With that then, you can proceed to move the
Bill.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Curtis Rich ardson: Madam President, I move
that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of
this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

RESIDENTIAL CARE HOM ES AND NURSING
HOMES (TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS)
ACT 2020

Sen. Curtis Richardson: Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled Residential Care Homes and
Nursing Homes (Transfer of Functions) Act 2020 be
now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Sen. Curtis Richardson: Madam President, I move
that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Residential Care Homes and Nursing Homes (Transfer of Functions) Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Residential Care Homes and
Nursing Homes (Transfer of Functions) Act 2020 was
read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Cur tis Richar dson, Junior Minister of Health.
Can you confirm for us then, Senator Ric hardson, that the next item, the Health Insurance (Mi scellaneous) Amendment Act 2020, will be carried over
to the next day of meeting?

Sen. Curtis Richardson: I can confir m it will be ca rried over to the next meeting.

The President: Thank you, Senator Curtis Richar dson, Junior Minister of Health.
Senators, that leaves us to move on to the
fourth item, which is the second reading of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection A mendment (No. 2)
Act 2020. And this is in the name of Senator Darrell,
the Junior Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Senator Darrell, you have the floor.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Good morning, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Good morning to you.

Sen. Owen Darr ell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Bermuda Immigration and Protec80 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate tion Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Darrell.

BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, today I pr esent to this Honourable Chamber the Bermuda I mmigration and Protection Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 .
These amendments pertain to the laws and regul ations governing the granting of land licences that will
streamline the process associated with them.

Introduction and Purpose

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam P resident, sometimes
governments and legislators put in place legislation, regulations and policies with good intent, which may
seem good at the time, but eventually [may] create inefficiencies within Government. Madam President ,
the Efficiency Committee became aware of these
challenges when it presented its report in 2019. One
such area was the process for issuing alien licences.
Madam President, the Ministry of the Cabinet
Office met with the Chamber of Commerce, Real E state Division, to review the proces sing of alien licences for the purchase of Bermuda property. We held
several discussions regarding the process with the
legal fraternity and with individuals within government
departments.
Madam President, it had long been advanced
that extended processi ng delays negatively affected
sales, and as a consequence potential buyers had lost interest and were withdrawing from purchases. The
processing impediments also represented a loss of revenue to the government. Madam President, this
Government is committed to streamlining its internal
processes in order to facilitate better business in Bermuda. In this regard, we have identified specific areas
for improvement in the approval of land licensing.
Madam President, the objectives, therefore, of the
proposed legi slative amendments are to better facil itate the sale of property to international buyers, spe-cifically those who are eligible to do so in accordance
with the law, thus contributing to the economy of Ber-muda.
Madam President, there have been considerable delays in the processing and approval applic ations for alien land licences. Many of these delays are
ranging in excess of six months, resulting in some
properties not being sold and amounting to significant revenue loss to the government. Madam President,
several realtors have raised concerns about the length
of time it takes for overseas buyers to purchase property that they are eligible to acquire, [which] has a
negative impact on the real estate market. The pr ocess is cumbersome and manually driven through
three government departments, and has caused u nacceptable and frustrating delays.
One of the delays that we identified was the
requirement for the Minister to publish a notice in the
Gazette before approving an application for a land
licence. This noti ce invited objections to an application
to purchase property and allowed two weeks in which to lodge such an objection. This served to cause a
delay in the whole process. Madam President, I hasten to point out that over the past two years there has been on ly one objection to an application, and that
objection was unsuccessful. Whereas the property
was purchased in accordance with the law, there are
no grounds for the purpose of objection, making the
provision of the Act redundant.
Madam President, to bett er understand sol utions which may be adopted, we invited discussions from industry -leading realtors and those technical officers who were responsible for the administration of
this function. The aim of these discussions was to
identify why the alien land l icence process was so
elongated and stagnant, with a view to streamlining
the process in order to complete transactions in less than four weeks. Madam President, there was consi derable dialogue with realtors on this matter. Two crit ical recommendations emanated from these discus-sions, and they were: (1) to address the requirement for government to advertise; and (2) to provide exemption for condominiums, which currently are subject to the same r egime as freehold properties.
Madam President, additionally, this Bill seeks
to provide certainty regarding the authority to grant approval of application for land licences, and this is reflected in the definition of “Minister.” This ensures
that the function of approval is unambiguous and allows for functionality w henever there is a change in
responsibility for land licences.
Madam President, in reviewing the process
for application to acquire land by restricted persons,
we noted that there was a plethora of information that
we deemed unnecessary, intrusive and irr elevant. For
example, in the first Schedule to the 2007 Regul ations, applicants are required to provide details about the nationality of their parents and spouse, information
that has no bearing at all on the decision- making pr ocess. This Bill seeks to rem ove the requirement for
this useless information.
Also, Madam President, as part of the applic ation process for the purchase of a condominium, the
potential purchaser or their agent has to submit three
copies of plans drawn to scale by a registered surve yor. This too has proven to be cumbersome, especially
in the condominium market. We are therefore amendBermuda Senate ing the 2007 regulations to exclude condominiums
from this requirement, and we also are reducing the
number of plans required for other properties to one.
Madam President , in closing, I would like to
thank the realtors who assisted the Government in this legislative project. Finally, I would also like to
thank the public officers in the Cabinet Office, the D epartment of Immigration and the Attorney Genera l’s
Chambers who assisted with this project.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell, Junior
Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.
Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
As the President of the Chamber of Co mmerce when this Bill was first initiated for discussion with Government, this is music to my ears. So I think
this is a win -win all around. And certainly it increases
the fees for government at a time when we desperat ely need more revenues coming in. This makes it eas ier for people from overseas to acquire property so
they can live here and start using Bermuda- owned
taxies to get around and eating at Bermuda- owned
restaurants. So thi s is, I think, a terrific initiative that
has come to conclusion. So, I am very supportive of
this.

