July 29, 2020

Good morning, Senator Richardson.
You have the floor.

AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE
BERMUDA COLLEGE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDED 31 MARCH 2018 AND 31 MARCH 2019

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Good morning to m y fellow Senators and the listening audience.
The Bermuda College Financial Statements
for 2018/19, Madam President . I hereby present for
the information of Senate the Audited Financial
Statements of the Bermuda College for the fiscal year
ended 31 March 2018 and 31 March 2019. And Senators can access a copy of the financial statements
from their tablets and off of the parliamentary website.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Notices of Motions: The first one is the Tourism Investment (St. Geor ge’s Club) Order 2020. And
that is in the name of Senator Caesar.
You have the floor.
1110 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate NOTICES OF MOTION

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ST. GEORGE’S CLUB) ORDER 2020

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ROSEWOOD BERMUDA) ORDER 2020

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you. Good morning,
Madam President and the listening audience.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
consideration of Senate the draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment (St. George’s Club) Order 2020
and the Tourism Investment (Rosewood Bermuda)
Order 2020, each proposed to be made by the Mini ster responsible for T ourism with the written agreement
of the Minister of Finance under the provisions of sec-tion 5 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017. I give notice that at a later point in the meeting, I will move that
the sai d draft Orders be approved.

The President: Thank you. And I believe you have a
second . . . oh, you did them both. Thank you very
much, Senator Caesar.
The third item is the Exchange Agreement
between the Corporation of Hamilton and the
McCalmon Trust PT C Limited.
And that is Senator Campbell, your notice.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Good morning, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Good morning.

EXCHANGE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
CORPORATION OF HAMILTON AND THE
McCALMON TRUST PTC LIMITED

Sen. Vance Campbell: Good morning, Senators and
the listening audience.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
consideration of Senate the following draft proposals:
• Exchange Agreement between the Corpor ation of Hamilton and the McCalmon Trust PTC
Limited , as trustee of the McC almon Trust,
regarding areas that are now situate at 5
Brooklyn Lane in the City of Hamilton; and
• Exchange of Land Agreement between the
Corporation of Hamilton and the Trustees of
the Dianthus Trust regarding areas of land
situate at Canal Road/ Laffan Str eet in the City
of Hamilton; and
• a Sale and Purchase Agreement between the
Corporation of St. George’s and the W. M. E.
Meyer & Company Limited regarding the lot of
land known as Lot A, situate at Penno ’s Drive
in the Town of St. George’s.

Each Agreement proposed to be approved by the
Legislature in accordance with the provisions of sec-tion 20(1A) and 20(1B) of the Municipalities Act 1923.
And I give notice that at a later point in the meeting I will move that the said draft proposals be approved.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.

PETITIONS
The President: There are none.

STATEMENTS

The President: And we have several. The first one is
the Public Procurement Policy Update, and that is in
the name of Senator Simmons -Wade.
You have the floor.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you. Good
morning, Madam President.
The President: Good morning.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT POLICY UPDATE

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: The Office of Project
Management and Procurement (OPMP) was established in 2011 to regulate all procurement of goods,
services and works in the public sector. However, the
Code of Practice [the Code] for Project Management
and Procurement was not introduced until July the 2nd,
2018.
Madam President, the Government recogn ises that public procurement policy must be both robust
and flexible in order to systematically and practically
address the changing economic needs of Berm uda.
Madam President, the changes to the Code have el evated our procurement processes in line with intern ational best practices and standards. Public bodies now
have more flexibility in choosing procurement met hods that will help achieve greater business v alue while
also mitigating potential contractual risks.
Madam President, the latest version of the
Code, which Cabinet recently approved and [which]
came into effect on July 1, 2020, allows public officers
to be creative and flexible in their approach to pr ocurement. Understanding and adaptation of the Code
is key to promoting consistency and a standard ap-proach across the public sector, thereby reducing inef-ficiencies often associated with regulatory matters.
Madam President, in summary, the changes
to the Code are as follows:
1. The Code was amended to include two additional categories to which the Code does not apply ;
however , they do require approval from the appropr iate accounting officer or the Financial Secretary. They
are (a) media, communication and public relations
companies , with the approval of the a ccounting ofBermuda Senate ficer; and ( b) accounting and auditing firms for specific
services , with the approval of the Financial Secretary .
2. A new Procurement Review Committee has
been established to review all unsolicited proposals
(USPs). This c ommittee is created to assist with the
assessment and evaluation of unsolicited proposals
that are submitted to various g overnment ministries.
The committee will consist of the Financial Secretary,
the Permanent Secretary responsible for OPMP , and
the Director of OPMP.
3. The Procurement Thresholds and Approval
of Contracts values have been amended. Procur ement thresholds have three levels, and new procur ement methods apply:
• under $10,000;
• $10,000 to $49,999; and
• $50,000 to $99,999.
These changes are covered under section 11 of the
Code. The intermediate value procurement threshold
has increased to values of $100,000 to $249,999. The
high-value procurement threshold has increased to
above $250,000 and is covered under section 13 of the Code.
4. The Single Source Procurement (section 24
of this Code) has been amended as follows: Public
officers no longer have to obtain prior approval from
the Director of OPMP; however, p ublic officers must
inform the Director of OPMP of their single -source
procurement. The Director of OPMP may conduct an
inquiry to determine justification and process steps.
The director shall report quarterly to Cabinet in matters of compliance.
Madam President, the steps that were taken
improved effic iencies within the system, but do not go
far enough to ensure economic growth and prosperity
within small business es, gender, race, and disability
ownership. Madam President, to ensure that the Government’s aim is being met, there has to be a way of
measur ing success based on Government ’s aim.
Madam President, Senators may not be aware, but in
Bermuda a “ small business ” is defined under the
Bermuda Economic Development Corporation Act
which states [at section 2] : “‘small business ’ means a
Bermudian- owned an d owner -operated business e nterprise with—(a) gross annual sales of less than one million dollars; or (b) an annual payroll of less than
five hundred thousand dollars.”
As a result of this definition and due to tec hnical work at the Accountant General’s O ffice to ident ify and label vendors, I can report the Government’s
success in awarding contracts to s mall businesses.
Madam President, since 2017 the Government has
awarded more than $38 million dollars in contracts to
small businesses , as follows:
• financi al year 2017/ 18—$13 million;
• financial year 2018/19 —$13 million; and
• financial year 2019/20 —$12 million.
Three years prior $33 million was paid out to small businesses, as follows: • financial year 2014/15 —$12 million;
• financial year 2015/16 —$11 million; an d
• financial ye ar 2016/ 17—$10 million.
Madam President, for the first time our Government is able to identify and measure the value of what it pays to small business es. But this does not go
far enough. Government’s vision to use its purchasing power to pr omote equality of opportunity with regard
to disability, gender and race is being fully met.
Madam President, for decades business ow ners who joined the right golf club, went to the right pr ivate school or knew the right people would always win
Government contracts. Having been awarded a co ntract once, they would subsequently get more contracts partly by doing good work and partly by “ playing
the game” to get another contract. Some businesses
being more successful than others is normal , as we
choose to li ve in a capitalist society, but not if that
success is earned by unfair practices.
Madam President, this Government is not going to rest on its laurels and pat itself on the back; we are pushing for further diversity. Our aim is to replicate the success o f awarding contracts to small business,
and we intend to use Government’s purchasing power
to promote equality of opportunity with regard to disability, gender and race. Madam President , we will still
seek to utilise the public purse to create opportunitie s
for business owners who were marginalised in the
past, particularly Black -owned small businesses , as
well as others deemed “ unsuitable” by past Gover nments. If we genuinely want to diversify our economy
and economically empower those Bermudians who up until now have not had a piece of the economic pie,
we must take steps to make this happen.
Madam President, to make this happen we
are working on identifying, as we did for small bus inesses, all those companies that are doing business
with Government as far as disability, gender or race, in regard to at least 51 per cent ownership. Once this
is determined, then based on Government’s approved matrix these companies will score a higher grade,
hence having the opportunity to receive more contracts from Governm ent.
Madam President, we have learned that the
impact of the Government purse is so strong that
maintaining the status quo is not good enough. Tal king is not good enough; action must be taken, and
action will be taken .
Madam President, it is vital that business
owners know that Government is open for your bus iness, because it is and we are.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
The Second Statement is the Ageing Well
Committee—Ageing in All Policies. And that is yours
as well, Senator Simmons -Wade. You have the floor.

1112 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate AGEING WELL COMMITTEE —AGEING IN ALL
POLICIES

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, my Senate colleagues and
the listening audience, as the Chair of the Ageing Wel l
Committee, I will be highlighting legislation and policies that impact on the lives of our Bermudian seniors.
Our Government has demonstrated great commitment
to our seniors over the years. However , I must co mmend the Premier for having the foresight to establish
the Ageing Well Committee in 2017, whose mandate
is to develop targeted policies , working along with
Government, the community and the third sect or to
address the ageing population and its impact on Ber-muda. This committee will continue to drive forward
policies to insure seniors are always front and centre,
ageing in all policies .
Madam President, I must first declare my i nterest. I am a “pre-senior .” I have many friends, family
and colleagues who are also “ pre-seniors ” and seniors. My vested interest in the success of this commi ttee is that , along with the many “ pre-senior s” and se niors, I will also soon benefit from these legislation and
policie s. So will a few of my Senate colleagues.

[Laughter]
[Inaudible interjections ]

An Hon. Senator : I am not a pre- Senior.

The President: I am a senior.
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: I did not call any
names , Madam President.
Madam President, we are livi ng longer and
having fewer children. A s I have stated previously in
these Honourable Chambers, this will significantly i mpact our Island socially and economically. Life expectancy at birth is 78.3 years for males and 84.7 years
for females. Government stat isticians predict that the
proportion of seniors will climb to 24.9 per cent in
2026 to approximately 15,825. During the same time
the number of seniors for every 100 people is expected to be 39.9 per cent . That is 40 people to every
100 people on this Isl and.
Madam President, t oday I will highlight some
of the legislation and policies that have been enacted
with our seniors in mind:
• 2020 —Instated a program me through the
Bermuda Housing Corporation to facilitate i nterest -free home improvement loans of up to
$15,000 for families who need to modify their
home or that of their senior loved ones ;
• 2020 —the Department of Social I nsurance
benefits increased by 1.2 per cent . Instituted
annual cost -of-living increases for social i n-surance pensions that will be link ed to infl ation;
• 2020 —actually very recently, last week, the
Parliament Election Amendment [Act] 2020,
which enables seniors who are sick and shut
in, [or] homebound the opportunity to finally
vote in an election;
• 2019 —Public service retirement age rose t o
68 years , which has preserved the right for
persons to retire at 65, but permits a post -
holder to work up to 68 years old without the
permission to do so. This will allow persons
who wish to work longer the opportunity to do
so;
• 2019 —an increase in war veterans ’ and
spouses ’ pensions from $800 to $1,000 ;
• 2019 —Bermudian Charter of Rights and Responsibilities of the Elderly and Adults i n Need
of Long- Term Care and Assistance . The
overall themes that drive the charter are dignity, rights and responsibilities . As a society we
are judged by how we treat our vulnerable;
• 2019 —the National Pension Scheme (Occ upational Pensions) Amendment Act 2019
amendments allows members or former
members of a defined contribution plan and
members of a local retirement product to
make a one- time withdrawal of up to 25 per
cent of their account balance;
• 2012 —and this is very important to me. S eniors who are experiencing financial hardship
who own their own home or have interest in a
home can apply for f inancial assistance as a
result of changes to the Financial Assistance
Regulations 2004;
• 2009 —FutureCare introduced as affordable
government -sponsored health insurance for
seniors. This plan provides more coverage
than the basic Government Health Insurance
Plan [HIP] ;
• Recently, in 2017 —personal home care benefit were added to FutureCare;
• We e xpanded the home health and seniors
care benefit s under FutureCare in the health
care system , and this was last year ;
• It was also last year, the i ntroduction of local
radiation coverage for HIP and FutureCare;
• Human Rights Amendment Act [ 2013] recognises age as a basis for discrimination in the
provision of goods and services;
• Amendments to the Residential Care and
Nursing Home Act [ 1999] ;
• 2017 —our first l ong-term care action plan;
• 2017 —first propos ed ageing plan; and
• [2008] —Seniors Abuse Registry was formed.
Senior abuse includes physical , sexual and
psychological abuse; financial exploitation;


Bermuda Senate physical and psychological neglect when the
alleged person has a duty of care.
Madam President, collectiv ely our seniors’
wealth of knowledge and experience equate to hundreds of thousands of years. They have cared for, educated, nurtured, protected and guided many generations including current and future leaders. “As a
country, we have a moral and social res ponsibility to
care for our seniors and ensure that they have access
to affordable healthcare, a decent place to live and
services that support them as they age.”
Seniors are an important segment of our
community. We must always treat them with respect
and dignity. The Ageing Well Committee is committed
to encourage and support collaboration, coordination and action across all sectors of government and the
community to address the opportunities and challen ges of ageing and working toward ageing in all poli cies.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
I believe you have a third Statement on the COVID -19
update. You have the floor. Continue.

COVID -19 UPDATE
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes, I do. Thank you.
Madam Preside nt, Senate colleagues and the
listening audience, I know everyone is aware that the
Minister of Health provides daily updates on Berm uda’s COVID -19 status. Nevertheless, it pleases me to
be able to address this Honourable Chamber with some of the key issues that we need to take note of in our “ new normal .” COVID -19
has changed the world,
and with that change Bermuda has had to adapt. We are all well aware, of course, that Bermuda’s testing
regime has been extensive. We have conducted over
20,000 tests to date, ranking us 10
th in the world on
tests per capita. Over 14,000 individuals have been
tested. Prior to the airport reopening, we had tested
around 12 per cent of the population; however, with
the traveller testing regime in place, about 23 per cent
of these tests are repeat tests.
Madam President, I believe we are all aware
that Bermuda has had a total of 156 COVID -19 cases,
and that currently there are s ix active cases which
are, thankfully, not hospitalised. All 10 new cases we
have had this month were imported since the borders
re-opened, with nine imported from Atlanta and one
from Toronto. I will note that this information was as of
Tuesday —Tuesday af ternoon. Members of the public may have noticed that the number of tests carried out daily by the Ministry of Health continues to rise
significantly. This is largely due to the opening of our
borders to commercial flights. This has taken a tr emendous amount of planning by teams in ministries across the government. Meetings take place daily with
a core group of individuals who troubleshoot any i ssues, identify solutions and keep track of current and future needs, pre- empting any possible issues, misi nterpret ations or policy tweaks. It is thanks to them that
we have been able to successfully action this enor-mous undertaking.
In particular, I want to recognise our testing
teams, who have been swabbing and processing over 500 tests a day, with those at the airp ort, at the var ious sites and at the government laboratory, testing
hundreds of travellers daily. Their energy, enthusiasm
and dedication to public health are beyond compare,
and we must all be grateful for their efforts. The country owes them all a debt of gratitude as they keep us
safe from COVID -19.
As the volume of travellers increases, our
testing teams and their capability are becoming i ncreasingly stretched. Incoming travellers are tested on
arrival at their port of entry. They also have to comply with further tests on days four, eight and fourteen after
arriving. In addition, visitors are required to have a
negative COVID -19 test taken seven days before
travelling to Bermuda. Then they have to quarantine in
their rooms until a negative arrival test result is r eceived around eight to twelve hours later.
Residents are not required to have a test before returning home; however, if they come in without it, they have to self -quarantine at home until their
fourth test day. We encourage residents to test b efore
returning to Bermuda for their own safety and convenience.
Madam President, with the long weekend
coming up, it has come to our attention that some
people, Bermudians, are trying to get tests locally as a
pre-departure test for their return. This i s not permi tted. Once you leave Bermuda and you enter a juri sdiction with community transmission of COVID -19, you
are at risk of being exposed. The pre- departure test
needs to be taken in the place with community transmission. A test taken in Bermuda does not count as a
pre-departure test for your return to Bermuda.
Our enforcement teams will be vigilant of this
to ensure adherence to the law and its spirit. Retur ning residents with a pre- departure test taken before
leaving Bermuda will be quarantined for four days on
their return, per the Quarantine (COVID -19) (No. 3)
Order 2020.
Madam President, the teams have been r eceiving many enquiries from employers across various
sector with regard to staff travelling overseas and then
returning to work, the main question being, When can
they safely return to work? The answer to this depends on whether the employee works in a high- risk
setting such as one with medically vulnerable indivi duals or institutionalised populations such as a health
care setting. If so, th en those employees may want to
consider avoiding nonessential travel. Of course, this
is not always practical, and in those cases where
workers have family overseas, an ability to travel and
see loved ones could have a detrimental effect on that individual ’s mental health.
1114 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate In those cases, we have to ask ourselves,
What is the safest way for these individuals to return
to work after travel? The gold standard is 14 days of
quarantine with prescribed testing procedures to pr ovide that extra layer of security. Employers should
consider whether an employee can work from home
during these 14 days. If they must return to work (with
the requisite traveller testing), determine how they can
minimise their contact with others as much as poss ible. Each employer must decide what this looks like for their employees. However, the Ministry of Health is currently in the process of developing further guidelines on this issue, which will be distributed shortly
and posted to the government website.
Madam President, I want to urge everyone to
continue to wash their hands frequently, use hand
sanitisers before and after entering any store or public
building, shield our medically vulnerable, avoid congregating in large groups, and continue to wear a
mask and keep six feet apart i f you are not wearing
one. Physical distancing, mask wearing and hand h ygiene are proven protective mechanisms, and we
need to consistently be on our guard to ensure that
we are maintaining these clinical standards for the
foreseeable future.
Nobody knows for sure what our future holds,
and we have to be cautious and safe in how we act
today. It is more important than ever that we not take
our collective eyes off the ball for even a moment. If
we do, this could lead to increased numbers of patients requiri ng hospitalisation, critical care and,
worse, more fatalities. We are a tiny island, and despite very good health care service delivery, it would not take much to overwhelm our health care system
and the hospital.
Madam President, while COVID -19 did enter
some of our care homes, unlike other countries our
teams did a phenomenal job containing outbreaks and
preventing the sort of outcomes we saw elsewhere.
Yet despite this, 30 per cent of all cases and 30 per
cent of all deaths were related to care homes, which is
a stark reminder of the vulnerability of this population.
We cannot slacken our standards to protect our sen-iors. We all have a huge responsibility to care for each
other and to protect our vulnerable community. We
are our brother's keeper and hav e an enormous r esponsibility to each other, to support and help each
other and to protect one another.
In closing, Madam President, as a Gover nment I can assure you we are doing all that we poss ibly can to protect you. However, it is essential that we
all remember that ultimately it is our individual contr ibutions that will go the furthest in determining how we,
our families and our country fare.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
The next Statement is the Minist ry of Labour
Update, and this is Senator Caesar. You have the floor.

MINISTRY OF LABOUR UPDATE
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Yes. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, my remarks today will f ocus on updates in two areas within the
Ministry of Labour: (1) the unemployment benefit; and (2) the D epartment of Workforce Development.
Madam President, the public is aware that the
Government’s unemployment benefi t, which was extended from 12 to 16 weeks, comes to an end on J uly 31st. At that time 3,802 applicants will receive their
last payment. This number consists of 2,870 Berm udians, 172 spouses of Bermudians, 50 permanent
resident certificate holders and 700 w ork permit hol ders. This will leave 1,555 individuals continuing to r eceive payments until their 16- week period ends.
With the end of the unemployment benefit,
there remain many in our community who are not yet on their feet and still require financial ai d to provide
the necessities of life such as food, shelter and clot hing. To address this, those individuals who have completed the unemployment benefit and are still in need
of financial aid will need to first apply for financial assistance through the Dep artment of Financial Assi stance. From this past Monday, 27 of July 2020, Fina ncial Assistance applications have become available from the lobby of Global House, 43 Church Street,
Hamilton. Should anyone be unable to collect an a pplication, they must contac t the department to make
alternative arrangements. For additional information,
individuals can call the Department of Financial Assi stance, and that hotline number, for the listening audience, is 297- 7867.
When filling out the application form, please
note that the form must be 100 per cent completed for
the applicant to be considered for assistance. Once all the information is on the form, [it] must be submitted in
the mailbox located in Global House. The financial
assistance process is rigorous, and appl ications will
be vetted and applicants will be notified accordingly.
Should anyone’s application for assistance be a pproved, they will begin receiving the approved monthly
award payments.
For those persons who are not eligible for f inancial assistance, the Government wishes to advise that we will introduce supplemental unemployment
assistance. And further details are forthcoming about
the nature of that financial support in coming public announcements. However, eligibility for this support
will likely be a s follows: One must
• be a Bermudian or spouse of a Bermudian;
• be a [recent] recipient of the Unemployment
Benefit Fund;
• have fully completed the Financial Assistance
application process; and


Bermuda Senate • meet other criteria that will be shared in due
course.
Persons w ho receive such a benefit must i mmediately notify Government when they commence
any form of employment, as they will no longer be el igible. It must be stated that the aid given is only a
temporary measure to help persons through this diff icult time.
Madam President, the Department of Wor kforce Development provides assistance to individuals
who are seeking employment by providing them with
work -readiness training, career guidance, scholarships and bursaries for retraining, and apprenticeship
opportunities. Due to the COVID -19 safety measures
taken by the Government, the department had r educed its traditional activities to administer the unemployment benefit. As we continue in phase four, the
department has recommenced with various services.
Services and pr ogrammes included the deli very of the Summer Internship Programme [SIP] for 50 high school students, who received a stipend of [up to] $1,600 at the end of the four -week programme. Also
ongoing is the 10- week Summer Employment Pr ogramme for college and uni versity students, which
also provides work experience and a weekly wage of
$600. The programme has 75 interns enrolled in it and
lasts for a period of 10 weeks. In the area of Career Development, where officers engage with members in
the public to provide job- readiness support, the department has begun meeting with clients virtually. Cl ients are also seen in- office where necessary to assist
with updating r ésumés and work with employers to
ensure unemployed persons are considered for job
vacancies.
Madam Pr esident, the Training Section of the
Department of Workforce Development discussions
have resumed with external stakeholders such as
employers, industry associations and other industry
educational partners, regarding existing and new
training programmes. T he objective is to gauge the
level of training, qualifications and employment opportunities available to Bermudians. Training officers are
obtaining feedback on recommended short - and longterm programmes and services which need to be pr ovided in the post -COVID -19 era in Bermuda.
Madam President, scholarship awards. Additionally, the department has collaborated with the N ational Training Board Scholarship Committee to offer 10 scholarships in 2020 for students studying in the areas of
1. hospitality;
2. informat ion technology;
3. health care;
4. vocational; and
5. technical trades.
Those scholarship awards are to be announced in the
next month.
The department continues to work with the
Office of the Tax Commissioner to offer the payroll tax exemption scheme, which provides relief for emplo yers who are committed to training Bermudians. To
date, a total of 11 companies and 23 Bermudians
have been awarded approval for training.
The department is now implementing its str ategic two- phase plan. The first phase aims to target
industry sectors where there may be a reduction in
work permit renewals, to identify opportunities to get
Bermudians employed. The second phase focuses on
developing a talent pipeline for Bermuda by
(1) anticipating the future needs of the various industry sectors; (2) working collaboratively with industry
partners to design and develop training programmes
and apprenticeships; and (3) providing the funding in
the form of scholarships and assistance to those individuals seeking further education to enable Ber mudians to have the skills to compete. Ultimately, the plans
focus on what is needed in this new era of COVID -19
to get Bermudians employed.
Also under the Training Section, the depar tment offers national certifications in four designated occupations: (1) welding; (2) electrical; (3) automotive
service technician; and (4) landscape gardening. The
objective is to have all registered tradesmen in the
four designated occupations obtain national certific ation.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
We will now move on to our fifth Statement,
and that is the Cup Match and Emancipation Celebr ations. And this will be given by Senator Richardson.
You have the floor.

CUP MATCH AND EMANCIPATION
CELEBRATIONS 2020

Sen. Anthony Richa rdson: Thank you, Madam President, and good morning again.
Madam President, based on how the pandemic is raging, ravaging communities across the globe, it
should come as no surprise that our beloved Cup
Match was by necessity cancelled this year in the tr aditional sense. However, Madam President, despite our disappointment, we saw this as an opportunity for the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs to
focus on the crux and true meaning of the holiday.
The emancipation of enslaved Bermudians is, in fact,
the origin of Cup Match. And despite the current lim itations on social gathering, our ability and desire to celebrate that origin is a signal of the deep roots of our culture and heritage.
Madam President, particularly now during this
time of shared s acrifice and shared responsibility, the
department has placed its focus on partnering with
individuals, organisations and community groups to
support and highlight not only the work that is being done in our community, but also those who have hi storically supported our celebrations and commemor a1116 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate tions of Cup Match and Emancipation . This year the
most significant collaboration is visible in our partnership wit h the Somerset Club and St. George’s Cricket
Club! We have worked closely with—
[Inaudible interjection and laughter ]

Sen. Anthony Richardson: —Mr. Vashun Blanchette
and Mr. Neil Paynter, to develop a series of events
that have been endorsed by the clubs as our signature programme for the holiday. Additionally, Madam President, the Department of Community and Cultural
Affairs has worked with cricketers, historians,
Bermemes, [Department of] Libraries and Archives,
CITV, Method Media, tour operators, musi cians and
Friendly Societies to provide opportunities for the pub-lic to learn about the connections between Mary Prince’s narrative, published in 1831, the Emancipation on 1
st August 1834, our first Cup Match in 1902,
the establishment of the Cup Match hol iday in 1947
and, of special significance this year, the establis hment of Mary Prince Day in 2020.
It is clear that this observation has evolved
over the years, but one thing has remained constant:
No matter how it is celebrated amongst our citizenry
from year to year, this remains our most culturally si gnificant holiday, and we were determined that this
year should be no different.
Madam President, in terms of educating our
public about our history, Mrs. Shirley Pearman provi ded on July 21 about how the public art that we see on
a daily basis throughout the City of Hamilton tells a larger story of the African– Bermudian resistance.
There was also opportunity to tune in to a webinar on July 23
rd hosted by Titan Express and featuring R ashida Godwin as she to ld stories of Emancipation gif ted to us by Mary Prince and the Friendly Societies.
There was a socially distanced walking tour
exploring Bermuda’s Black Mecca from Princess Street to Union Street, narrated by Mr. Charles Jeffers
on July 25
th. These provid ed an ideal opportunity to
learn more about this area of African– Bermudian ec onomic empowerment.
The historical jewel in the crown will be a lecture by Dr. Clarence Maxwell made available to the public on our very first Mary Prince Day, as we talk
about our eminent National Hero’s struggle to freedom. Dr. Maxwell will follow this talk with another the
following week on the 8
th of August. A webinar hosted
by the Department of Libraries and Archives, in collaboration with the Department of Community and
Cultural Affairs, which will also feature Dr. Theodore
Francis II, speaking about Black resistance, and Dr.
Quito Swan speaking about the Black Power mov ement.
Madam President, for those who want to know
more about Cup Match and our sporting legacies,
from cr icketers both current and seasoned, there has
been a series of conversations and interviews posted on CITV. We are also excited to partner with Method
Media, who will provide a series of interviews that will
give us the flavour of Cup Match, tapping into t he
heart and soul of why the holiday is one of our very, very favourites.
Madam President, Cup Match would not be
Cup Match without a nod to at least some of the cel ebratory parts of the holiday. Bermemes and the D epartment of Community and Cultural Affai rs are teaming up for a virtual Cup Match celebration. We will not spoil the fun by giving out the details at this time, but rest assured—this is not to be missed. The Depar tment of Community and Cultural Affairs will also be
organising an Emancipation Tri bute Concert in collaboration with Bermemes made available online, as well
as via CITV, to the public on Mary Prince Day.
Madam President, details for all of the information I have provided today are available on the D epartment of Community and Cultural A ffairs website at
www.communityandculture.bm
. I encourage the public
to take full advantage of the many and varied offerings
and to celebrate the holidays safely. And if people go
there, Madam President, you will see there is quite an
extensive list of contributors that can be enjoyed.
Madam President, in February of this year,
this Honourable Senate approved an amendment to
the Public Holidays Act 1947 to rename the second
day of Cup Match from Somers Day to Mary Prince
Day. Madam President, at that time I advised the
Honourable Senate that our National Hero, Mary
Prince, is recognised on the world stage for the crucial
role she played in the abolition of slavery throughout
the British Empire by telling the painful story of her life
as an enslaved person. It was only fitting that the second day of Cup Match be renamed for her.
Madam President, it is also fitting that we pr ovide a suitable location for education and reflection not only on the legacy of Mary Prince, but of those
who have followed her in pursuing social justice and came to Bermuda with the intention of inspiring those yet to come. To that end, the Department of Comm unity and Cultural Affairs assembled an advisory committee comprising technical officers from the Depar tments of Education and Natural Resources, the D epartment of Lands and Buildings and the Ministry of Education; as well as experts in Bermuda’s visual arts
community, and members of the Department of
Community and Cultural Affairs Em ancipation Committee to consider a suitable site committed to Mary
Prince.
Madam President, the committee has consi dered a number of sites, and based on their detailed
recommendations, Devonshire Bay Park was determined as the most appropriate site. Mary Prince was
born in Brackish Pond. Brackish Pond was the coll oquial name at that time of the Parish of Devonshire,
and most of the houses where she was enslaved were
also in Devonshire. This site not only reflects her connection to Devonshire, but the park’ s good access,


Bermuda Senate central location, tranquillity and proximity to the ocean,
facing south, as an acknowledgement of the part of
her life spent in the Caribbean provides an ideal loc ation to commemorate Mary Prince. Devonshire Bay has now been renamed.
Madam President, Minister Foggo announced
in the House of Assembly on the 17
th of July that Devonshire Bay Park will be renamed as Mary Prince Emancipation Park on Monday, the 27
th of July —last
Monday. Minister Foggo unveiled the new signage at
the park, and I w ould encourage everyone to visit the
park and take in the views south across the ocean and reflect on how far we have come, and yet how far
we have to go.
Madam President, there will shortly begin a
process of public consultation on the design and siting
of a suitable monument in the park to recognise Mary
Prince and provide a focal point for the public to visit
and reflect not only on her life, but on the quest for
social justice that continues to this day.
Madam President, I would be remiss in ma king a Statement regarding the importance of the hist ory and heritage of Black Bermudians if I did not once
again publicly acknowledge the loss of activist Dr. Eva
Hodgson and, most recently, film legend Mr. Earl
Cameron. They each fought against racism and segregation in totally different ways. And our narrative of
who we are as a people is much, much richer with
these two giants as part of our cultural tapestry.
Finally, on this note I wish all of Bermuda a
happy and safe blue- and-blue Cup Match.

[Laughter]

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson. And I believe you have a second Statement
on the Middle School and School Reform Update.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, I do.

The President: You ca n continue.

MIDDLE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL
REFORM UPDATE
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, those in the listening audience might also want to be advised that I have tried to
go completely paperless today. And so far I think I
have succeeded. I have got one piece of paper, but
most of my things are digital.
The President: Good for you. Congratulations.
[Laughter]
Sen. Anthony Richardson: So, Madam President, on
that note I am pleased to provide my fellow Senators
with an u pdate on the Government’s pledge to reform
our current education system that includes the phas-ing-out of middle schools
. The Government’s 2017
winning elec tion platform states that a long- term objective for education is to “reform public education by
phasing out middle schools and introducing signature
schools at the secondary level, which focus on the
learning styles and interests of our children, including
academic, technical and the trades, business, sports,
arts, and special needs education.” Within the same
election platform, the PLP Government also pledged
to “review and implement the recommendations from
the ongoing Department of Education’s Strategic Review . . .” This strategic review was officially released
to the public in 2018 and is referred to as Plan 2022.
Madam President, in March of this year the
Minister of Education informed the public of a longterm adaptive strategy in Plan 2022 which wi ll be the
guide for the planning for the phasing out of middle
schools and the realignment of the current system ,
namely, Strategy 5.3.5, which states, “To ensure co llege and career readiness, [we will] review the current
structure of schools (primary, middle, senior) and r evise for maximum student success, including the co nsider ation of special school designs to meet unique
student needs or interests (5.3.5).”
Madam President, the Ministry of Education is
currently overseeing the most substantial change to
Bermuda’s public education system in 20 years. Such
a massive change cannot be done in haste, nor can it
be done without constant collaboration with the stak eholders. As Plan 2022 was developed with extensive
community input, the plan to reform our publ ic school
system will undergo similar scrutiny before any
changes are made. To quote our Honourable Premier
when asked about education reform in the House of
Assembly, We will measure not once, not twice but
three times before we cut.
Madam President, I am happy to inform my
fellow Senators and the public that despite COVID -19
the planning to phase out middle schools and return to
a two -tier system of grade (or primary) schools and
signature (or high) schools has continued. Since the
Minister’s last updat e in March 2020, a blueprint for
the future of the Bermuda Public School System has been developed. This blueprint has been shared with
key stakeholders over the last two months, and their valuable feedback has been recorded. It will be used
for the next s tages of the plan development. During
these last two months, we have presented this blueprint to the Cabinet; the PLP caucus group; the Opposition; the Board of Education; the Department of E ducation staff; primary school principals and pre- school
administ rators; middle school and senior school
teaching staff; preschool and primary school teaching
staff; executive members of PTAs for Hope Academy,
primary, middle and senior schools; the Executive
1118 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Boards of the BUT, BPSU and BIU; the executive
members of boards for all aided schools; and the
Bermuda Educators Council.
Madam President, presentations are also
planned for school custodians and administrative as-sistants, a cross section of students and members of
the broader community.
Madam President, the blueprint developed is
the result of two years of data collection, many colla borative meetings and studying of best international
practice. We have a vision that sees changes to the education structure with the removal of middle
schools, changes to the alignment of schools to accommodate new ways of teaching and changes in
how teachers teach.
Madam President, the blueprint will see us
look at our current curriculum to evaluate it and de-termine the best way forward. It is desired to see all
schools provide equal access to quality education with
enhanced delivery to provide
• a quality academic foundation;
• visual and performing arts;
• school sporting teams;
• entrepreneurship embedded throughout , as
we want to produce employer s and emplo yees who are financially liter ate;
• schools that practise restorative practices to
improve relationships among students and
teachers ;
• a reduc tion in disciplinary problems ; and
• a build ing of communities .
Madam President , the blueprint calls for our
grade (or primary ) schools to expand t o eight years
with preschools located within the same schools. The
last two years of grade (or primary) school will see our
students exposed to City & Guilds and NCCER certif ications, expanded dual enrolment with the senior
schools, and employability skill s—all designed to expose our students to a broader variety of potential life
interests at an earlier age.
Madam President, the blueprint calls for si gnature (or senior) schools to expand to five years and ensure our students are exposed to work releases,
apprenticeships, internships, Bermuda College dual
enrolment, NCCER and City & Guilds certifications,
signature certifications, leadership and employability skills, and ABRMS and other international certific ations.
Madam President, the blueprint also calls for
enhanced educators’ qualifications as we look to not
only transform the structure of the system but also our
teaching system and methods. Educators entering the system will be expected to possess and undergo the
following:
• qualifications, experienc es and competencies
that meet international standards;
• certifications;
• BEC licence; • pass a locally created version of the Praxis
examination;
• international certification ( which should be
recertified every five years);
• ICT certification;
• leadership developm ent;
• 21
st century evaluation system ( current eval uation tool is called McREL);
• professional courses (separate from PD) r equired every two years;
• SCARS, TCI, MTSS [multi -tier system of supports] and Restorative Circles t rained; and
• fit to work with c hildren.
Recognising that current educators may not
possess all of these skill sets, it will be imperative for
the Department of Education to provide pathways for teachers to have access to professional development
during the transformation process.
Madam President, our blueprint details the
removal of middle schools and the revising of our current system. However, this work cannot be done by the Department of Education and our consultant, I nnovation Unit, alone. The blueprint calls for the deve lopment and recrui tment of school redesign teams.
The persons who will serve on these teams will be predominantly teachers and leaders within the public
school system and will engage parents, students,
businesses, cultural and community organisations,
other learning institutions and relevant government
departments.
Madam President, additionally, the Ministry
and Department of Education staff will collaborate with
and support school design teams to test the feasibility
and viability of the new models of teaching and lear ning, along with the assessment practices for the sign ature and grade schools, and develop and implement the workforce and technology strategies that best support and enable the redesigned schools and redesigned system.
Madam President, Plan 2022 Adaptive St rategy [5.2] calls for us to “develop a governance structure that both holds the Department of Education directly accountable to citizens through a board of education and that provides the Department greater a utonomy for fiscal, human, and operational deci sions
. . . .” Some will read this as a call for an Education
Authority as called for by BermudaFirst. This idea is
still being considered, and discussions with Berm udaFirst are still ongoing. However, the current gover nance structure will be evaluated, and the best stru cture for our system will be determined and presented
in due course.
Madam President, I have repeatedly referred
to the “blueprint ” when referring to the future of the
Bermuda Public School System. I have also stated that we recognise the need for collaboration and consultation to ensure we have a system that the Berm uda public have asked for through Plan 2022. In the
coming months, we will begin more extensive consulBermuda Senate tation to gather the public’s feedback. When we have
a blueprint (as we do) which calls for the reduction or
consolidation of schools, repurposing schools and
realigning the system, consultation is required. Ho wever, rest assured, the phasing- out of middle schools
is absolute and will happen. Madam President, we will make sweeping
positive changes in how we educate our students. We
will phase out the middle schools to introduce sign ature schools, which will have curriculums to address all professions including the trades and entrepreneurs needed in Bermuda and beyond, now and i n the f uture, and for those students with special needs. We
will transform our current system from three- tier to
two-tier, based on best practices and genuine input
from the Bermuda community. Our goal is to provide
our children with the structure, resourc es and support
to enable them to participate in, profit from and lead the 21
st century economy of Bermuda.
Madam President, I ask fellow Senators and
Bermuda as a whole to join us as we transform the
Bermuda Public School System.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson. Now I believe you have a third Statement, the
Bermuda College Audited Financial Statements. You
can continue.