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

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
The Opposition is also in support of this Bill.
Anything that can increase efficiency and streamline
we will be supportive of. One comment would be
that—the other side of this —is that it seems like we
are making it easier for forei gners to buy property in
Bermuda. From a PLP Government perspective, that seems a little counter to what we normally hear from this Government when it comes to protecting Berm udians and protecting Bermuda’s interests. So it is a balancing act. Obviously, w e would like to see the
same thing, where we are trying to stimulate the
economy, increase the amount of revenue that can
come in so that we can protect the economy side of
Bermuda. But the balancing act is that there is an er osion of the middle class. And a lot of our Bermudians
would like to [someday] purchase properties and land, [but] as we sell more of our land to foreigners we i ncrease the possibility that this [possibility] goes away.
The only question that I really have is going to
be based off of the changing in the gazetting. The Junior Minister spoke specifically to a recent time period where there have not been a lot of objections. My question is, Have there ever been objections that were from the gazetting that led to its being turned
over? And my reason for asking that is, when you take
away transparency and when you take away the scr utiny level, are we opening it up to something potentia lly going through, that if that scrutiny had been there a
situation might have changed? Thank you, Madam
President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then it is over to you, Senator Darrell.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you to the Opposition
Senate Leader for the comments, as well as the Independ ent Senator.
Senator Smith, I will undertake to get you the
answers to your concerns there at the end.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a second time.

The Presid ent: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Darrell.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I move that
[Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020
Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Bermuda Imm igration and Protection Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a third
time.

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

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 do now pass.
82 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Bermuda Immigration and Pr otection Amendment (No. 2) A ct 2020 was read a third
time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.

MOTIONS

The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this item?

Sen. Marcus Jones: I would, Madam President,
Senator Jones.
The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
I was quite pleased to read in yesterday’s daily a young lady who was celebrating her sixth birthday who wanted to, rather than receive gifts, use the opportunity to give to others. Her name is Tazara Pitc her. And the story is very inspiring. Due to the situation that we are all under right now with the pandemic, this young lady had an idea to donate any gifts in the form
of finances to be given to the Family Centre because
she observed, through watching the daily press conferences, that there were a number of families who
were under undue stress financially. And she took it
upon herself to offer to her mother that she would like
to utilise the opportunity of gift -receiving to be a gift -
giving enterprise.
And so this young lady, Tazara Pitcher, needs
to be congratulated from this Chamber. And I suspect that there will be others amongst us, other Senators,
who would like to j oin in to give a hearty thank you
and acknowledgement to this young lady for her wil lingness to be a giver rather than just a receiver. That again is Tazara Pitcher, a six -year-old young lady,
Somersfield Academy student.
My second congratulations, Madam Pres ident, would be to the St. George’s Town Crier, Mr.
David Frith. I have had the privilege of conducting a
number of tours to the Town of St. George’s. And during my six -hour tour of the entire Island, one of the
highlights of that tour was to bring my tourists to the
Town of St. George’s to be a spectator of the enac tment of the ducking of the town gossip, which invari ably was always a woman.
[Laughter]