BERMUDA COLLEGE: AUDITED FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS 2018 AND 2019

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I am pleased to lay the 2018
and 2019 Audited Financial Statements for the Bermuda College , as stipulated in section 8 of the Bermuda College Act 1974, in the Senate today.
Madam President, I highlight that the 2018
and 2019 audited statements were both “unqualified,”
and as such, in the opinion of the Auditor General, the
statements present fairly the financial position of Bermuda College at the end of each of the fiscal years, and the results of its operations, changes in its net
assets and its cash flows. The Financial Statements
indicate that Bermuda College had assets worth $24.7
million and $23.9 million in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and total liabilities of $19.5 million and $19 mi llion, respectively.
Additionally, Madam President, it should be
noted that the Bermuda College currently has no longterm debt. Cash and cash equivalents for the two- year
period decreased by 5.3 per cent to $3.5 million. The
accounts receivable increased by 39.3 per cent to
$869,000, and the account payable increased by 12.3 per cent and stood at $2.7 million at the end of
the 2019 fiscal year.
Madam President, since there has been no
major capital investment in Bermuda College, the capital assets continue to depreciate, and as of March 31, 2019, totalled $16.6 million. However, with the establishment of the Bermuda College Foundation, it is expected that capital funding wil l be raised to upgrade
the campus.
Madam President, during the two- year period,
the Government grant to the Bermuda College has
remained consistent while other revenue increased by
$666,000, or 12 per cent. However, over the same
period the physical plant and maintenance expense
increased significantly, resulting in a deficit of
$419,000 at the end of the 2019 fiscal period.
Madam President, during the past several
years, Bermuda College and the Office of the Auditor
General have been working assiduously to get the
audits for the college up to date so that Bermuda College can be in compliance with the financial standards
of its accreditors. The Bermuda College audits were
put in arrears when a former Auditor General decided
to cease auditing Bermuda College in 2003, as a r esult of the 2003 lease with the Coco Reef Hotel.
Madam President, the audits of the Bermuda
College did not begin again until 2008, and then were put on hold once again from 2009 to 2011 when a writ
was filed by the former Auditor Gener al against the
then Finance Minister and Bermuda College, relating
to the extension of the term of the Coco Reef Hotel
lease. Nonetheless, Madam President, the good news is that since 2011 Bermuda College has completed all
outstanding audits, and with the tabling of these 2018
and 2019 audited statements the Bermuda College
audits are currently up to date. Also, looking to the
future, the audited file for the year ended March [31,]
2020, is in its final stages of preparation and was due to the Office of the Auditor General by the end of July.
Madam President, in closing, acknowledg ement and thanks are given to the former Auditor General, Mrs. Heather Jacobs Matthews; the current Auditor General, Ms. Heather Thomas; and the team in the
Office of the Auditor General for their efforts in helping
to bring Bermuda College up to date with its audits. I also thank the faculty and staff at the Bermuda College under the leadership of President, Dr. Duranda
Greene, for their support and continued commitment to deliver quality tertiary education to the broad community.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson.
So the final Statement is the Drafting Office of
the Attorney General’s Chambers. And this is to be
given by the Attor ney General.
Senator Kathy Lynn Simmons, Government
Leader in the Senate, you have the floor. Senator,

Good morning,
Madam President and Senators.

1120 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Good morning.

DRAFTING OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY
GENERAL’S CHAMBERS

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident, I am pleased to inform Senators about the work of the Legislative
Draft ing Office of the Attorney General’s Chambers . The Drafting Office is a team of
government lawyers (known as parliamentary cou nsel, or drafters) who specialise in drafting legislation
for the Government. The Drafting Team works closely
with government ministries and departments to translate policy into effective law. The Drafting Team’s role
will often begin when legislation is first being consi dered, and the team will remain involved throughout the parliamentary process in the House of Assembly and the Senate.
Madam President, in 2019 the Drafting Team
drafted 195 items of legislation— 56 Acts and 139
statutory instruments —that were passed or published.
In 2020, the Drafting Team to date has drafted 115 items of legislation —31 Acts and 84 statutory instr uments —that have been passed and/or published.
Madam President, these Bills/Acts and stat utory instruments cover a wide variety of subjects. The
Drafting Team’s work over recent years has ranged
from digital assets and FinTech to pensions, child safeguarding, modernisation of liquor licensing and
criminal injuries compensation schemes, tourism i nvestment, submarine communications cables, ec onomic substance, beneficial ownership —to combating
money laundering and financing of terrorism and pr oliferation, a r egime for hemp products and the COVID -
19 pandemic. Madam President, in January of this year the
Minister of Finance informed the Bermuda public about the excellent report received by Bermuda as
evidenced in the Mutual Evaluation Report [MER] of
Bermuda’s system and framework to combat money
laundering and financing of terrorism and proliferation.
The Minister of Finance advised that the review was
conducted by a team of independent experts from various countries who are members of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and that the first
component included an evaluation of the compliance
of Bermuda’s legislative framework against the international standards.
Madam President, the legislation to combat
money laundering and financing of terrorism and pr oliferation, which formed part of the first component in
the CFATF assessment, was drafted by the Drafting
Team, who translated the instructions of the National
Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC) into law.
The said legislation withstood evaluati on by CFATF
and notably contributed to Bermuda’s excellent Mutual
Evaluation Report with respect to Bermuda’s legisl ative framework to combat money laundering and f inancing of terrorism and proliferation. Madam President, in addition to the afor ementioned, a senior drafter on the Drafting Team
formed part of two of the Bermuda teams which appeared before the CFATF assessment team when
they visited Bermuda with respect to the evaluation of Bermuda’s legislative framework relating to terrorist
financing and the discussion of Bermuda’s digital assets legislative regime, then one of the first in the
world, and its effectiveness from an anti -money lau ndering perspective.
Madam President, the Drafting Team conti nued to work tirelessly throughout the entire COV ID-19
pandemic, both remotely and in- office, to take instructions and draft and refine drafts to deliver quality, effective legislation to implement the Government’s
strategy to keep Bermuda safe and healthy. Of the 84
statutory instruments drafted and pub lished in 2020 to
date, at least 30 of these were COVID -19 related. The
subject matters ranged from declaration of the State
of Emergency to shelter in place, social and physical
distancing, quarantine and self -isolation, drawdown
from pensions, “ from scra tch” unemployment benefit
regime—to declaration of a curfew, refinement of the curfew and lifting of the curfew, and safe reopening of
Bermuda for air travel and business.
Madam President, 15 Bills drafted by the
Drafting Team have been passed by the House of
Assembly during the month of July and are en route
through the legislative process. The Drafting Team . . .
and, Madam President, if I may name them, with your
indulgence?

The President: Absolutely, Madam Attorney General,
do so.

Sen. the Hon. Kath y Lynn Simmons: Thank you.
The Drafting Team is headed by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Cathryn Balfour Swain, and the Deputy
Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Lorraine Welch (with
over 40 years of combined specialist legislative draf ting experience). In add ition, there are six drafters,
Amani Lawrence, Miriam Rogers, Lauren Francis, Gwen Johnson, Brian Eaton and Lovette Tannock; one junior drafter, who is very good, Alsha Wilson;
and four support staff, namely, Alicia Simmons, who is the legislative editor; Shanell Vaughn, who is the legislative database manager; Dorianne Hurdle , who is
our legislative administrator; and Alicia Simmons, who
is a legislative database administrator. Our support
staff par excellence includes our database manager, who ensures that laws are consolidated and uploaded
in real time to the Bermuda laws website, which is
www.bermudalaws.bm
, where they are available not
only to the public, but also to persons around the world.
Madam President, I would like to extend my
sincere thanks to the Drafting Team in the Attorney
General’s Chambers not only for their tireless work
and service to draft and deliver effective legislation


Bermuda Senate during the COVID -19 pandemic, but generally as they
work year -round as a team to deliver quality, effective
legislation for Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Madam Attorney General.
And I am sure the entire Senate body joins you in thanking your entire team.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

TOURISM INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2020

TRUSTS (SPECIAL PROVISIONS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

TRUSTS (SPECIAL PROVISIONS)
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

GOVERNMENT LOAN S
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2020

CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

EXPUNGEMENT OF CONVICTIONS ACT 2020
The President: The following Public Bills have been
received from the Honourable House of Assembly and are now read f or the first time. Their titles are, respectively: Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2020 ;
Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment Act 2020; Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment (No. 2) Act
2020 ; Government Loans Amendment (No. 2) Act
2020 ; Insurance Amendme nt Act 2020; Criminal Code
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020; and Expungement of
Convictions Act 2020.
And these will be taken up on our Orders of
the Day.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD
The President: Senators, we will now enter this
phase. And the first Statement that we would entertain
questions on is the Statement by Senator Simmons -
Wade on the Public Procurement Policy Update. Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?

Sen. Jarion Richardson : I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

QUESTION 1: PUBLIC PROCUREMENT POLICY
UPDATE

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. Good morning,
Madam President and fellow Senators and the listening public.
With r espect to the matter raised by the Junior
Minister in her Statement wherein the exemption from
the Code has been expanded to include additional
categories, additional types of companies, please i nform this Honourable House whether the risks [INA UDIBLE] have been assessed and documented prior to
amending the Code. Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Simmons -Wade.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes, they have been.
The President: Senator Jarion Richardson.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Jarion Richardson: I have a supplemental.
And will that assessment and documentation
be published or released to the public?

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: I would have to speak
to the Minister as to whether or not they will be advertised. So I will take that question under advisement.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you heard
the response?
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you. Yes, I did.
And thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Ho nourable Junior Minister.
The President: Would any other Senator care to ask
questions on this Statement?
No. Then we will move on to the second
Statement, which is the Ageing Well Committee. And
this was also given by Senator Simmons -Wade.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?
Hearing none, then we move on to the third
Statement, which is the COVID -19 Update given by
Senator Simmons -Wade.
Does any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?

1122 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: Good m orning, Madam Pres ident—

The President: Good morning again.

Sen. Marcus Jones: —fellow Senators, and good
morning to—
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident.
The President: Yes, Senator.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I cannot quite
hear Senator Jones. If he can increase the volume, I
would be grateful.
The President: Senator Jones.
Sen. Marcus Jones: Okay. I will try again. How is
that? Can you hear me now?
[Crosstalk]
Sen. Marcus Jones: Okay.

The President: Madam Attorney General, can you
hear?

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Okay. I have
just increased our volume. So he can continue.

The President: Yes. Carry on, Senator Jones.

QUESTION 1: COVID -19 UPDATE

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
Again, I would like to thank the Junior Minister
of Health for giving us that update on the COVID -19.
My question would be, What are the protocols
for workers and patrons in the seniors homes? When I say “protocols,” specifically what is the frequency of testing for those work ers in the—

[Inaudible interjections ]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: That is not a
part of [her] Statement.

Sen. Marcus Jones: —in the—

The President: Senator Jones, that is not a part of
the Statement. Do you have another question?
Sen. Marcus Jon es: I think that is an excellent question. I think the country needs to know. A lot of information was given to us, but that critical piece was not
part of it.
But, no, Madam President, they do not have
an answer. I do not have any other questions. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
No. Then we will move on to the fourth Stat ement, which is the Ministry of Labour Update which was given by Senator Caesar. W ould any Senator
care to ask a question on this Statement?
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you have
the floor.

QUESTION 1: MINISTRY OF LABOUR UPDATE

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. Good morning, everyone.
The question is related to part of the Stat ement about the training scheme that enables companies to apply to the Office of the Tax Commissioner
for payroll tax exemption. In the Statement, the Junior
Minister mentioned that 11 companies have been
awarded approval for training. This is good news, and I was wondering if it was possible to actually hear the
names of those 11 companies (because it is good
news). I know that there are 23 Bermudians associated with those train ing schemes. I am not asking for
names there, but I wondered if we could hear the names of those companies. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Senator Caesar?
Sen. Crystal Caesar: I thank my colleague for the
question. I too agree that this is very good news. U nfortunately, I specifically do not have those names
offhand. I will take [this question] under advisement
and ask the Minister if that is something that he can
provide in due course.

The President: Thank you, Senator C aesar.
Senator Simmons, did you have a suppl emental or a second question?

QUESTION 2: MINISTRY OF LABOUR UPDATE

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you. I appreciate the
effort that the Minister will take to get those names.


Bermuda Senate And I have one other question, and that is
about the certifications at the end of the Statement.
There are four occupations: welding, electrical, aut omotive service technician and landscape gardening. And my question is, How many certifications have ac-tually been issued in each of those categories? I believe the certifications have been around for a few
years now. And it would give members of the comm unity, members of the public an idea of how extensive
our certification in those areas [has now become].
Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Caesar?
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
Again, I thank the Senator for her question.
Again unfortunately, I do not specifically have
those numbers. I will liaise with the Minister to provide an update for the Members in the future, as again I
believe that this is very relevant and good information
to provide.

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
Senator Michelle Simmons, do you have a
supplementary?
Sen. Michelle Simmons: No. That is it for me. Thank
you very much.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this fourth Statement?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: MINISTRY OF LABOUR UPDATE
Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
Has the Government considered extending
the 10- week Summer Employment Programme, as
many students are forced to stay on Island and do
their studies online through the COVID -19 [pandemic]? We also realise that a number of the students
were not able to get on to the programme. They may
have been delayed a week or two. So I was wondering if the Government had plans to extend it, especially for those who were not able to benefit from the entire 10 -week summer progr amme.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Caesar.

[Pause]
The President: Senator Caesar, did you hear the
question?

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Yes. Sorry. We just had to unmute. My apologies. Again, I thank my fellow Senator
for the question.
And in fact, I think that is actually a very good
idea. Traditionally, this programme has run for only 10 weeks. And we actually can take something like that
back to the Minister for consideration in these post -
COVID -19 times. I am not aware of any specific di scussions around extending the programme. However,
like I said, that is a great idea and to be advised.

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
Senator Jones, do you have a second question or a supplementary?

Sen. Marcus Jones: No. I just thank the Junior Mini ster for the answer and I look forward to a response in
the future. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to ask a question on this fourth Statement?
Hearing none, we will move on to the fifth
Statement, which i s the Cup Match and Emancipation
Celebrations 2020 which was given by Senator A nthony Richardson.
Does any Senator want to ask a question on
this Statement?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.
The President: Is that Senator Robinson?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Yes. Good morning.

The President: You have the floor.

QUESTION 1: CUP MATCH AND EMANCIPATION
CELEBRATIONS 2020

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: So I just wanted to ask if
there had been any sort of consideration as to whet her the Somerset Cricket Club will host Cup Match dur-ing a time when Cup Match is back on the table after
COVID -19? Only because I know that the clubs tend
to make their profits [by hosting], and I feel like if it
goes to St. George’s, maybe Somerset Cricket Club
may lose out. And I am a Somerset fan, so, obviously,
I have to check on my club real quick. So I just wanted
to ask that question. Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Anthony Richardson, it is a question
for you.

1124 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President. I want to thank Senator Robinson for representing the correct colours today.

[Laughter]
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Given that his claim is to
support the other team.
But anyway, consideration is being given to
how to manage (politely) the financial aspects of the
Classic. Because, of course, “losing out”
(quote/unquote) for a full year might be a challenge.
And I think . . . not, I think, they did state publicly that
they will consider how best to manage that for next
year. But they still intend to carry on the one year,
about, so that our Cup Match can continue. So, thank
you for that question.

The President: Senator Robinson, do you have a
supplementary or second question?
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: No supplementary. Just that
this is a uniform. It is not by choice.

[Laughter]

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: But I thank the Junior Mini ster for his answer. Thank you. No supplementary.
The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to ask a question on the fifth Statement?
Hearing none, we will move on to the sixth
Statement, which is the Middle School and School
Reform Update that was given by Senator Anthony
Richardson.
Would any Senator care to ask a question on
this Statement?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: MIDDLE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL
REFORM UPDATE

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
I was wondering if the Junior Minister can
clarify for us and the listening public. What was the
empirical evidence that demonstrated the need to
phase out the middle schools?

The President: Senator Richardson.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President, I do
not have that detail at hand, that is for sure. But if he
is looking at Plan 2022, it provides a significant reference point for what the current Minister of Education is doing and how he explained the future movement in
terms of phasing out middle schools.

The President: Senator Jones, do you have a supplementary or second question?

QUESTION 2: MIDDLE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL
REFORM UP DATE

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, I do.
As per the Junior Minister’s Statement, the
middle school phasing out will happen without a doubt. And I believe that the country realises that. My
question would be, Will the number of staff within the
Ministry throughout this reformation, will the numbers
decrease? Will they increase? And with the added or
[reduced] numbers, what will the plans be of the Mi nistry to deal with these staff levels?

The President: Senator Richardson.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam Presid ent, I will
oblige the Senator because that was not directly a
part of the Statement. But the Senate will be aware
that every year there are a number of persons who
naturally retire from the system. Therefore, we can
make adjustments through attrition, eff ectively, and
not have a negative impact on the actual employment
levels within Education.
But as I did say in my Statement, there is a
significant level of collaboration in terms of what we decided to enforce. And that would be part of the pr ocess. The S tatement also referred to the fact that the
presentations have already been made to the exec utives of each of the unions, school principals and the
educators in general. And so that would be part of
their composition, going forward.
Thank you, Madam Presi dent.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President.

The President: Yes. Senator Jardine, you have the
floor.

QUESTION 1: MIDDLE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL
REFORM UPDATE

Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I just have a few questions here.
It was mentioned in the Junior Minister’s r emarks that it was an intention to have the general
community involved, presumably by way of town hall
meetings. Could he confirm when he thinks those
meetings might take place?

The President: Senator Richardson.



Bermuda Senate Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes. Can I have all three
questions and I will answer them, please?

The President: Senator Jardine, he would like you to
present all of your questions.