Sen. Marcus Jones: And I thought to some degree
this would bring about some level of angst amongst
the female population of the country. But I am not going to try and rewrite history. But it appears that it was
the female population that was very much involved in
that type of behaviour.
Be that as it may, the Town Crier, Mr. David
Frith, was absolutel y Hollywood- quality Town Crier.
And I never got tired of listening to him. I would make
sure that I was there with my tourists, and I would
laugh as it I heard it for the first time. And he was absolutely fantastic. We understand under this pandemic
that h e was made to be laid off mid- May. But he has
stated on various occasions that he is quite willing to come back and to get involved again. He has been an ambassador for this country abroad. In fact, he won
the Sir Francis Drake Armada Cup at a competition in
the UK in 2011. So he has international acclaim, as
well.
So, from these Chambers I would like to extend a congratulations and a hearty thank you to the former Town Crier, Mr. David Frith. Thank you for your
indulgence, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
congratulatory and obits?
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have the
floor.
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I am going to start with some young people.
First of all, I would like the Senate to join with me in
congratulating two young Bermudian soccer players.
The first is Ajani Burchall, who is the 16- year-old son
of Shennon and Margo Burchall, and is a student at
Bournemouth Academy in the UK. He normally plays
for the under -18 team, having just turned 16 in N ovember. Recently, however —recently he was asked
to sit on the bench for the [English] Championship
league team at their match against Huddersfield and, surprisingly, Ajani was asked to play in the match. It
was only for about 10 minutes, but it was a history -
making 10 minutes because he became the third -
youngest player ever to do this at Bournemouth. I b elieve that he impressed many in that short period when he was on the field. And I think we have much
more to hear about this young, talented Bermudian
footballer. So, well done to Ajani!
Then my second Bermudian soccer player is
a young female Bermudian footballer by the name of Aaliyah Nolan, who scored recently for Leeds United on Sunday, the 13
th of December, as they played to a
4–3 win against Stockport County. Aaliyah’s goal was
described as “brilliant.” I just want to congratulate her
on achieving her dream —she has had this dream for


Bermuda Senate years —of playing soccer professionally. And by the
way, if any of you want to follow, Leeds United is now
fourth in their league. And it is one of the Football A ssociation’s Women’s National League, Division One
North teams. Aaliyah plays in a forward position. So, well done to Aaliyah!
Madam President, I would also like to congratulate another young person who is well known by a few of us here in the Senate Chamber. And her
name is Ashley Bento. I think Senator Darrell will r emember Ashley from his previous life as a teacher.
She was recently called to the Bermuda Bar. Ashley i s
a graduate of the Berkeley Institute. She has an A ssociate’s Degree earned with Distinction from Berm uda College, and a Bachelor of Laws [LLB] Degree from the University of Greenwich in London, in which
she earned First Class Honours. After her LLB, she
completed the Legal Practice Course at the BPP University in London. And now she is working as a la wyer. This young lady has had this dream for years.
And I am so glad that her determination has brought her to this point. So, well done to Ashley!
I also hope that I still have a couple of minutes
to offer congratulations to Dr. Malcolm Brock, who
was recently installed as the E. F. Gordon Professor
of Thoracic Surgery at Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland. Of course, he has a len gthy and very impressive bio, which I do not have
time to go through here. But I will mention a few of his stops along the way: Graduate of Warwick Academy
and Bermuda College; fluent in Japanese, thanks to a
Rotary scholarship; and is a graduate of Princeton
University; Bermuda Rhodes Scholar; eventually graduated with his M.D. from the very same Johns
Hopkins in 1991.
Dr. Brock has assisted many Bermudians who
found themselves at Johns Hopkins receiving medical
treatment. I may not have to tell everyone, because
many of you know this, but he is the son of Mansfield “Jimmy” Brock and Beverly Brock. So, well done to Dr.
Malcolm Brock! And it is so good to see the name Dr.
E. F. Gordon now also being recognised further afield
(i.e., in Baltimore, Maryland, at Johns Hopkins University).
And finally, Madam President, I would like to
offer condolences to the family of the late Gloria Pearman—her husband Colin, her daughter Jo- Dina,
her son Craig, his wife Gladys and their grandchildren,
Gabriel and Mathew. Glor ia was an educator par extraordinaire. And her very last position was as Princ ipal of Port Royal Primary School, where I am sure she
helped to shepherd a number of young people through their primary school years. She was a devoted wife and mother, and will be definitely a great miss
in the Sandys community. And that comes from
someone who resides down here in St. George’s. So condolences to the Pearman family. And thank you,

Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Would any ot her Senator care to speak?

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Senator Ben Smith, you have the
floor.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to follow -on on those condolences
to [the family of] Mrs. Pearman, who was in her 90
th
year. I was a student at Port Royal Primary. So I know
fully what an important teacher she was. It is amazing
when you have an educator who touches the lives of
young people. Now in my position today, I can r emember those early years with just the attention that
she would give to each student, the way that she made sure to take out individual attention so that she
would speak to you and work with each and every
student to try to get them to reach their furthest.
I know that my sister Wendy , who is also a
teacher in Bermuda, can owe a lot of the reason why
she be came a teacher from some of the mentorship
that came from Gloria Pearman.
I know that she will be missed. It is important
that we acknowledge that those kinds of educators touch the lives of so many people, and this is som ething that I will never forget.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you. Thank
you so much.
We certainly at the Ministry of Youth, Culture
and Sports also concur with the congratulatory r emarks for our young athletes, especially a couple of
those mentioned by Senator Simmons. Their success
is a motivation for us all to continue to do the work
that we do each and every day. And so, certainly on
behalf of the Ministry, we certainly want to congrat ulate them. We know that their success is also our su ccess.
Particularly also in the time of great need, I
certainly want to congratulate the PLP branches for
Devonshire, constituency 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15,
all of the volunteers who recently this weekend a ttended to meals , to meet persons up in Devonshire. I
certainly want to recognise them and thank them for their charity.
Thank you so much.
84 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
And, Senator Robin Tucker, you indicated you
would like to speak. You have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I want to offer congratulations to the family of
Mr. Ernest Tucker, who was considered to be one the Canadian Broadcast Company’s [CBC] first Black
journalists. He was conducted into the CBC [News]
Hall of Fame recently. Mr. Tucker started his career
with CBC Toronto’s newsroom and was a radio and journalism teacher at John Abbott College for over 30
years. It is also believed that Mr. Tucker was the first
Black student at Ryerson’s School of Journalism in
Canada. So although Mr. Tucker did pass away in
January 2019 at the age of 87, acknowledging his
contributions to journalism is certainly something to
celebrate, [as he was] one of our other Bermudians
making impacts in places outside of Bermuda. So I
just want to offer his family congratulations on his being inducted.
I also want to send condolences to the friends
and family of Annette Michelle Wade. Annette was
also a friend of mine, as well. I met Annette in the late
1990s as we attended the same church. A few years
after we met, Annette became a member of a book -ofthe-month club that I actually started.
And before I knew it, she became the regular
host for our monthly meetings for announced events
and opening her house to a bunch of us. And it was always a lo t of good times and great fellowship. So I
will remember Annette as a kind, compassionate, tell -
you-what -she-thought kind of a person, who always
made time for a laugh and to have a really great
catch -up. Over the years, we had lost a bit of contact.
But w e did make time to see each other when we
could.
So I would just like to again extend sincere
condolences to her family, and of course the rest of
her friends, on her passing. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
congratulations and/or obituaries?
No. Then I would just like to say I am sure the
entire Senate body is very pleased to have heard the congratulations for all of our young people who have
been mentioned this morning by the various Senators.
Certainly they bode very well for Bermuda’s future.
And it is an encouragement, I think, to many other
young people as well.
I would also like to be associated with the
condolences that have been expressed regarding Gl oria P earman, whom I also knew quite well. And she
was, as has been said, a 90- year-old who actually
taught for 46 years. And I do recall attending Thank sgiving dinners to which several friends, including my husband and me, were in attendance. And she always demonstrated a regalness which was matched by her
humour. And she will be sorely missed. But she was a great educator and well -liked by all. And I think the
comments that have been made by you Senators have been greatly appreciated by her family.
With that s aid, then we will move on to our
final item on the agenda.