QUESTION 2: MIDDLE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL
REFORM UPDATE

Sen. James S. Jardine: Okay. I just had one more
question, Madam President.
On page 4 of his presentation, it was quite an
extensive laundry list of qualifications and experience
and training that the various educators would require.
And I am just wondering, has a plan been put together to start that process? And if so, when would that pr ocess start? Thank you very much, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Over to you, Senator Richardson.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Than k you, Madam President, and Senator Jardine, for that question.
I will answer the second question first. Also on
page 4 . . . and I recognise the list of qualifications
that Senator Jardine referred to. But at the bottom of
the Statement [it] says, “ Recognising that the current
educators may not possess all of these skill sets, it will
be imperative for the Department of Education to pr ovide pathways for teachers to have access to professional development during the transformation pr ocess.” And so that enc ompasses again the underlying
theme whereby there will be significant collaboration
with all stakeholders to ensure the Government or the
department does provide what is necessary for the
educators.
And in terms of the first question, about the
actual tim ing for town halls, I do not have that information because clearly it is going to be up the Minister
and the Ministry to make those decisions. But there
are many ways to engage the public. And what has
been brought to the forefront, I guess, during the
whole COVID -19 experience, is that beyond the inperson direction there are many ways to interact, via
social media primarily , using CITV and otherwise. And
based upon what the Ministry has done to date, I
would anticipate that all of those options will be us ed
to fully engage the general public, not excluding town
halls, but also not exclusively town halls.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Statement?
Sen. Dwayne Robinso n: I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.
QUESTION 1: MIDDLE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL
REFORM UPDATE

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
I just wanted to ask a question about the new
requirements for teachers to teach in th is proposed
system. And I just wanted to know if there have been
any hurdles identified which may cause issues for
teachers who do not have these, as stated in the
Statement, to achieve this. And if there are hurdles,
what happens if a teacher is unable to gain these new
requirements?

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President?

The President: Yes, yes. Carry on, Senator Richar dson.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Reflecting the constructive approach that is taken by the Minister of Educ ation, I would not say that there are hurdles; rather,
there are opportunities. And so to the extent that there
is a need to recognise and address some of these
things, they represent educational opportunities for all
of the educators. And if we consider the regular pr ocess through the Bermuda Educators Council, this is
all part of that. And so to the extent there is a need to
adjust, you know, to meet the educational requir ements of the students, I expect that that would occur.
I will say, though, to underscore all professionals, is that when you are training or getting som ething qualified, you actually develop core competen-cies, and you always can update those as you go forward. And I expect the same would occur with the e ducators. I made a comment in one of the previous sessions i n terms of how the educators had to adjust
to the remote tools for learning and did that succes sfully. And I would expect the same to occur as we go
through this process.
Also, to recognise that there is going to be
some natural reluctance, I suppose. But again, being
constructive and going forward, then we will work t ogether to make sure that those things are seen as opportunities as opposed to hurdles.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Robinson, do you have a second
question or a supplementary?
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: No. I thank the Junior Mini ster for that. I have no supplemental.
The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator want to ask a question on this sixth Statement before we move on?
Hearing none, we will move on to th e seventh
Statement, which is the Bermuda College Audited F inancial Statements for the financial year. Would any
1126 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Senator care to ask questions on this seventh Stat ement?
Hearing none, I will move on to Statement
number eight, which is the Drafting Office of the Attor-ney General’s Chambers that was given by the Attor-ney General.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?

Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President.
The President: Senator Jardine, yes. You have the
floor.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President, if you
would permit me, I do not wish to ask any questions.
But I do want to again echo the comments of the A ttorney General on the extremely hard work and capa-ble staff that she has working for her. Certainly my
experience when I was in volved in Bermuda’s CFATF
assessment, prior to that was the drafting of many,
many pieces of legislation. I was impressed, extrem ely impressed with the ability of all of the people wor king on that. And I would certainly support and echo
the comments that s he has made about their diligence
and very hard work. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The President: That takes us now, Senators, to the
Orders of the Day. And the first Order of the Day is
the second reading of the Tourism Investment
Amendment Act 2020. And that is in the name of
Senator Caesar. Senator Caesar, you have the floor.
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Yes. You will have Standing Order
25?

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Yes, I do. I am just arranging
my papers. Hold on, please.
The President: Okay. You can continue when you
are ready.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you.
Madam President, I move that the provisions
of Standing Order 25 be granted s o that the Senate
can now proceed with the second reading of the Public Bill entitled the Tourism Investment Amendment
Act 2020.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. Carry on, Senator Caesar. [Motion carried: Leave granted for the Tourism I nvestment Amendment Act 2020 to be read a second
time on the same day as its first reading.]
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2020 be now
read for a second time.

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

BILL

SECOND READING

TOURISM INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, the purpose of the Tourism
Investment Amendment Act 2020 before the Senate is
to make amendments to the Tourism Investment Act
2017, which will clarify certain provisions and allow for
a more efficient and effective use of the Act and the
orders made under the Act.
Madam President, Senators may recall the
Tourism Investment Act 2017 (the Act) became oper ative in November 2017. The primary objective of the
Act is to make Bermuda more att ractive to foreign i nvestors and to incentivise and assist local tourism -
related business owners to reinvest in their product.
The Tourism Investment Act provides a scale
of tax relief for five new types of tourism products, i ncluding (1) a new hotel; (2) a refurbished hotel; (3) a
new restaurant; (4) an existing restaurant; and (5) an
attraction. The relief available under the Act ranges from one year to a maximum of ten years, depending
on the level of investment made in and the type of
tourism product.
With a new hotel, for example, the Act allows
for full exemption from land tax starting six years after a hotel’s opening date, subject to verification that the hotel in years six through ten employs 70 per cent
Bermudian staff, and deferral of landholding charges payable under the Immigration and Protection Act 1956.
The first Order approved under the Act, the
Tourism Investment (Bermudiana Beach Resort) O rder, came into effect in early 2019.
Consequent to the Order being in use, the
Government has identifi ed four amendments and
clarifications that ought to be made to the principal
Act. First, Madam President, the principal Act allows
for relief from customs duty in the case of a new hotel,
for example, for 10 years from the hotel’s opening date. However, th e need for duty relief is significant
during the construction phase, which predates the
hotel’s opening. Therefore, the Government proposes


Bermuda Senate to amend the period of custom duty relief so that it
begins when the Order comes into effect.
Second, the principal Act provides two
timeframes for the completion of the rehabilitation,
refurbishment or extension work associated with a refurbished hotel: two years in the interpretation section of the Act, and 18 months in Schedule 1. A review
of the original policy conf irms that the intention is to
allow two years for the completion of the work, which
satisfies the definition of “a refurbished hotel.” As
such, the Government . . . (I am sorry, Madam Pres ident, bear with me.)

Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President, I am having difficulty hearing Senator Caesar. She keeps co ming and going. I do not know if she is far away from
the microphone or . . . I do not know if anybody else is
having trouble, but her voice keeps coming and going.

[Inaudible interjections ]

The Presi dent: Senator Caesar, can you adjust your
microphone?

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Yes. We are just doing that
now. So bear with us, please.

The President: Thank you.
[Pause]
Sen. Crystal Caesar: I will start again. Okay. Madam
President, apologies. I will st art with this paragraph
again.
The Tourism Investment Act allows for relief
from customs duty and the employer’s share of payroll tax to be extended to restaurants and for customs duty relief to be extended to attractions.
When the Act came into effect, there was a
sunset clause of five years on its application to restaurants and attractions. Since 2017, however, no resta urants or attractions have taken advantage of the relief
available for renovations and improvements. A recent exercise undertaken by the Bermuda Business Development Agency (or the BDA) revealed a lack of knowledge about how the legislation works. Given that much of the original period of eligibility for tax relief for
restaurants and attractions has already passed, the
Government proposes an amendment which would
extend the application of the Act for a further five years, for a total of ten years.
Fourth, Madam President, the Government
proposes to provide more time to developers of attractions to complete their projects. As it stands, to urist
attractions are largely seasonal in nature, and an adjustment in the timeframe from one year to three years will better facilitate the financing and construction of a
new attraction. Madam President, the final amendment is a
consequential one. The
Tourism Investment (Berm udiana Beach Resort) Order 2018 is being amended to
change the period of customs duty relief to commence
from the date the Order came into effect, rather than the hotel’s opening date. This is in line with the
amendment mentioned earlier, which is being made to
the Act now.
Madam President, I welcome comments from
my colleag ues at this time.
The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
The or iginal Hotels Concession Act —
The President: Senator Jones, you need to speak up
or adjust your microphone as well.

Sen. Marcus Jones: Okay. All right.

The President: Thank you.

Sen. Marcus Jones: All right. I will try and speak
closer to the microphon e. Is this better, Madam Pres ident?

The President: That is better.

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you.
The original Hotels Concession Act 2000 was
designed to stimulate investors in the hotel industry.
Any hotel development or redevelopment that the Mi nister of Tourism deemed as in the national interests of
Bermuda could apply for certain tax relief. Those were the lean days of hotel development. The Government
of the day was looking to find ways to incentivise i nvestment.
This amendment is another step in th e evol ution of hotel concessions Bills which at this time we
have seen the completion of the development of two major hotel projects, namely, St. Regis and Azura,
under an OBA Government and a continued redevelopment of two hotel properties whose investment o rder we will be discussing today, namely, St. George’s
Club and Rosewood Bermuda. As good as these concessions are in motivating hotels to invest in the d evelopment of the physical capital, we can appreciate
the Tourism Act 2017 incentivising its develo pers to
invest in the human capital. This legislation does this
by making part of its criteria [for] the allowance of [the]
land tax exemption [being that] its staff [shall] be
made up of 70 per cent Bermudians.
1128 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Maybe now is the time to up the ante on Bermudian representation in the executive level of staf fing. For a jurisdiction that boasts 150 years in the
tourism business, it would not be unreasonable to expect a larger number of Bermudians to fill that role. A
suggestion of 40 per cent of the personnel on the
management level be Bermudian as a minimum r equirement for eligibility for these concessions sounds about right. If Government policy mandates that companies be allowed 60 per cent foreign ownership, but
the requirement for a board of directors be 60 per cent
Bermudian, then this proposed criterion is not unrea-sonable.
This will put greater responsibility on hoteliers
to be looking not only to hire Bermudians, but to train
them up to the executive level. Bermudians playing an
integral role at this level would demonstrate to the
Minister and Bermuda in general that this hotel’s trai ning regime is not just window dressing.
We support this legislation, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then Senator Caesar.
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President. I
thank my colleague for his comments. I would like to
state that these obviously are consequential amendments and [are] enhancing the effectiveness of this
particular piece of legislation.
And with that, Madam President, I would like
to move . . .
The President: Yes. Carry on.

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Okay. I would like to move that
the Bill entitled the Tourism Investment Amendment
Act 2020 be now read for a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that Rule 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
TOURISM INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that the Bill entitled the Tourism I nvestment Amendment Act 2020 be now read a third
time.

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

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill do
now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill entitled the Tourism
Investment Amendment Act 2020 is passed.
[Motion carried: The Tourism Investment Amendment
Act 2020 was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
I believe you have the second item, consideration of the draft Order, Tourism Investment (St.
George’s Club) Order 2020. And you can continue when you are ready.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that Standing Order
71(2) be suspended so that Senate may now proceed
with consideration of the Tourism Investment (St.
George’s Club) Order 2020.

The President: Is there any objection to that m otion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Caesar.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that the Senate do now undertake
consideration of the draft Order entitled the Tourism
Investment ( St. George’s Club) Order 2020.

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

ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ST. GEORGE’S CLUB) ORDER 2020
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, the purpose in bringing the
Tourism Investment (St. George’s Club) Order 2020
before these Honourable Chambers is to enable the
grant of tax relief to the developers investing in this
combination hotel and timeshare operation.
Madam President, Senators will recall the
Tourism Investment Act 2017 (or the Act) became
operative in November 2017. The Tourism Investment
Act provides a scale of tax relief that can be accessed
by developers through the grant of an Order approved
by this [Senate].
As background, Madam President, the St.
George’s Club was developed in 1982 on the site pr eviously occupied by the St. George’s Hotel. The orig inal development was undertaken by York-Hanover
(BDA) Ltd . The property changed hands in 1994, and
this year Hotelco Bermuda SGC Ltd. (or Hotelco) took
it over. The developers of the St. George’s Club and
the St. Regis Bermuda (currently under construction
adjacent to Fort St. Catherine) have the same parent
company.
The St. George’s Club features a main club
[house] and 57 cottage buildings divided into 71 units.
Over time, the use of the cottages has evolved into a
mix of timesharing and hotel operations. As such, the
Club has a hotel licence pursuant to the Hotels (L icensing and Control) Act 1969 and is also licensed
pursuant to t he Timesharing (Licensing and Control)
Act 1981. The property amenities include three
swimming pools, three tennis courts, and a restaurant
located at Achilles Bay.
It is the intention of Hotelco to fully renovate
the St. George’s Club: the interior elements and ext erior finishing of the cottages; the main clubhouse and
the beach house will undergo a complete intervention
to elevate the standard of the hotel to a four -star accommodation, incorporating a new gym and spa. This
renovation will include new furniture, fixtures, equi pment, air -conditioning, floor coverings, ceilings, wi ndows, doors and bathrooms, as well as a comprehensive repair or replacement of the water infrastructure.
The members of the timeshare operation have
purchased a limited period of occupancy in a club cottage, typically one week per year for [25] years . The
Government can assure these Chambers that the members will continue to enjoy their rights under the new ownership, just in new and improved surroundings.
The schedule for the renovation of the Club is
currently under review. The investment in the comprehensive renovation of the St. George’s Club is
such that the project meets the criteria as a new hotel, in accordance with the Tourism Investment Act 2017 ;
that is, the redevelopment of an operating hotel with
the estimated development cost of not less than 50 per cent of the appraised market value of such h otel and expended over a period not exceeding three
years. In meeting the criteria for a new hotel, the Act
allows the Club to receive, in summary: full relief from
customs duty for a period of 10 years; full exemption from hotel occupancy [tax] for a period of 10 years; full
exemption from the employer’s share of the payroll tax for a period of 10 years, subject to annual verific ation
of a management training programme for Bermudians;
and full exemption from land tax for 5 years, starting 6
years after the hotel’s opening date, subject to verif ication that the hotel, in years 6 through 10, employs at least 70 per cent Bermudian st aff.
Madam President, this Government is well
aware of the challenges ahead for our Island. The
commitment and confidence demonstrated by Hotelco
and the Purroys are recognised and deeply apprecia ted. Bermuda cannot rest on past laurels. The constant renewal of our hotel product is critical, and this i nvestment Order will help significantly in achieving this
end. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
Would any Senator care to speak on this O rder?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, M adam President.

The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

Sen. Marcus Jones: We are very pleased with this
Tourism Investment Order for the St. George’s Club. We know that this particular piece of property played a
very integral role —

The Presid ent: Senator Jones, you are fading a bit.
Can you speak a little louder? (Sorry.)
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes. Sorry about that.
We support this legislation and this Order, and
I believe it is going to be very good for those who work
in the eastern end of the Island, and for visitors alike.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this [Order]?

Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President.

The President: Yes. Senator Jardine, you have the
floor.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I thank the Junior Minister for the presentation on this.
I obviously support this. I think it is important
for the development of this property in particular. I
have had cause to drive around it recently, and it cer-tainly is in need of some update and work; there is no
question about it.
1130 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Just a general comment and I guess a question. Through a number of these pieces of legislation
today and certainly over the past number of years, the
Government has waived substantial amounts of taxes,
whether it be land taxes, hotel occupancy tax and so on. And I know at one point we used to keep track of
or we did keep track of how much taxes we were in
fact allowing to be waived. And I know it is difficult in
some cases to determine how much this would be.
But it would be useful at some point in time if
the Government could produce a document which would give us some indication of the amount of duty —
for example, land taxes, payroll taxes, hospital occ upancy tax —that the Government has indeed waived
over the last, say, five years so that we could have some indication as to how much we are actually forgiving by way of taxes in order for these develo pments to occur. Because the periods of time for which we are forgiving some of these taxes are extensive,
for up to 10 years.
And I guess the question is, Would these developments have invested the money to revitalise
them if there were not these opportunities in place?
And so I think, I guess my one question would be,
Does the Government have any intention of trying to
provide us with some indication of the total amounts of
taxes, particularly those that can be calculated fairly easily, like land taxes, for example, and payroll taxes,
so that we could have some idea of the tax levels that
Government is forgiving on these projects?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this [Order]?

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Yes, Senator Anthony Richardson.
You have the floor.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President.
I just want to give a quick comment in terms of
my more than re- endorsement of what is proposed to
be the St. George’s Club. Wearing my blue- and-blue
today, but also being someone who grew up in the
area, I do recognise the impact that the development
has had in St. George’s over many, many, many
years now. And I look forward to its redevelopment
and re- invigoration (if that is the right way to put it).
And in addition to that, to encourage all those who
stay in the environment of the St. George’s Club,
whether they be St. Georgians or otherwise in the
East, to look at this as an opportunity to prepare
themselves for the future.
We spoke earlier in term s of changes in the
education system to benefit Bermudians or Bermuda residents, I guess. And this is another one of those things in terms of, we can all anticipate what are the
core requirements from the current point of view for
any hotel development, wh ether it be providing (I want
to say) limousine services, whether it be providing catering services, whether it be providing being the employer. Senator Jones referred earlier in terms of
there is a significant component in the hotel industry
that we do not necessarily appreciate when it comes
to senior leadership. You have to employ, of course,
accountants and HR people and a whole host of people.
And what Bermudians have been known for in
the past, and I recall, you know, back in the day, as
they say, wh en we went to university, many of the
males in particular worked in the dining rooms. And it
is interesting the level of interaction that you get with
guests, how much they appreciate it. And from my perspective, they get a more genuine experience for
their vacation. And some of the cricket games would
be that you are serving them breakfast, for example.
And their question would be, Well, what should I do
today? And you could give them some suggestions.
And then at dinner, they would recount what hap-pened during the day and, What’s next? And so we
were always able to add flavour to their vacation. And
in many cases, you [would] develop long- term friendships from doing that.
And so, what am I saying? It is for all of us
now, particularly those in the St. George’s area, to
start to look at this. And it may be two years down the
road, but let us prepare ourselves. We may have a job
to do right now that we may not necessarily be fully invested in. But let us look to the future and prepare
ourselves, because tomorrow is coming. And there is
no point in tomorrow coming without us being pr epared. And that is for those of us who may be both old
and young, or as we have heard today a new term inology, “ pre-senior .” Not quite sure what that means,
but we might be pre- seniors also. We can take advantage of these opportunities. So thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this [Order]?
No. Then, Senator Caesar.
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank y ou, Madam President. I
thank my colleagues for their support and positive
comments about this particular Tourism Investment Order.
I will just, I guess, respond to Senator Jardine
with regard to tracking the taxes that are being waived, particularly land tax, payroll tax, et cetera. I
am told that the Ministry of Finance does an analysis
to see what types of taxes or potential taxes, which I agree may be somewhat . . . all of the taxes may be
somewhat difficult to track, as how would one know


Bermuda Senate potentially w hat one would be making in these times?
So one would not necessarily know. But I guess land
tax in particular, and potentially payroll tax, an anal ysis could be done in the future. And if not already done, I am assuming that, based on his comments, this wi ll obviously be taken under advisement by the
Ministry of Finance and such––and announced; it can
be provided at some time in the future.
So with that, Madam President, I move that
the said draft Order be approved and that the follo wing message be sent to His Excellency the Governor:
May it please Your Excellency:
The Senate, having had under consideration
the draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment (St.
George’s Club) Order 2020 proposed to be made by the Minister responsible for Tourism with the wri tten
agreement of the Minister of Finance, under the prov ision of section 5 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017,
has the honour to inform Your Excellency that the
Senate has approved the said draft Order.
The President: Is there any objection to the Order
being sent?