ADJOURNMENT

The President: Minister Peets, it is over to you.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I make a motion that we adjourn until Monday,
the 21st of December.

The President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
Would any Senator care to speak on the m otion to adjourn?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.
The President: Senator Marcus Jones, you have the
floor.

L. F. WADE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
BERMUDIANS SHOULD BE PROUD

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
I thank you for this opportunity to contribute to
the celebration of the recent opening of our new ai rport. From all indications, this is a fabulous facility that
has been built. It is getting rave revie ws from locals,
from those who have been able to utilise this building.
Unfortunately, it is a project that came under a fair
amount of contention and conflict. But one cannot de-ny with a straight face that this particular edifice is
nothing less than remarkable. And I believe that all
Bermudians should be proud of this particular buil ding.
But there is a narrative that has been bandied
about the community, one that can be categorised as a negative spin. Now, we understand that from its i nception there wer e disagreements on the financial
model that was used and that was put forward by the former OBA Government to bring this airport to completion. And that is a natural conflict and the toing and
froing that goes on between opposing parties within a
Westminst er political system. So we understand that
there are going to be the natural conflicts. We actually
saw it under the PLP Government with the hospital
that was built. There was some pushback from the
then- opposing party in the financial model of the hospital being built. And so we saw it again with the ai rport.
But I believe that situations like this, when all
of the disagreements have been stated and all of the
objections have been made, once we get a capital