An Hon. Senator: No.

The President: Hearing none, the Order will be
passed. The message will be sent to the Governor.
[Motion carried: The Tourism Investment (St. George’s Club) Order 2020 was approved.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
We will move on now to the third item on our
Orders of the Day. And this is consideration of the
draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment (Ros ewood Bermuda) Order 2020.
And, Senator Caesar, this is your Order. You
can continue when you are read y.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you.
Madam President, I move that the Standing
Order 71(2) be suspended so that the Senate may
now proceed with consideration of the Tourism I nvestment (Rosewood Bermuda) Order 2020.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Madam President, I move that
the Senate do now undertake under consideration the
draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment (Ros ewood Bermuda) Order 2020.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Caesar.

ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(ROSEWOOD BERMUDA) ORDER 2020

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Madam President , the purpose
of bringing the Tourism Investment (Rosewood Bermuda) Order 2020 before this Honourable House is to
make available to the Rosewood Bermuda Hotel the
tax relief allowed under the Tourism Investment Act
2017.
Madam President, Senators will rec all that TP
Holdco Limited , an affiliate of Gencom Acquisitions
LLC, and Gencom acquired Tucker’s Point Hotel and
Resort in 2016 from a three- year receivership period.
At the time of the acquisition, the Tourism Investment
Act had not been laid before Parl iament. Therefore,
TP Holdco Limited submitted an application for a hotels concession order in respect of the hotel’s pr oposed redevelopment. And in June of that year, the
Hotels Concession (Tucker’s Point Hotel and Resort)
Order 2016 was approved by this Chamber.
The concession Order entitled TP Holdco Li mited to: full relief from customs duty until one year after
the hotel’s opening date in respect to any building m aterials, furnishings, fixtures and equipment which are
necessary for the building, furnishing and equipping of the hotel redevelopment; five years of relief from land
tax up to an amount not exceeding $103,000 in each
year of assessment from the hotel’s opening date; five
years of relief from hotel occupancy tax for an amount
equal to the sum s pent by the hotel on marketing the
hotel’s redevelopment up to an amount not exceeding
$2,760,000 in each year of assessment from the ho-tel’s opening date; five years of relief from hotel occ upancy tax for an amount equal to the sum spent on Bermudian entertainment up to an amount not exceeding $84,000 from the hotel’s opening date; and
five years of relief from the employer’s share of payroll
tax for an amount equal to the sum spent on training
Bermudians up to an amount not exceeding $228,000
in each year of assessment from the hotel’s opening
date.
Upon acquisition of the property and the grant
of the Hotels Concession Order, Tucker’s Point Hotel [was] rebranded as Rosewood Bermuda. It underwent
a redevelopment and revamp of rooms, food and be verage, inc luding a new lobby bar, the golf club, the
spa, and fitness areas and the beach club. In addition, there was upgrade of furniture, fixtures and equipment in the Harbour Court fractional units.
In November 2019, the Tourism Investment
Amendment Act 2019 became operative. This Amendment Act amended the Tourism Investment Act
2017 so that it applied to specific hotel developments
1132 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate presently using a hotels concession order made under
the Hotels Concession Act 2000. TP Holdco Limited
then submitted an application for the making of a tourism investment Order for Rosewood Bermuda.
Madam President, the investment in the comprehensive renovation of Rosewood Bermuda was such that the project met the criteria as a new hotel in
accordance with the Tourism Investment Ac t, the def inition of which I read with the preceding Order.
In meeting the criteria of a new hotel, the Act
allows Rosewood Bermuda to receive, in summary,
full relief from customs duty for a period of up to 10
years; full exemption from hotel occupancy [tax] for a
period of up to 10 years; full exemption from the e mployer’s share of payroll tax for a period of up to 10
years, subject to annual verification of a management
training programme for Bermudians; and full exem ption from land tax for 5 years starting 6 years after a hotel’s opening date, subject to verification that the
hotel in years 6 through 10 employs 70 per cent Bermudian staff.
Madam President, please note an important
caveat. The Tourism Investment Act requires the tax
relief already rece ived by Rosewood Bermuda, purs uant to the Hotels Concession Act, be taken into account. This is to ensure that the period for which tax
relief is granted pursuant to the Tourism Investment Act does not exceed the relevant period, in this case,
10 years. In this regard, the opening date of the hotel
is set at the 1
st of January 2018.
Madam President, this Government will continue to work with our hotel development partners to ensure our tourism product is fresh and modern, and
the tax relief available under the Tourism Investment Act plays an important part. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
Would any Senator care to speak on this O rder?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jones, you have t he floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: As one of Bermuda’s premier
hotels, Rosewood Bermuda has proven to be a hotel colony that believes in constantly reinvesting into its
physical plant. So this legislation, which provides further relief of taxes, has been well earned.
We support this. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Order?
Senator Jardine, you have the floor.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President, I certainly
support this Order. I think it is important that some of
our newer hotels are kept at a very high standard,
which this one is. It attracts tourists to the Island and certainly is a Bermuda flagship when it comes to, shall we say, facilities that offer a variety of things for tourists to do on the islands. And so I do support this legislation.
Thank you very much, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Order?
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, Madam President,
Senator Richardson.

The President: Senator Campbell [sic]. Senator
Campbell, [sic] yes. You have the floor.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: [This is] Senator Ric hardson.
The President: Oh, Senator Richardson. I am sorry.
But––Senator Richardson, I am sorry. You have the
floor.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: It is no problem.
Madam President, I declare my interest in
terms of [the fact that] the Rosewood/Tucker’s Point is in the broader area that I live in. But I will repeat my
comments from earlier in terms of t he St. George’s
Club. The Rosewood/Tucker’s Point has definitely
made a significant impact in the tourism arena. And
visually, it is stunning for sure when you are there and
you look out over the waters, for example, the greenery, the golf course. They hav e lots and lots of activ ities. There are many (I want to say surprising) boating
activities. And I was there not long ago and was i nformed that whilst they are primarily focused on the
guests, they are more than welcoming to Bermudians
to also come and par ticipate in terms of jet skis and
boat rentals, and there is actually going to be a new
water park established if it has not been already completed.
My main point, though, is that whilst we certainly recognise the significant impact that the hotel is
to have, there is an important balance in terms of the
impact on employees. Again, trying to emphasise, Bermudians being employed, knowing that there is a
significant requirement and a variety of employees
who are required, and for us as Bermudians or Ber-muda residents to make sure that we avail ourselves
of these opportunities. And clearly, in this particular case with the Rosewood/Tucker’s Point, they have lots of need for a variety of employees who are . . .
and some of which, obviously, very well paid. And so
let us not look at it as if it is only for l ow-skilled pe rBermuda Senate sons to work there. There is, as I said earlier, a signi ficant variety.
And also in terms of demographics, within the
hotel sector you do have that significant variety in
terms of, you may start out as a younger person, almost in your pre- university days in the dining room, let
us say, or in maintenance or whatever. And then you
can actually grow your way through the industry over
time. What has been in my mind quite interesting is
the ability to work at a hotel. And in Bermuda, of
course, we emphasise, let us say, the period between
maybe April or May down to September. But the h otels are part of a chain. And you can in the so- called
shoulder seasons of Bermuda go and work in a hotel in another j urisdiction. And by doing so, again you are
able to significantly expand your individual skill sets.
And in some cases, it ends up whereby you are able
to get posted overseas for an extended period, then
come back and be the general manager or [work] in
another senior capacity.
So clearly, we do support what is taking place.
There were some earlier comments in terms of there
are other significant hotel redevelopments on the t able, and we are looking for them to come to fruition.
As a result of COVID -19, there has been a significant
reduction in tourists coming to Bermuda. But all of
these things do tie together. And I do know from my own experience that there now is still the significant
request for persons to come to Bermuda. And as long
as we are able to maintain what the Premier describes
as (I think he called it) the world’s most stringent taxing regime, that there is a go forward.
And I will say on that note, too, that again
from experience, it is interesting to see how persons
do, notwithstanding the need to be tested effectively
five times with the nasal swabs, they still come. And I
have had cases whereby they do comment that Bermuda has been a significant relief to them notwit hstanding the tests. And in some cases, they have [de-cided] to extend thei r vacations after being here and
recognising how it is safe and how pristine the Island
is.
And so with those comments, clearly I do
support what is being proposed today.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Order?
No. Then, Senator Caesar, it is over to you.
Sen. Crystal Caesar: Great. Thank you, Madam
President. And again, I thank my colleagues for their
supportive comments around this investment Order.
So, M adam President, I move that the said
draft Order be approved and the following message be sent to His Excellency the Governor: May it please Your Excellency: The Senate
having had under consideration the draft Order ent itled the Tourism Investment (Rosewo od Bermuda)
Order 2020 proposed to be made by the Minister for
Tourism with written agreement of the Minister of F inance, under the provisions of section 5 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017, have the honour to inform
Your Excellency that the Senate has ap proved the
said draft Order.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. Thank you, Senator Caesar. A
suitable message will be sent to the Governor.
[Motion carried: The Tourism Investment (Rosewood
Bermuda) Order 2020 was approv ed.]

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you.

The President: We will now move on to the next item
on our agenda, which is the second reading of the
Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment Act, and this is in the name of Senator Campbell.
You have the floor.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, as in the past, I would like
to move the provisions of Standing Order 25 for all of
my Bills if that so pleases you.

The President: Absolutely. Yes, certainly you may.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the provisions of Standing Order 25 be granted so that
the Senate may now proceed with the second readings of the Bills entitled: Trusts (Special Provisions)
Amendment Act 2020; Trusts (Special Provisions) Amend ment (No. 2) Act 2020; Government Loans
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020; and Insurance
Amendment Act 2020.

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

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Trusts (Special
Provisions) Amendment Act 2020, Trusts (Special
Provisions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020, Gover nment Loans Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020, and the
Insurance Amendment Act 2020 to be read a second
time on the same day as their first readings .]

Sen. Vance Campbel l: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment Act 2020
be now read a second time.

1134 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Campbell.

BILL

SECOND READING

TRUSTS (SPECIAL PROVISIONS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I am
pleased to present to the Senate the Trusts (Speci al
Provisions) Amendment Act 2020 . This Bill will e nhance and modernise certain provisions governing
Bermuda’s trusts, commonly referred to as “firewall
provisions.” This Bill is also part of an ongoing, colla borative effort amongst the private sector, th e Bermuda
Business Development Agency and Government to improve and adapt our laws, as needed, to attract
more business to our shores.
Madam President, this Bill seeks to amend
the Trusts (Special Provisions) Act 1989 (the principal
Act) to clarify the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in
respect of Bermuda’s trusts and foreign trusts with a
connection to Bermuda, to enhance and modernise provisions of the Act with regard to the application of
foreign laws and foreign orders to Bermuda trusts and
to make c onsequential amendments to the conve yancing Act.
Madam President, according to industry practitioners, the provisions are now considered by indus-try experts both here in Bermuda and abroad as convoluted and unclear as to their effect. In comparison to
other jurisdictions, Bermuda’s provisions are also outdated. Now a simpler and more straightforward a pproach is preferred. The amending Bill accomplishes
that end. It has been tailored to bring Bermuda up to date with other jurisdictions and to provide additi onal
clarity by providing for its first jurisdiction of the court
in setting out clear circumstances or matters for determination [INAUDIBLE] or will be excluded from applications with Bermuda trusts. In such cases, Berm uda law will apply despite conflicts with foreign law.
Industry experts prefer the simpler and more direct approach, and it is expected to provide greater legal
clarity.
Madam President, it is well established that
settlors should be free to establish trusts in their juri sdiction of choice. It is also well established that settlors should enjoy the benefit of having key questions regarding those trusts determined by the courts of
such jurisdictions, in accordance with domestic law.
This freedom of choice in relation to trusts is usually codified in firewall legislation.
Madam President, the purpose of firewall legislation is twofold:
1. Firewalls provide a system for the use of domestic trust law s to determine key questions regarding the validity, integrity and operation
of trusts within that jurisdiction ; and
2. Firewalls prevent the recognition and/or enforcement of foreign judg ments that are adverse to trusts within the jurisdiction.
Madam President, w hile firewall protection is
a common feature in leading trust jurisdictions, this
aspect of tr ust law is generally considered by industry
practitioners as having become increasing complex
and convoluted in a number of those jurisdictions, i ncluding Bermuda.
Madam President, Bermuda’s existing firewall
provisions are intended to ensure that Bermuda laws
apply to Bermuda trusts and that Bermuda trusts can-not be set aside or undermined based on foreign
judgments. Our current provisions do generally serve
the purpose of firewall legislation. However, the approach and content of those provisions are no longer
considered as cutting edge. Bermuda is, and has
been for some time now, behind the curve which has
been set by our competitors.
So the justification for the Bill we are debating
today is quite clear. We must reposition ourselves to
be ahead of our c ompetitors. Bermuda’s firewall legi slation must provide settlors with a level of protection and legal certainty that makes Bermuda a clear choice
amongst her competitors. To do that we must
strengthen and clarify the existing legislation.
Madam President, this Bill is intended to
1. facilitate proper and efficient application of the
firewall provisions;
2. provide express jurisdiction to the Supreme
Court to hear claims in respect of Bermuda
trusts and certain foreign trusts;
3. specify the circumstances where foreign laws
will be excluded from application to Bermuda
trusts and where the domestic law of Berm uda shall apply; and
4. prohibit the enforcement of any foreign order
which is inconsistent with the enhanced fir ewall provisions.
Madam President, according to ind ustry practitioners, one of the key factors for clients in choosing a jurisdiction for trusts is the robustness of the firewall
protection. As a result, industry representatives have
made fairly strong calls for Bermuda’s firewall legisl ation to be updated. With the introduction of today’s
Bill, those calls have now been answered.
This Bill provides material clarification, improvement and strengthening of Bermuda’s existing
firewall legislation, while implementing an approach
that practitioners believe will give Bermuda a compet itive edge.
Madam President, the trust industry is a vital
part of our international business sector and the Ber-mudian economy. Industry representatives and pr ofessional service providers include licensed trustees,
administrators, inv estment business advisors, legal
advisors, accountants and compliance professionals.


Bermuda Senate This Bill is a necessary step in supporting efforts to
sustain jobs and to achieve economic growth in this
very important industry.
In closing, I would like to thank indus try repr esentatives for their continued efforts to improve Ber-muda’s trust products and regulatory framework. I
would also like to thank the Bermuda Business Development Agency and the public officers who assisted in
bringing forth this important legislati on.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

Sen. Jarion Richards on: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
We definitely support . . . I definitely support
the amendments that are being made, and especially
with industry support. We have to strengthen and clarify this legislation where our sector has informed us as
legislators t hat we are falling behind the curve, so to
speak.
The question of law relating to trust structures
is important as it relates to the preservation of assets,
especially high net worth individuals and families, and
other kinds of asset preservation methods globally.
And we are competing in this space in the global marketplace, too. So to that end, we definitely want to make sure that we provide for the express jurisdiction
of our courts and prioritise Bermuda law where there
are areas of conflicts.
To that end, we are mindful that the trust i ndustry has been a long- time contributor to the success
of our financial services industry, including the employment of Bermudians and the development of our
skill sets through various organisations such as STEP
and other kinds of qualifications. Many Bermudians
are not only gainfully employed in this space and have careers in this space, but we can be sure that their
families have experienced the downstream effects so
that we have people in Bermuda who would otherwise not be able to ascend to and then live and stay in the
middle class.
So overall, Bermuda trusts are a key foundation not just to us as a financial services centre, an
international financial services centre, but also to the
average Bermudian, even though they may not be
aware of the role that our trusts and trust laws play in
sustaining our economy.
With that [I will] end. Thank you very much for
your attention, and I thank the Junior Minister for
bringing this to us.
The President: Thank you, Senator J arion Richar dson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then, Senator Campbell, it is over to you.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
And I would also like to thank my fellow Senators for their support of this Bill.
With that, Madam President, I move that the
Bill entitled the Trusts (Special Provisions) Amend-ment Act 2020 be now read a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Vance Campbell : 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

TRUSTS (SPECIAL PROVISIONS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2020
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Trusts (Special Provisions)
Amendment Act 2020 be now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.
Sen. Vance Camp bell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Trusts (Special Provisions)
Amendment Act 2020 was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.

1136 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: We will now move on to your second
Bill. An d that is the second reading of the Trusts
(Special Provisions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020.
You have the floor.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2020 be now read the second time.