Bermuda Senate project finished, I believe that we as a countr y need to
come together, put aside our differences and congratulate those who were instrumental in bringing this ai rport to fruition. We understand through the speeches that were held on the day that there were 885 Berm udians employed in constructing this building. There
were 400 contractors who were hired to help and contribute to the completion of this building.
At a time when business, especially in the
construction industry, is at an all -time low and many of
our craftsmen, many of our masons and carpenters
have been having a hard time finding work, surely we
as a nation can come together and look at this project
that was three years in the making that provided lots
of jobs and enterprise and economic stimulus for this country. Surely we can come together and applaud it
and congratulate it.
Now, we know that there are some who take
opportunities to focus on that regretful day, December
the 2
nd, 2016, when we know that a number of our
fellow citizens were pepper sprayed. Now, that parti cular event hits cl ose to home to me, because I r emember quite clearly that within three weeks of being
sworn in as a Senator for the Opposition I was recrui ted to be a part of the Bipartisan Joint Select Commi ttee that was chosen to actually do some investigation on the hap penings of that particular fateful day. I am
reminded of the speech that was made by President
Franklin Roosevelt. He made a statement referring to
the Second World War that it was “a date which will
live in infamy . . .” And I believe for Bermuda, December the 2
nd, 2016, will be a date that will live in infamy
for a lot of reasons.
And being on that Joint Select Committee allowed me to see the inner workings, the background
things that were going on, decisions that were being
made that many within the pub lic are not aware of.
Now, there was a 61- page report that was
produced by this bipartisan Joint Select Committee.
The instant it happened, like I said, December the 2nd,
2016, and 34 months later we were able to get an actual report. Now, that committee had to go through
many different hoops to be able to complete its mi ssion, from a number of Senators and MPs who had to give up their posts and had to regretfully not be able to continue. A number of things came up where persons could not continue. That, w e understand.
But the assignment was finished and completed. Some within the community were not satisfied with this report. Some felt that it did not go far enough
to actually analyse and investigate the activities that led up to the December 2
nd, 2016, event. But suffice it
to say, of the (I want to say) eight members of this
committee, there were hours of video footage that we
looked at to see for ourselves what actually transpired
during the day. We were able to interview a number of persons, not only t he victims. There were people who
were directly or indirectly involved with the decision-making of the day. But we cannot diminish or devalue the experiences of those within our community who
actually were victims in this event. We do not diminish
their pain and their suffering.
What I find incredibly sad and unfortunate is
that there are some within our community who will use the trauma that some within our community had to
endure as a means of political expediency. It is a sad
day when we as a community cannot come together
and look to bring about resolution and healing as opposed to using it as a leverage to make political
points.
Madam President, I will never be a part of any
activity that actively works to look for political a dvantage at the expense of our people in this country. You know, there is a saying that the traditional polit ician would avoid the truth in order to win an election. Well, I say to you quite candidly, Madam President, that does not fit my definition of a politician. I will walk
directly into the truth at the risk of losing an election,
Madam President. Truth and integrity cannot be com-promised. When we use our people as a leverage to
get a political point, I think that is shameful.
Now, if we look back on those events of the
day, recognise that the remit and the mandate of that
Parliamentary Joint Select Committee was very nar-row. Its mandate required that they investigate the
decisions that were made on the day. And I believe it
is fair to say that there were many contributors to the
decisions that were made on that day.
Now, I was naïve when I was recruited as a
part of this committee. Because I was under the i mpression that both parties, and Independents, were
coming together to bring about resolution and healing.
And once the i nvestigation was made into a report,
and its subsequent recommendations, that there
would be a groundswell of persons who were involved
in the reports, both parties would recognise their contributions to this sad day and go about the work of
bringing about healing and restoration. I really thought
that was going to be the case. I was so naïve. But I
am learning that despite the negativity that may try
and prevail, truth and genuine empathy for people
who are hurting always outdoes and overrules intentions t hat are used to bring a wedge between us.
Now, I was quite aware that during the course
of the investigation of this fateful day, December the 2
nd, 2016, as the minority group of this bipartisan s elect committee (being on the Opposition), if I had any contrary or counterarguments to what that committee
decided on, I realised that I had the privilege of writing a minority report. But, Madam President, I was so i ntent on demonstrating to the public that we politicians who are on either side of the aisle under a situation
like this that hurt all of us —not just those who were
victims directly, but those of us within the community
who had grandmothers and aunties and uncles and
relatives and friends who also were hurt by this type of charade —I really thought that it was important that
rather than be a part of a minority report, that I would
86 16 December 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate collaborate. That is Senator Michelle Simmons’s word
that I am going to use all year because it is very i mportant. Collaboration was my thrust.
And mind you, at the time when we were d eliberating on this report, there were things in the draft
that I was 100 per cent against. I thought it was unfair.
I thought it did not give a true reflection of what happened on the day. And because I was part of the m inority, raising my voice louder did not get my point
across any better. I had to make compelling arg uments with the chairman, who happened to be the
Honourable Kim Swan. And he and other committee
members were not too fussy about some of the observations that I made. So trust me, Madam Pres ident. There was a fair amount of horse- trading that
was going on behind the scenes to make sure that we
came to an agreement of a report that we can live
with.
Now, Madam President, you would know that
in the business world partners come toget her and they
try and put a business together. There is never a 100 per cent agreement. In fact, most married couples
will admit to you, I guess with a gun to their head, that they do not agree 100 per cent of the time with their
spouse! So by and large, of ten in my own personal life
I always go by the 80/20 rule. If I am going into a par tnership, if I am going into an agreement with som eone, I recognise [that] the reality is 100 per cent
agreement generally is unattainable. I can live with 80 per cent. Twenty per cent I may disagree with, I
may have to swallow; but I can live with 80 per cent.
And that was the case here with this report that we produced after numerous months of deliberating.
And this committee had so many things that it
had to get around. W e had a number of witnesses
whom we asked to come—

The President: Senator Jones, you have two more
minutes.
Sen. Marcus Jones: I have two more minutes. Okay,
Madam President. I am going to wrap this up.
It is important that we do not use the victim isation mind- set of people within our community for
political leverage. We must look for healing. In situ ations like this where people on either side of the polit ical aisle come together to make recommendations that we do not repeat the same things again, where
we validate the trauma that our fellow community
members experienced and come up with ways and
means that we cannot do the same thing again —
especially when there is equal blame between the
Opposition and the Government at the time, the
Speaker of the Hous e, the Deputy Governor, the Pe ople’s Campaign —there are many contributors to the
bad decision- making.
But I close, Madam President, by saying my
heart goes out to those who were traumatised by that
pepper spray. I would suggest to you that now is the time to use forgiveness. I echo the words of the great
former Speaker of the House, Mr. Stanley Lowe, who said, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Now is a day
when we need to administer forgiveness for those
who made bad decisions on that day so that we c an
heal as a nation and as a country.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Hearing none, then as has been indicated by
the Government Leader in the Senate a nd Minister,
Dr. E. G. Peets, the Senate stands adjourned until
Monday, the 21
st of December.
Thank you all, Senators, for your time today.
Some Hon. Senators: Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
[At 11:49 am, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Monday, 21 December 2020]