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

BILL

SECOND READING

TRUSTS (SPECIAL PROVISIONS)
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, today I present to the Senate the
Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment (No. 2) Act
2020 . Madam President, in 2002 an amendment was
made to the Children Act 1998 to abolish the distinction between children born in and out of wedlock. The
purpose of the amendment was to ensure that the
rights of children were not impacted by the lack of
marital relationship between the parents.
Madam P resident, the 2002 amendment also
created a new rule for construing all instruments and
statutory provisions that reference parents’ and chi ldren’s relationships. This included international trusts. There was no allowance for deviation from this rule of
construction in cases where the trust instrument i ncludes an express intention to exclude children
whether born outside of a specified marital relationship or not. As such, the law is considered as having
the effect of restricting the freedom of choice of a settlor when making gifts, either during his lifetime or up-on death.
Madam President, in the years following the
2002 amendment, industry representatives have made several requests for the Government to reconsider the broad application of the rule of cons truction
in relation to trusts. It has been noted by practitioners
that the 2002 amendment has diminished the attractiveness of Bermuda as a centre for trust business.
More specifically, industry practitioners have argued that the 2002 amendment codified a policy shift that
deviates from the long- standing protection of freedom
of choice for dispositions of property.
The rule of construction creates uncertainty
because settlors may no longer be able to protect
their family from claims of strangers or persons who were unknown to the settlor or trustee prior to the settlor’s death. And the changes may run counter to
strong religious views of some international clients. Madam President, industry practitioners in
Bermuda believe that a substantial amount of bus iness has been lost to other jurisdictions because set-tlors are unable to dispose of their property in the
manner in which they choose under Bermuda law. Since the 2002 amendment became operational, existing trusts have been moved to other jurisdictions.
Persons with existing business holdings in Bermuda
have chosen other jurisdictions to set up their trusts,
and new business referrals have bypassed Bermuda
and settled trusts in other places.
Madam President, as we continue with efforts
to recover from the economic effects of the global
pandemic, we must take every reasonable step to
maintain existing business and to attract new bus iness to our shores. Trust industry representatives
have made it clear that Bermuda is continuing to lose
business to other jurisdictions, based on the restrictive
approach of the 2002 amendment. We simply cannot
afford to continue with an approach that is viewed as
unattractive and which isolates Bermuda from her competitors.
Madam President, the Bill we are debating
today reconciles Bermuda’s position on this issue with
other leading trust jurisdictions and with the principle
of freedom of choice for disposition of trust property.
This amendment will allow for deviation from the rule of construction set out in the Children Act in cases
where a trust instrument expresses a contrary inte ntion of the settlor.
Madam President, we must balance our laws
to ensure that we protect the rights and freedoms of
all persons, including those who wish to dispose of their property in a manner which may not be popular
in the court of public opinion. But that is their right. The law still prescribes a default application of the
2002 amendment in the absence of a contrary intention by the settlor of a trust.
Madam President, the 2002 amendment t o
the Children Act [1998] became operational more than 16 years ago. This is certainly enough time to ascertain the effects of a change in policy —both intended
and unintended. The loss of business in the trust sector was an unintended effect, one which we must now
take the necessary steps to correct.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Myself, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jarion Richards on, you have
the floor.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Much like the previous legislation, we are
looking at a circumstance where we may be another


Bermuda Senate world , but the world is very much interconnected now.
And globally, we are competing with peer jurisdictions
to assist settlors in not only the preservation of assets,
to an extent . . . (I am sorry). By that I mean that they
have every right to expect they can handle their affairs
in the appropriate way. And so it is property in this
case . Ensuring that children’s rights are enshrined in
our legislation. Again providing clarity, our trust industry practitioners are doing well to advise this Gover nment of all of the tools that they need in order for Bermuda to remain competitive as a jurisd iction.
And to that end, we definitely support it, and
again thank the Junior Minister and the trust industry
for bringing this to our attention.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then Senator Campbell.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Again, I thank my fellow Senators for their unanimous
support of this Bill.
And with that, Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection. Carry on, Senator Campbell.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Vance Campbell: 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

TRUSTS (SPECIAL PROVISIONS)
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020
Sen. Vance Camp bell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Trusts (Special Provisions)
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection. Carry on, Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill do
now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill has passed.

[Motion carried: The Trusts (Special Provisions)
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 was read a third time
and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: We now move on to item number six,
which is the second reading of the Government Loans
Amend ment (No. 2) Act 2020.
And, Senator Campbell, this is your Bill. You
can start when you are ready.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Government Loans Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020
be now rea d a second time.

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

BILL

SECOND READING

GOVERNMENT LOANS
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, the Government Loans Act 1978 provides for the Gover nment’s authority to borrow money, the maximum
amount that may be borrowed and related matters.
The Government Loans Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2020 now before the Senate proposes to increase
the maximum amount that may be borrowed. Madam President, Senators will recall that on the 17
th of July
2020, the Minister [of Finance] made a Ministerial Statement to inform those who sit in another place of
the status of the Government’s borrowing and the r equirement to increase the authorised debt ceiling.
Madam President, the Bill now before the
Senate proposes to increase the maximum amount that may be borrowed by $600 million to $3.5 billion.
Madam President, this amendment only provides for the authority of the Government to borrow up to the
newly established limit. And it is important to note that
1138 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate incurrence of [additional] debt or long- term borrowing
will only be incurred when absolutely necessary.
Madam President, when this Government
took office in July 2017, net debt stood at $2.397 bi llion and the debt ceiling at $2.5 billion. We came in
with a focus on prudently managing the country’s f inances on behalf of the people of Bermuda and committed ourselves to a strategy of not increasing the
debt ceiling. We were successful in honouring that
commitment in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 fiscal years
and were on track to do so again in fiscal 2019/20.
Unfortunately, Madam President, in July 2019,
in anticipation of borrowings to fund the purchase of
indebtedness related to the guarantees with the
stalled Caroline Bay project, the debt ceiling was i ncreased by $250 million to $2.75 billion. Government
subsequently entered into a $200 million short -term
credit facility with a local financial institution to pur-chase the project’s tranche B and tranche C loans to
acquire the claims of the project’s general contractor
and local subcontractors, and to fund expenses ass ociated with implementing a remediation plan to protec t
the physical assets on the site, and to fund expenses associated with professional advisors. Madam Pres ident, at the end of March 2020, net debt stood at
$2.68 billion, an increase of approximately [283] mi llion over the July 2017 balance.
Madam Preside nt, it is important to put this
increase in additional indebtedness into its proper
context and set out for Senators the primary components of this increase. Approximately $187 million r elated to payment of obligations under the Caroline Bay
guarantees and related costs; $64.2 million related to
the funding of the 2018/19 Sinking Fund contribution;
and the remainder to finance capital expenditures in
fiscal years 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20.
Madam President, I provide this information
for context to illustrate that, prior to the COVID -19
pandemic, we were executing on our plan to reduce
fiscal deficits, generate budget surpluses, and pay
down debt while at the same time delivering important
public services and a secure, sustainable future for all
citizens of Bermuda.
Madam President, in April 2020, in anticipation of the negative impacts of the COVID -19 pandemic, the Government raised the debt ceiling a further $150 million to $2.9 billion to ensure that it had the
necessary liquidity to fund a variety of public health
and emergency financial measures to support Berm uda’s people and economy. In May 2020, the Gover nment entered into a $150 million credit facility with
local financial institutions. To date, approximately $88 million of this facility has been drawn to fund emergency measures associated with COVID -19.
Madam President, I can now advise Senators
that the Government intends to conduct a public bond issuance in the international capital markets. The
gross proceeds to be raised will depend on market
conditions, but may be in the range of $1 [billion] to $1.25 billion. Madam President, we speak of gross
proceeds. And the typical fees that would be assoc iated with such an issuance are underwriting fees,
lawyer fees, agent and trustee fees, along with stock
exchange fees. Those are the primary fees associated
with such an issuance.
Madam President, the proceeds from the sale
of the contemplated bond issuance are intended to be used, among other things,
1. to finance the anticipated deficits for fiscal years 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23;
2. to refinance the credit facilities associated
with the stalled Caroline Bay project;
3. to refinance the credit facilities associated
with general liquidity needs and the COVID -19
emergency measures; and lastly ,
4. depending on m arket conditions, to liability
manage tranches of existing indebtedness.
The hope would be, Madam President, in that
instance that the current interest rates would
be lower than the rates existing on those
tranches of indebtedness, thereby saving the Gover nment and the people of Bermuda
money.
Madam President, any funds borrowed that
are not required in the current fiscal year or for liability
management purposes are to be invested in the Sinking Fund.
Madam President, this amendment will pr ovide for the authority of the Government to borrow up
to the newly es tablished limit as we navigate our way
through the COVID -19 pandemic and beyond. The
proposed statutory debt ceiling of $3.5 billion is set at
a level to enable funding of the Government and its
economic recovery over the next two to three years.
Meanwhile, the Government will focus its maximum
efforts to grow the economy in ways that increase the amount of job- creating dollars in the economy, and
therefore revenues to the Government.
Madam President, in closing, Government
remains committed to prudent and sensible borrowing.
This borrowing strategy will allow the Government to
lock in historically low [interest] rates, potentially r educe our interest expense on some of our current bonds and take advan tage of strong, current global
demand for investment -grade assets .
With those introductory remarks, Madam
President, I now pause and allow my Senate col-leagues the opportunity to speak on this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Jones.
Hello, Senator. Senator Jones.
[Pause]



Bermuda Senate The President: Senator Jones, can you hear me?
You have indicated you want to speak.

An Hon. Senator: Better unmute yourself, Marcus.
[Pause]
The President: I am okay. But Senator Jones is not
coming through.

[Inaudible interjections]

The President: Would any other Senator care to
speak while we are trying to sort out Senator Jones?

Sen. James S. Jardine: Yes, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jardine, you have the floor.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you very much, Madam President. Thank you again to the Junior Minister
for sending out the details surrounding the increase in
the level of indebtedness, which I completely understand based on events which have happened over the
last year or so.
It is no question that it is difficult to predict the
full impact of COVID -19 on not just this year’s budget
results, but also next year’s results. And so it is
somewhat fluid as to w hat the actual impact will be for
this current year and going forward. So I understand
the need to provide for that.
In addition, as I understand the going to the
market looking for $1 [billion] to $1.25 billion, I think
that also includes, if I am correc t, Junior Minister, on
the refinancing, I believe it is of some $615 million
worth of debt which comes due, I believe, in 2022/23.
So partial parts of that or a large part of that, I believe
(and this is a question for the Junior Minister) would
be the ref inancing of debt which comes due in 2022.
So that is a question I have for him.
But I completely understand the circumstances that the Minister of Finance is faced with. I also
heard comments that any excess funds which are not needed for dealing with the financial burdens of
COVID -19 will be placed in the Sinking Fund. And
hopefully those can be used to retire future debt.
So with those comments, Madam President, I
just have that one question.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
I seem to have lost Senator Jones.
No. Then . . .
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Sorry, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor. Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. Yes. I wanted
to mak e a point that as it relates to the necessity for
this exercise I do not think any of us question it. Obv iously, living through a global pandemic and seeing a
significant loss in revenue, increasing expense, we are really on the razor’s edge. And it will t ake all of us
rowing in the same direction to pull our country
through this calamitous event.
So with that being said, I wanted just to be
clear that I do not . . . there may have been an oversimplification in the description of finances prior to or
in previous Government budgets. And without getting
into specifics, because that is not what I want to do
. . . I do in fact want to row, and I want us to all get on
with this. I do not want it to appear as if we are conceding that all things were perfect befor e. And to that
end, I would definitely defer to my Senatorial colleagues to expand on that point. But I definitely want
to make sure of that.
We are on the razor’s edge. We all now need
to row in the same direction. And this will require
some very difficu lt financial management. And so to
that end, we support the Government in their efforts.
But not all things were perfect before that. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then Senator Campbell, it is
over to you.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President . . .

Sorry. Is it Senator Richardson?

Sen. Anthony Richardson: I was trying to defer to
Senator Jones.
The President: Yes.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: But is he back online?
The President: We have been trying to . . . we seem
to have lost him somehow. I do not see him. He is
not—

Sen. Jarion Richardson: We have lost him. But I do
have his question handy.
The President: Well, pe rhaps you could put his questions then, Senator Richardson, Jarion Richardson.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. And I am thankful for your indulgence.
The question is, How does the Government
intend on paying down this debt with no comprehensive econom ic stimulus in view? And estimated budg1140 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate et deficits . . . what are the estimated budget deficits
for the foreseeable future?
Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for
the indulgence.

The President: Yes. Thank you, Senator Jarion Ric hardson.
Senator Campbell, you have heard the questions.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I believe
Senator [Anthony] Richardson had a comment. And I
would prefer to wait for all questions until after he
comments.
The President: Fine.
Senator Anthony Richardson, you hav e the
floor.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President.
Some time ago, I had an analogy in terms of
two persons in a boat off of Devonshire Dock and that
in the event a leak springs, for example, at that point
in time the effort is to get back to shore. And the goal
would be that, if it is me and whoever, we are going to
make sure that we work together to get ourselves to shore. Now, mind you, once we get to shore, there
may be some challenges of in terms of, Who caused
the hole in the boat ? and, you know, a fisticuffs, as
they say. But at this stage, the question would be, Let’s get back to shore.
I do take the point from Senator [Jarion] Ric hardson in terms of, let us all now row in the same direction. And I want to give some comments in that
regard. Clearly, I am a Government Senator and do
support the Government’s position. But on a personal
level, I also want to just highlight what our current Mi nister of Finance is doing. I think that he comes with specific expertise in the whole world of debt management. And I have been, I guess, confident (if that is
the right word) in terms of his overall plan to try to a djust the government indebtedness.
And the one thing he said recently was that
they are going to go to market to raise in excess of $1
billion. And one of those things is going to be to effec-tively reduce Government’s current cost of debt, which
we all would like to do. For example, if we use the
analogy of our home mortgages, it is nice to be able to
find . . . you have a mortgage to s tart out with. It is
nice to actually refinance the mortgage to have a [lower] interest rate so your cash payments are actual-ly less than they currently are. And in doing so, there
is an increase in interest costs over time. But when it
comes down to the actual cash implications, it is nice
to be able to pay less cash now and have the excess cash whenever you choose.
And so at the national level, the Minister of
Finance has clearly set out what he is going to be do-ing in the short term, which is to retire some of the
more expensive debt and replace that with lesser
debt. And that will give Bermuda (or give him, really,
or Bermuda) some excess capacity with the immediate cash needs of Government.
The Premier has said previously and also r ecently that the goal is going to be to grow the economy as opposed to trying to necessarily or unnecessarily cut back too drastically. Because if you do, it is
going to have a different impact on the economy. And so those are the two broad goals that the Government is now w orking on. One is to refinance some of the
existing, expensive debt so we have more cash to
play with. And then to continue to grow the economy,
because ultimately it is going to be an expanded
economy which allows us to repay the debt.
We spoke earlier i n terms of . . . or we approved earlier two of the tourism investment plans or projects for both the St. George’s Club and the Ros ewood/Tucker’s Point. And even in terms of scale, the St. George’s Club is a much smaller project, albeit still
valuable, than , say, Rosewood/Tucker’s Point —same
for St. Regis and others. And that is a small example
of how we are going to start to work now to grow the
economy. Because we can imagine, if you take the
allocation of those three or four developments to e mploy, let us say for argument’s sake, 400 Bermudians,
that is going to start to drive the economy. Because clearly, those persons are going to need somewhere
to stay. They are going to buy food. They are going to
eat, all those kinds of things. And that is going to be
part of how we grow the economy.
Similarly, there have been other steps in the
business community that will also start to attract ot hers to come to the Island. And I believe in the last
session we spoke about the idea, or actually Senator
Caesar spoke to the intention of Government to allow
non-Bermudians to come to Bermuda and work r emotely. And even though that is a much smaller scale,
it does have the same impact. Because if Anthony is
not Bermudian, but is allowed to come and work r emotely from Bermuda, again I need somewhere to
stay. I am not Bermudian; I have no residence. I am
going to eat some food. And I am going to go out and
socia lise. I am going to rent a little Twizy probably, or
whatever. So these are all those activities that will go
towards assisting the economy.
And even on a leisure perspective, I am probably going to enjoy some water sports. I might play golf. And those are the things that we start to do. And
from a social point of view, I am going to develop friendships also. And so I am saying all of these things
are what are going to be happening to help to grow
the economy and get us back on a more secure footing.
Clearly, nobody saw the COVID -19 coming. It
has had a massive and unexpected impact on Ber-muda’s economy and many, many others. And so to
go back to what Senator Richardson alluded to, now


Bermuda Senate is definitely time to recognise the fact that we are both
offshore in a boat. And the Government wants to row
in the same direction because if we do not do that,
then we are not getting back to shore. And none of us
getting back to shore is of no benefit to anybody.
So again I want to underscore his point. He
did make it, I believe, even when he had his inaugural
speech some time ago, that his intent would be to be
positive and constructiv e in what he is doing. And so I
just underscore all those being in with these com-ments and say thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Campbell, it is over to you.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Yes, Madam President.
In relation to Senator Jardine’s question on
the use of the $1 [billion] to $1.25 billion, yes, that is
correct. A portion of that will be used for refinancing of
debt. And I believe this was stated in my brief, but I
have no issue with restating it. So Senat or Jardine is
correct that it will be used to pay down that debt which
comes due in the next two or three years.
As it relates to the anticipated . . . I believe
Senator Jones via Senator [Jarion] Richardson, had a question on the anticipated deficits. I think the Minister
of Finance has indicated for a deficit for this year in
the range of somewhere between $250 [million] and
just over $300 million—it is anticipated that this will be
the deficit for this year. To get into predicting what
deficits are, if the Government was accurate at pr edicting the future, then we would have foreseen the
pandemic and we would have been able to be better prepared for that. But nevertheless, it is anticipated
that the deficit will be in the range of between $250
[million] a nd just over $300 million for this year.
It has always been the intention, Madam
President, of this Government to run a surplus. And as
I have stated, things come into play that are unantic ipated. And so we have . . . although we were execu ting on our pl an, it has been derailed by the COVID -19
pandemic. But it will continue to be our intention to put
this country back into a surplus position. When you
ask, What is the Government’s plan?, we see that
there are some green shoots out there. We have the
Ridde ll’s Bay SDO [special development order], which
is anticipated to inject tens of millions of dollars into
the economy, as well as jobs. We had the press conference yesterday in which the ground- breaking took
place for the Ottiwell Simmons Arbitration Centr e.
Again, this rolls out jobs and putting our people back
to work.
We have the Bills that were presented today
around the improvement in our tourist product, which
should bear fruit in the number of visitors to our I sland, again putting money into the economy. And
Senator Anthony Richardson hinted at . . . or he did
not hint, he referred to the one- year remote- working
regulations Bill that we passed, and that is starting to catch the eye of those overseas, as it was intended to.
We also have and we anticipate eagerly the recommendations from the Economic Advisory Committee.
So we have all of these things going on, which the
objective is that these will all contribute to us not only paying down our debt, but returning to a surplus pos ition from year to year.
So I believe that, in my humble opinion, answers or addresses all of the questions which were
put here.

The President: You certainly have. So you now move
the Bill.
Sen. Vance Campbell: So, Madam President, with
that I move that the Bill entitled the G overnment
Loans Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a
second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Vance Campbell: 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

GOVERNMENT LOANS
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Government Loans Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2020 be now read a third time.

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

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.

The Pres ident: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Government Loans Amendment (No. 2) Act
2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Government Loans Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2020 was r ead a third time and passed.]
1142 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Senators, we will now break for lunch,
and we will return at 2:15.
The Senate stands adjourned. Thank you.
Some Hon. Senator s: Thank you, Madam President.

Proceedings suspended at 1:04 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2: 14 pm

[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright, President, pr esiding]

The President: Good afternoon, Senators. The Senate is now back in session. I hope you all enjoyed
your lunch.

An Hon. Senator: Yes, and you?
Another Hon. Senator: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Yes, I do too. Thank you.
So we are now resuming with the Orders of
the Day. We are now on the seventh Order of the Day
which is th e Insurance Amendment Act 2020 and this
is in the name of Senator Campbell. So you can start
when you are ready to start.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, with your indulgence before I move on to the next Bill, I do just want to clarify
a comment that I made in relation to the last Bill.

The President: Which is the Government Loans?

Sen. Vance Campbell: The Government Loans Bill.
The President: Yes.
Sen. Vance Campbell: The $250 [million] to just over
$300 million is the anticipated line of deficit for 2021
and 2022. So that is the combined—

The President: Combined, all right.

Sen. Vance Campbell: The anticipated. So I just
wanted to make that clarification before we moved on.

The President: Thank you for that.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Insurance Amendment Act 2020 be now read a
second time. The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Campbell.

BILL

SECOND READING

INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, the purpose of the Bill ent itled the Insurance Amendment Act 2020 is to facilitate
more effective supervision of the insurance sector by
enhancing the cyber reporting event framework.
Madam President, Senators would be aware
that the Bermuda Monetary Authority is a founding
member of the International Association of Insurance
Supervisors (IAIS) and one of the first signatories to
the IAIS Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding
[MMoU].
Senators are advised that there are 73 sign atories to the MMoU. Madam President, as at the 11th
of July 2020, ther e were a total of 215 IAIS members
including the Bank for International Settlements [BIS], the IMF [International Monetary Fund] , the OECD, the
World Bank, as well as 55 members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (the NAIC).
The Senate will be aware that the NAIC is the
US standard- setting body created and governed by
the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories. Madam President, as the leading member of the IAIS, Senators will rec all that various representatives of the A uthority have been appointed to the Executive Commi ttee and also currently serve and/or have served as co-chairs and/or vice chairs of various committees
including, but not limited to, the Reinsurance Task
Force, the Policy Committee, the Macroprudential
Committee, and the Financial Crimes Task Force. Our
sincere thanks go to the team at the Authority for their
tireless advocacy on behalf of Bermuda at home and
abroad.
Madam President, the IAIS insurance core
princ iples and methodology constitute the globally
accepted framework used in the evaluation of supervisory regimes. The i nsurance core principles [ICP]
consist of the essential principles that need to be in
place for a supervisory system to be effective. They
also serve as a basic benchmark for insurance supervisors in all jurisdictions. Public authorities concerned with issues of financial stability are urged to provide
the necessary support to their supervisory authorities
so that they can meet the principles based on the cr iteria set out therein.
Madam President, part 6 of the insurance
core principles sets down the prudential requirements
for insurance supervisors. Insurance core principle 18
covers matters related to the assessment of risk and

B ermuda Senate risk management. ICP 18 states, that “The supervis ory authority requires insurers to recognise the range of
risks that they face and to assess and manage them effectively.” Specifically, the essential criteria set down under ICP 18 provides in part (a) that the super visory
authority should require and check that insurers have in place comprehensive risk management policies and
systems capable of promptly identifying, measuring,
assessing, reporting, and controlling their risks.
Madam President, the key amendments to be
made to the Insurance Act 1978 are as follows:
1.Section 30JE of the Act sets down certain no-tification provisions for insurance marketplac
e
pr
oviders. Under section 30JE, insurance
marketplace providers are required to notifythe Authority of a cyber re porting event. It is
proposed to amend section 30JE to expandthe scope of this provision to include insur-ance managers, brokers and agents.
2.Madam President, s ection 30JE of the Act a lso includes a definition of the term a “cyber
reporting event.” A cyber reporting event ispresently defined to mean “any act that resultsin the unauthorised access to, disruption, or
misuse of the electronic systems or infor-mation stored on such systems of a registeredperson, including breach of security leading tothe loss or unlawful destruction or unauthorized disclosure of or access to such systems
or information . . . .” It is proposed to am
end
t
he Act to revise the definition of a cyber r eporting event by qualifying the manner inwhich events are to be considered which wi
ll
i
nclude the following:
•Where the cyber reporting event has
the likelihood of adversely impacting
policyholders or clients, or wherethere is a significant loss of systemavailability, or where the integrity of
information or data has been compromised or where there is a likelihood that there has been unauthor-ised access to information and orwhere an event has occurred forwhich notice is required to be provi ded to a regulatory body or gover nment agency.
3.Madam President, further to the above, theAct will be amended by inserting a new prov ision after section 30JE to expressly makeprovision for an obligation to be placed on i nsurers to notify a cyber reporting event to theAuthority in circumstances similar to those ofinsurance managers and intermediaries undersection 30JE.Madam President, as per section 2BA of t
he
Act, additional details are set out under the insurance
sector operational cyber risk management code of conduct. The cyber code of conduct must be read t o-gether with the Bill so that registered persons are
clear about the initial notification time period. While
the Bill provides for an obligation to notify the Author ity on a forthwith basis, the cyber code provides that notification of an event must occur within 72 hours from the time there is either a suspicion or a confirm ation of a material event, whichever is sooner. The A uthority has advised the Ministry that such grace period is in keeping with the BMA’s Statement of Principles whereby it always, in the first instance, seeks to allow for a remediation period prior to undertaking enforc ement action.
Madam President, the code is expected to
come into effect in January 2021 with enforcement commencing in December 2021. Once operational the cyber code of conduct will complement the general
provisions set out in the various codes of conduct published for insurers and intermediaries. The code
will be published as soon as possible after the Bill
comes into effect.
Madam President, as highlighted in the A uthority’s 2019 Bermuda Insurance Sector Operational
Cyber Risk Management [Code of Conduct] report,
the Authority will continue to monitor and ensure that
operational cyber risk assessments are integrated into
all key supervisory processes such as year -end filing
reviews, on -site visits, and su pervisory colleges.
Madam President, I wish to express my
thanks to the Authority together with the insurance sector and the Ministry of Legal Affairs for their assistance with the development of this Bill. Thank you,
Madam President.
[
Pause]
Se
n. Vanc e Campbell: Madam President, you are
muted.
The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President.
The President: Senator Jardine, you have the floor.
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President, I support
this Bill very much. I just had one question for the Ju nior Minister.
Could you tell me whether or not such a
clause exists in any other corporate legislation, for example, that any company which has a cyber event has to report it to a particular body such as the Regi strar of Companies or the BMA?
That is all I have. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Thank you, Senator J ardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
1144 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Jarion Richardson: Madam President .

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I would like to thank the Junior Minister for
bringing this to our attention. It is obvious that Berm uda has to maintain a high level of compliance with i nternational standards and the International Associ ation of Insurance Supervisors [IAIS] is the body that
outlines what that is in every substantial way for us.
And given the vast majority of our financial services
are in insurance and rei nsurance space, it only makes
sense that we play not only a role in being attentive to
what they ask for but also in terms of setting that
standard. For that, our regulator, our supervisors, are
to be commended.
To that end, we are not unfamiliar with mi sconduct in the insurance market, as is [the case] in
any marketplace there is bound to be at some point
someone who offends or breaches a law. To that end
we have seen a number of matters in overseas papers, especially recently. So it is good to see that w e
will now require directors, officers, shareholder controllers of our licensed insurers and reinsurers to notify the BMA should they become concerned in any crim inal proceedings either in Bermuda or overseas, mak-ing sure that we maintain our high standards and our
transparency. It is worth those high standards.
Equally following that, cybersecurity is a d eveloping space. Ten years ago no one . . . well, 10
years ago it was not as well understood. And now we
are all very fluent with all aspects of information, i nformation security, data protection and cybersecurity.
The European Union and the United States have gone
very far in creating standards with which our local i nstitutions have had to work very hard to understand and comply with in their cross -border transactions. So
to that end, again, we are doing well by moving this
line forward.
I would raise a few concerns and then a question. The first concern I would raise has something to
do with . . . well, actually, with Senator Jardine’s query
where the definition of cybersecurity. . . well, I will get
to that.
The definition of cybersecurity in the principal
Act seems like a very high- level place to put som ething this flexible in something that can change rel atively quickly with the development of cyber events all
over the world. Granted, it is a very wide- ranging def inition, and with any luck you will not have any problems maintaining that standard. I know that the BMA
has some expertise in this space, and that cyber code
of conduct will go a long way to informing us and gui ding us about what we are to do and when we are to do
it, but I just thought that the principal Act just seemed
to be a very high- level place to put something like this. To draw your attention to other regulatory
frameworks, wherein we have cyber reporting events
but they are lower down on the framework (so to
speak). So we have the principal Act, then we would
have some forms of regulations, the secondary legi slation, and then of course guidance notes, some form
of tertiary legislati on, as it were. We find that our r eportable events, especially cybersecurity, live in sort
of minimum criteria for licensing at the very back of a
programme. So it curious that we have moved this
one into such a prominent position in the principal Act, and by putting it there I am concerned that we may be
locking in the definition at too high a level to make it
flexible enough for the future.
To that end we do have other cybersecurity
reportable events in other frameworks. My concern is
when we have so man y different regulatory regimes,
obviously we have licences afforded to financial services companies as per the business they undertake.
So the Investment Business Act [2003], Investment
Funds Act [2006], Trusts (Regulation of Trusts Bus iness) Act [2001]. O ne of the things we have, though,
in those very silos, or regimes, is that the reporting obligations are either not named the same, identical,
or they will live again in different places within a
framework. And as a financial services company, they
ideally need to harmonise their compliance pr ogrammes across all of their various business lines and
licences so that if you do hold multiple licences you
are able to then . . . [for] a cybersecurity event under
the Insurance Act you would react in a similar or as
similar a manner as you would under the Investment Business Act. To that end, that harmony made sure
that you do not miss anything.
Now, we are lucky that our regulator is a very
sophisticated regulator, so they are not going to be
[INAUDIBLE ]. They are going to look to work with you
as they figure out what has gone wrong. But insofar
as it is possible, I do think that we should be harm onising these regulatory frameworks to enable compl iance programmes to be as simplified as possible and
thereby we do not overcomplicate our industry with
onerous regulation.
And to that end I am glad to hear that the
cyber code of conduct will be rolled out in January
2021. And my question to the Junior Minister is, When
the cyber code of conduct is rolled out, how will it be
related into the various regulatory Acts? Will the Acts
then refer to that code of conduct? Will we be using
some other form, maybe a minimum licensing criteria
Schedules in the back of those Acts? Basically, how do we make sure that the cyber code of conduct is
appropriately cross -referenced and that way it can be
easily enforced?
Thank you, Madam President, and my thanks
again to the Junior Minister.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.


Bermuda Senate When any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
No. Then Senator Campbell, it is over to you.

[Pause]

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I am being
advised that we are having technical difficulties, and I am not sure if it is still the case, but I was advised that
the Senate is not on air.

The President: Oh!

Sen. Vance Campbell: And I am not —

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: It is back on.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Oh, it is back on.

The President: It is back on now. All right.

Sen. Vance Campbell: But what I can do in the absence of a r esponse from my technical officers is endeavour to get an answer to both Senator Jarion Richardson’s question and Senator Jardine’s question—

The President: Jardine’s question.
Sen. Vance Campbell: —as well. And report back to
the Senate with the respons es to those questions. If
that is acceptable, Madam President.
The President: Yes, I am sure it will be.

Sen. James. S. Jardine: That is fine with me, Madam
President.

The President: Thank you, Senator —

Sen. Jarion Richardson: And that is fine with me, as
well, Madam President.
The President: —Jardine and Senator Jarion Ric hardson. Yes. He will get back with to you on the r esponses to your questions.
Thank you, Senator Campbell. You can move
on.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Yes, I appreciate the understanding of both Senator Jardine and Senator Ric hardson, Madam President.
With there being no other questions, Madam
President, I move that the Bill entitled the Insurance
Amendment Act 2020 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Campbell. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the 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

INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled Insurance Amendment Act 2020 be
now read a third time.

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

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Insurance Amendment Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill has passed.
[Motion carried: The Insurance Amendment Act 2020
was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell, and
Senators.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
The Pr esident: Thank you.
We now are now moving on to the eighth item
on our Orders of the Day and that is the Criminal
Code Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020.
And that is in the name of the Attorney General, Senator Kathy Lynn Simmons. You have the
floor.
I just re mind you of Standing Order 25.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Yes. Thank
you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the provisions
of Standing Order 25 be granted so that the Senate
may now proceed with the second reading of the following Bills. And I will do them both at this time, Madam President.
1146 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Yes, please. You may.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: They are ent itled: Criminal Code Amendment (No. 2) 2020 and the
Expungement of Convictions Act 2020 .

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

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Criminal Code
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 and the Expungement
of Convictions Act 2020 to be read a second time on
the same day as their first reading.]

BILL

SECOND READING

CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
I move that the Bill entitled the Criminal Code
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.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you.
Madam President, I am pleased to present to the
Senate the Bill entitled the Criminal Code Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2020. This Bill amends section 519 of the
Criminal Code Act 1907 to modernise the jury selection process by providing parity between the Crown’s
and the defenda nt’s challenges to potential jurors for
Supreme Court criminal trials. The Bill will also replace
an out -of-date reference to the death penalty in the
Criminal Code Act 1907 and repeal the archaic prov ision, section 521, allowing for all male jurors.
Madam President, the public will be aware
that the Constitution guarantees an accused person
the right to a trial by jury if they are being tried for an
offence in the Supreme Court. The jury selection pr ocess is conducted in part according to provisions in
the Criminal Code Act 1907. A jury consists of 12 persons plus alternates. Jurors play an important role in
criminal trials because they bring their individual and
collective common sense and broader life experiences
to the assessment of the evidence presented at trial.
As the Government perpetually keeps the
state of law under review for modernising reforms, we
have acknowledged that there is a disparity in the jury
selection process which could give the appearance of
bias benefiting the Crown. The offending provision is
section 519 of the Criminal Code [Act] which allows the Crown to “standby” an unlimited number of potential jurors without having to give reasons. Potential
jurors who are stood by when first called and are not
recalled, at which point the Cr own would have to just ify their exclusion unless the rest of the panel has been exhausted. This effectively gives the Crown
greater opportunity to select a jury which is perceived
to be more sympathetic to the prosecution.
Conversely, a defendant has a fix ed number
up to a maximum of five challenges, depending on the
type of offence, without being required to give a re ason. This has led to defendants claiming bias because
of their perception of how the Crown has exercised its
options to standby potential jurors. The Crown’s use
of the standby has fallen out of favour in many juri sdictions, including the United Kingdom , Canada, and
the British Overseas Territories of the Cayman Islands
and British Virgin Islands. Standby provisions are i ncreasingly being removed from jury selection laws
because they are criticised for being open to potential
abuse by the Crown to stack a jury on racial, sex, et hnic, age or other implicitly biased grounds. Use of
standbys has been subjected of legal challenges on
constitutional grounds for potentially offending t he
fundamental right to a fair trial, lack of equality of arms
between the parties, violating the rule of law and
breaching the rules of natural justice.
Madam President, the proposed amendments
to the Criminal Code [Ac t 1907] will repeal the section
permitting unlimited standbys by the Crown and give
the Crown and defendant equal numbers of without
cause challenges to potential jurors. “Without cause”
simply means the objecting party does not have to
give a reason for t heir objection to the potential juror.
The Crown and the defendant will also be able to
agree to excuse any number of potential jurors with
the introduction of a new provision in this Bill.
It is also timely to correct a sexist provision in
the Criminal C ode [Act 1907] which permits empanelling all- male juries in cases where matters of an indecent nature are likely to arise. I do not believe the pub-lic needs much explanation as to why this provision no
longer comports with gender equality rights.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Madam Attorney General.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you. And thank you,
Madam Attorney General for this particular amend-ment.
I have heard several cases of people who
have claimed jury bias, and I do believe that this par-ticular amendment brings us in step with jurisdictions
to the south and also with the UK. S o as the Oppos iBermuda Senate tion we do support the modernisation of our current
legislation and also, of course, promoting the gender
equality in our legislation, which is a major point for
me, personally.
So with that you have our support, Madam A ttorney General. Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Jarion Richardson: I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

Sen. Jarion Richar dson: Thank you and I thank
Madam Attorney General for bringing this to us today.
I am reminded that efforts like this help to i nstil or reinforce our confidence in our criminal justice system. Obviously long gone are the days of Les Misérables and Victor Hugo and the sort of Jean Valjean
level of injustice in our western democracies, but the
law is a moving line.
Insofar as we can doubt the criminal justice
system, then people will use other means of conflict resolution instead of the courts. And to that end it is
not a case that we modernise our laws for any kind of
appearance sake or even to make ourselves feel
good, it is necessary for the functioning of our society
that people see the law changing, fairness being constantly questioned. And to that end we definitely can
thank the courts for addressing this matter and Go vernment for then amending the law, or bringing it to us to amend the law, so that people can have that faith in
not just the criminal justice system but the entirety of
our Government’s framework. Thank you.

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

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I would Madam Pres ident.

The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you have
the floor.
Sen. Mich elle Simmons: I would also like to thank
Madam Attorney General for bringing this Bill.
It definitely goes a long way toward restoring
faith and confidence in what happens during criminal trials. The jury selection process is pivotal in those
trials and, therefore, it is important that it should a ppear that there is a degree of fairness.
I have one question, and let me say before I
ask the question, I fully support this Bill. My question
is about why it is necessary to have two different lev-els of challenge. So, for someone, or for a trial where
the offence is punishable with a mandatory life sentence of imprisonment, the Crown and the Defence
are entitled to no more than five challenges. In other
trials they would be entitled to not more than three. Why i s it deemed necessary to have the two tiers and
not just one level? That is the only question I have,
and I thank you again, Madam Attorney General.

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

Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President.
The President: Senator Jardine, you have the floor.

Sen. James. S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I, too, support this Bill. It
always seemed strange to me that the Crown was
allowed to sel ect a superior number of alternatives in
a particular court case to that of the Defence. Having
served as a juror once a number of years ago, and
being thrown off a succession of matters that came
before the courts, it was not until the last month of my service that the judge basically forced them to take
me. And I always thought it was rather strange that I
kept getting thrown off one after the other.
I was much younger then, Madam President,
and perhaps somewhat naïve as to why I was being
thrown off continuously. But in any event, this certainly
seems like a just and far more fair system of dealing
with court matters. So I would just like to say that I
support this Bill. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then Madam Attorney General, it is over
to you.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President. I would like to thank Senators first
and foremost for their support of the Bill. The Government takes very seriousl y the necessity to make
sure that our laws are modernised. And as we come
across particular circumstances that lend themselves
to social injustice, it is a responsibility that we all have
to ensure that they are dealt with through the legisl ative process t o ensure parity and fairness with respect
to these matters.
The reason why we have the different tiers,
we have five for mandatory life sentences, and those
offences are the most serious offences known to our
laws, particularly the offences like murder. So the di fferent tiers reflect the nature of the particular offences
in question.
1148 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate So with that, Madam President, if there are no
other questions I move that the Bill be now read a
second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident, I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in
respect of the Bill.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President. And before I move that the Bill do
now pass, I would like to take note of the efforts behind this particular initiative whereby the couns el in
the Department of Public Prosecutions [DPP] and a lso, and notably, the Deputy DPP Cindy Clarke and our Deputy Solicitor General Shakira Dill -Francois ,
along with the drafter.
And I will be happy to announce to the world
today that our junior drafter , Assistant Parliamentary
Counsel, Alsha Wilson, actually drafted this Bill. She
was assisted by Amani Lawrence, but she is quite apt
and very, very good, so I am pleased to be able to shepherd her first Bill through the legislature today.
And with those comments, Madam President,
I move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Criminal Code Amendment (No.) Act 2020 do
now pass.
Is there any objection to that?

[Inaudible interjections]
The President: Did we do the third reading? I’m sorry. The third reading.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I’m sorry.

The President: I lost you.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: After Standing
Order 26, I suspended in view of rule —

The President: Yes.

[Crosstalk]
The President: You do the third reading now. BILL

THIRD READING

CRIMINAL CODE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I move that the
Bill do now be read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to a third reading?
No objection.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I now move,
Madam President, the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Criminal Code Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020
do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill has passed.
Thank you, Madam Attorney General.

[Motion carried: The Criminal Code Amendment (No.
2) Act 2020 was read a third time and passed.]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,

We will now move on to the next item,
the second reading of the Expungement of Convi ctions Act 2020. And Madam Attorney General, that is
your Bill. You can proceed when you are ready.

BILL

SECOND READING

EXPUNGEMENT OF CONVICTIONS ACT 2020

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
Madam President, Senators may recall that
soon after this Government was elected it enacted the
Misuse of Drugs (Decriminalisation of Cannabis)
Amendment Act 2017 . In part, the preamble to that
Act stated that its purpose was to remove criminal
sanctions in relation to the possession of cannabis,
where the amount is less than or equal to seven
grams.
At the time, Madam President, the overall policy objective was stated to be the discontinuation of
the long- standing practice of criminalisation for recreational cannabis use. It was a long overdue response to genera tions of Bermudians facing criminal penalty
for being caught with small amounts of cannabis for
personal use. In particular, it was the realisation of a
campaign promise to rid our society of the unfairness,


Bermuda Senate especially to young Black men, of harsh drug e nforcement and criminal justice practices long recognised as having a lifetime impact on education and
employment prospects for our youth.
Madam President, that was to be the initial
step in achieving social justice for persons most likely to be affected by cannabis prohibition laws. The next
logical step is to offer redress to those carrying crim inal records for possessing small amounts of cannabis before the cannabis decriminalisation law came into
effect.
Madam President, against that backdrop, I am
pleas ed to present to this Honourable Senate the Bill
entitled the Expungement of Convictions Act 2020
.
This Bill makes provision for an application to remove
criminal conviction records of persons convicted for
possession of less than or equal to the statutory
threshold of seven grams under that Act.
Madam President, when the Bill was debated
in a different place last Friday, there was a reference
made to an omission in the title of the decriminalis ation Act in the Schedule. This omission has been corrected in the Bill before us today.
Presently there are persons in Bermuda with
criminal convictions on record for an offence which is now decriminalised because their conviction was recorded prior to the amendments in the law taking effect
in December 2017. Accordingly, it would be unfair to leave those persons to continue to suffer the cons equences for an offence which has been repealed and
that societal values no longer consider warrant crim inal sanction.
This Bill provides the opportunity for those affected persons to overcome the negative stigma, b iases, and exclusion attached to those criminal hist ories. The procedure prescribed by the Bill is for persons convicted of possession of less than seven
grams of cannabis before December 20, 2017, to apply to the Minister of Legal Affairs to make an order
that the record of their conviction is expunged, i.e., an
expungement order.
Madam President, it is a simplified procedure
which permits affected persons to apply to the Mini ster for an expungement order by providing basic de-tails of their conviction and minimal personal infor-mation such as name, date of birth and home address, which is also the address at the time of convi ction. Ministerial discretion can be exercised to request
additional information beyond that which the applicant submits for the Minister’s consideration.
Provisions within the Bill also allow an appl icant to appeal to the Minister’s refusal to make an expungement order. The ultimate effect of making the
expungement order, Madam President, is captured at
clause 8 of the Bill. That is to say, the person is ther eafter to be treated as not having committed the of-fence, not having been charged or prosecuted for the
offence, and not having been convicted or sentenced
for the offence. A person with an expungement order will not
be compelled to have their prior criminal record used
against them in criminal proceedings. Likewise, perspective employers cannot use it to deny him or her
employment. In other words, the person with an ex-pungement order will not be subject to any legal ram ifications such as perjury or giving a false statement by
not acknowledging or disclosing the prior existence of
an expunged record. Thi s includes the response to
any inquiry made of them for any purpose either by a
court of law or a perspective employer.
Madam President, in practical terms, an expungement order will have the effect of completely
erasing the applicable criminal conviction . For all intents and purposes that conviction will no longer exist
under Bermuda law and for conducting affairs within
Bermuda. Expungement orders will be binding upon
authorities and entities in Bermuda including those who hold and make criminal convicti on records avai lable to third parties.
Madam President, to position this proposed
law reform within global context, a number of other
countries have recently decriminalised or legalised
cannabis possession and/or usage to varying degrees. These jurisdicti ons include Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica . . . and Madam President, excuse the
Cup Match parade that is going by the window —

The President: Yes, I hear it in the background.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Yes.

[Crosstalk]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn S immons: These jurisdi ctions include Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Canada, Australia and more than 30 states within
the United States of America.
Likewise, since enacting cannabis decriminalisation or legalisation measures, a number of coun-tries have also sought to expunge past criminal conviction records for cannabis offences. For example, Jamaica has a Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders) (Automatic Expungement of Convictions)
Order which became effective in July 2015. Canada
has Bill C -93 in June last year which allows persons to
pardoned immediately and at no cost for simple cannabis possession upon making application to do so.
Madam President, within the United States, expungement for simple cannabis possession and other
forms of cri minal record relief such as sealing and set -
aside have now been enacted in more than a dozen
states. Most US laws require individuals to file pet itions in court to obtain relief.
Madam President, one of the pressing questions locally is whether expungement over prior cannabis conviction record will avoid the person being
with the US Immigration stop list. This question cannot
be answered definitively, as US Immigration policy is
1150 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate entirely of its own making and operates independent
of other country’s laws. Canadians, for example, are
faced with a similar challenge to Bermuda as the US
has said that it does not recognise Canada’s cannabis
conviction pardon. This means that Canadians with past convictions may still face difficulties crossing into
the US border notwithstanding that they have been
lawfully pardoned.
Madam President, additionally, an expungement order cannot expunge things such as news st ories and social media posts. However, where we can
give assurances is by highlighting that once an expungement order is issued local authorities will be
prohibited from providing criminal conviction records
for the expunged offence to any person or entity, l ocally or internationally. In other words, no new criminal
record information for expunged offences will be pr ovided to US Immigration authorities post expungement. It can also be said that with the relatively recent
trend of decriminalisation across the US, expungement offers the best opportunity for overcoming the stop list hurdle in the future.
Madam President , I am confident that this Bill
will bode well for those who would otherwise have
their future compromised because of historic personal
drug use. This latest measure toward achieving social
justice and restorative justice in Bermuda, especially for young B lack Bermudian men, will not be the last.
The intent is to ensure that the law does not unneces-sarily —let me make that clear, unnecessarily —
stigmatise persons based on historic personal drug
use.
And with that, I conclude. Thank you, Madam
President.

The President: Thank you, Madam Attorney General.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?

Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President.

The President: Senator Jardine, you have the floor.
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President, I am certainly prepared to support this Bill on the basis that it
follows logically from the decriminalisation of personal
use of cannabis for amounts of seven grams or less. Errors in judgment are made by young people, and in
this particular case I think to carry the stigma of a
criminal offence for personal use of small amounts of
marijuana seems an unduly harsh cross to bear for the rest of one’s life, as it has a significant impact on
the ability to obtain work and to possibly leave and obtain education off -Island.
As the Atto rney General has indicated, of
course, the United States keeps its own records of individuals who have been criminally charged for pos-session of cannabis. So the fact that it has been expunged from our records, as she quite rightly points
out, does not nec essarily mean that the United States will recognise those expungement orders and [will]
have cleared their records of that particular charge.
And so the doubt still exists as to whether individuals
who have been previously charged and who are currently on the stop list in the United States will be able
to travel there and obtain education.
Hopefully it is something that can be dealt
with shortly in the future so that our young people or individuals who have been charged with this and who
have managed to ob tain an expungement order here
will be able to travel to the United States. But obviously that is a matter for the United States authorities and
not ourselves. Thank you, very much, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any ot her Senator care to speak on
this Bill?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Yes, I would, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
First of all, I want to commend Madam Attorney General for taking in a lot of the feedback that
was received from the public and also from my co lleagues in the other place. Frankly, this particular
amendment is something that I really, really, really
celebrate because it is a well -known fact that young
Black males have been (in a sense) targeted via drug
convictions. And I do believe that this is going to give
a lot of people in my age bracket ––and a lot of people
I went to school with have struggled to really pursue their ambitions and dreams because of a mishap or a
misstep they might have made in the past ––this will
give them a second opportunity.
And it is really one of the reasons why I got
involved is to see amendments like this be passed that truly benefit the younger generation and also
move us into a new state of looking at cannabis as the
rest of the world does, and start to move into a place
where one minor mistake is not going to be held
against you regarding this. So with this I fully support the Bill, and also from the Opposition we also stand
with you on this, Madam Attorney General. Thank you
very much.

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

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Anthony Richardson, you
have the floor.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, Ma’am.


Bermuda Senate These are times when we have an opportunity
I believe to reminisce. So I wanted to express my
support and admiration for Madam Attorney General
and for all those who have played a part in bringing
this to the forefront. I s ay “reminisce” in the sense of
my own life in that some would look at me and say
that Anthony has been successful and done different
things, but what most will not know . . . actually, very,
very few know that Anthony, of course, made dec isions when he was younger.
I did not smoke cannabis, marijuana, weed or
whatever you want to call it.

[Laughter]

An Hon. Senator: I felt like something was coming.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: No, no! Madam Pres ident, as a youngster I have always been intrigued by speed. And I can remember one Saturday evening my
friends and I were sitting out on the wall on Dock Hill,
my mother of course was inside (I don’t know whether
she was asleep or otherwise and everything else) and
I decided that it would be okay to go for a littl e bike
ride at age 15 riding a 50cc. And I gladly took myself
for a ride. I went out to Victoria Street there—

An Hon. Senator: We’ll try not to laugh at this one.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: —and as I rounded the
corner there was a good old policeman there. He
pulled me over.

[Laughter]

Sen. Anthony Richardson: And he said, Now, look,
go with me. And I went to the police station. And so at
age 15 I was at the police station. They called my
mother to say, Well, Anthony is here.
She said, No, he is not there. He is outside.
Because she thought I was actually outside.

[Laughter]
Sen. Anthony Richardson: As a consequence, I was
arrested.
And then there was a big conversation in
terms of What do you do with this young boy?, because yes, you are riding under age, no insurance,
and the whole nine yards, but it is basically a relatively
minor offence. And so as a consequence, I was act ually taken in, at that stage, under the Juvenile Liaison
Scheme and on that basis what happened was I did
not get a convict ion, as such, but I was told to . . . you
know, you had to follow -up, and all the drama that
arises.
Me being a 15- year-old and having some lady
. . . I shouldn’t say that. I mean, a police officer come
to my house in full uniform. And so — [Laughter]

Sen. Anthony Richardson: What I am getting at is
that I was able to go full circle—
An Hon. Senator: Unbelievable!

Sen. Anthony Richardson: I actually became a police cadet at age 17, became a policeman . . . I actua lly went through the whole police cadet process —

[Crosstalk]

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Eventually, life went on.
I am saying all that to provide a case, but also
to also to the general public, that as young people we
do things and it is not the end of life. It is reality. And I know that al l of us have had other indiscretions. But
this is one of those small things that is actually huge
to young people who may be listening but also to parents to know that things do happen. But we have to
then persevere and realise that those things in life they do give us, sometimes, the impetus to do much
better. But it should not be something that causes us
to be held back.
And so even though I did not have the convi ction for, say, smoking marijuana, smoking weed,
whereby I could not travel overseas, certai nly, these
are the small things that have become big things that
do impact our lives. And that is why I said earlier this
is a time for me to reminisce and to use it as an example of encouraging, because right now for many of us there seem to be so many negatives, and we do
not realise that all of these things can be turned to
positives.
Certainly, as Senator Jardine said and Ma dam Attorney General said already, we know that the
expungement of records in Bermuda is not going to
take you off of the US stop l ist. However, I think it
should still be pursued in terms of you can still make
mistakes and, to be honest, we learn from our mi stakes and move ahead. And so still now, if you ha ppen to go on the stop list there is a process by which you can make applicati on to try and get a waiver.
And yes, it may take a long time and some
people may not succeed and all that, but I still believe that for those who are currently challenged or who
have issues in that regard that they should pursue it
with full vigour to ens ure that they can get off the stop
list or have a waiver to travel, because it is through traveling, it is through experiences, it is through differ-ent interactions by which we are able to have a more
solid platform to become solid individuals going forward.
And I will say that I might be encouraged to
make comments under the motion to adjourn in regard
to this, but for right now I just want to say, yes, we have all had our youthful indiscretions. But this is an
example by which we can actually overcome those
1152 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate things and still achieve in life as we should all be ai ming to do so. So thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then Madam Attorney General, it is over
to you.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
This is a Bill, and I thank Senators for their
support, and which is supported in the community as well. I had cause to be up at Hayward’s (I call it Ha yward’s) —
An Hon. Senator: Mm-hmm.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: —in Warwick,
recently and an older gentleman approached my car
(and I had the GP at that point). And he was angry.
And of course, my first thought was, Oh, what have I
done!
And he proceeded to spew a great story full of
anger and frustration, and he imparted to me that he
is 70 -some years old and has been denied travel priv ileges to the United States for many years because of
an infraction as a young person.
I felt very sad for him. He was . . . I mean, you
would think sometimes that people do not listen to
what we are doing and that people are not switched
on, but people are listening and people are appreci ative of the measures that we are taking to bring (in my
terms) social justice to the country. There are many
things that we talk about; there is very little, som etimes that we do. So I am really, really privileged to be
shepherding this through the Legislature today b ecause it will in fact make a difference in so many pe ople’s lives, hopefully.
What I think is important to know with regard
to the whole conversation around the stop list is that it is very important that we make people whole in our
country first.

The President: Yes.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: And to the
extent that these minor convictions have pr evented
people from seeking employment or obtaining employment, they carry a stigma in terms of social interactions, education and the like, it is very important that
we do these things with urgency and sensitivity.
And I will say, generally, Madam President,
that as we look at our laws generally, so Anthony can
be sponsoring an amendment to, you know, change
fishing laws or something, as Ministers we all have our different portfolios. And along the road of making
minor amendments to the law you often stum ble upon
very archaic provisions which fall into this category. And so members of the public and the Legislature
should know that we will continue to be mindful and
vigilant of these types of injustices so that we can
remedy them in short order. And I am s ure that all
Senators [can] embrace that philosophy going forward
with respect to our roles.
And with that, Madam President, I am left to
thank, once again, my drafting team —

The President: Absolutely!

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: —and in this
particular case Parliamentary Counsel Amani La wrence who was assisted [by] young [Assistant Parli amentary Counsel], Alsha Wilson with respect to this
Bill. [She] diligently did the research, and I am pleased
to carry this Bill today.
So with that, Madam Pres ident, I move that
the Bill be read a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
I move that [Standing Order] 26 be sus pended
in respect of the Bill.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

EXPUNGEMENT OF CONVICTIONS ACT 2020

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
I move now move that the Bill be read a third
time.

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

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: And finally,
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled the E xpungement of Convictions Act 2020 be now passed.

The President: Is there any objection to the passing
of the Bill?
No objection. The Bill has passed.
Thank you, Madam Attorney General.



Bermuda Senate [Motion carried: The Expungement of Convictions Act
2020 w as read a third time and passed.]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,

The President: We will now move on to item number
10 on our Orders of the Day and that is consideration of the draft Agreement entitled Exchange Agreement
between the Corporation of Hamilton and Mc Calmon
Trust PTC [ Limited]. That is in the name of Senator
Campbell.
Senator Campbell, you have the floor.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that Standing Order
71(2) be suspended so that the Senate may now pr oceed with consideration of the two proposed ex-change agreements, [one] involving the Corporation of
Hamilton and [another], the proposed sale and pur-chase agreement involving the Corporation of St.
George’s.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move
that the Senate do now take under consideration the
draft Exchange Agreement between the Corporation
of Hamilton and McCalmon Trust PTC Limited as trustee of the McCalmon Trust regarding certain areas of
land situated at 5 Brooklyn Lane, in the City of Hami lton, being marked as Lot 1 and Lot 2, as shown etched in yellow and pink , respectively, on onsite e ngineering drawing number 14112, annexed to the agreement, proposed to be approved by the Senate in
accordance with the provisions of sections 20(1A) and
20(1B) of the Municipalities Act 1923.
The President: Is there any objecti on to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Campbell.

AGREEMENT

EXCHANGE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
CORPORATION OF HAMILTON AND M cCALMON
TRUST PTC LIMITED
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
I am pleased to introduce the draft Exchange
Agreement between the Corporation of Hamilton, a
corporation existing pursuant to terms of the Munic ipalities Act 1923, the vendor, and McCalmon Trust PTC Limited, the purchaser as trustee of the McCalmon Trust.
Madam President, the vendor and the purchaser wish to enter into the agreement set out in the
draft exchange agreement. Section 20(1A) of the M unicipalities Act 1923 requires that “Any agreement
for—
a) the sale of land which is the property of the
Corporation; or
b) a lease, conveyance or other dispositi on of
any interest in land which is the property of
the Corporation, being a lease, disposition or
conveyance expressed to be for a term exceeding twenty -one years or for terms renewable exceeding in the aggregate twenty -one
years,
and any related agreement, must be submitted in draft
to the Minister for approval by the Cabinet, and be
approved by the Legislature.”
The land exchange is required to allow the
corporation to complete the sidewalk from the Laffan
Street to Canal Road which many schoolchildren use.
The Corporation of Hamilton agrees to convey their property, area 1, to the McCalmon Trust in exchange
for the conveyance of the McCalmon Trust Property,
area 2. The trust agrees to convey their property, area
2, in exchange for the conveyance of the Corporation
of Hamilton’s property, area 1.
Madam President, the draft exchange agre ement is such an agreement. It has been submitted to
the Minister and has been approved by the Cabinet. It
is now before the Senate for its approval in accor dance with sec tion 20(1B) of the Municipalities Act
1923, which provides that “[t]he approval of the Legi slature . . . shall be expressed by way of resolution
passed by both Houses of the Legislature approving
the agreement, and communicated to the Governor by
message.”
Madam President, this concludes my presentation of the draft exchange agreement. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Does any Senator care to speak on this draft
Agreement, this Bill?
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
Just in looking at the legislation we can see
that it is a very clear and cut -and-dry upholding of the
current Municipalities Act so the Opposition definitely
supports the Bill. We can carry on, Madam President. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then Senator Campbell it is over to you.
There seems to be agreement of all Senators.
1154 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
And I t hank my fellow Senators for their support.
With that Madam President, I move that the
draft Exchange Agreement be approved and that a
suitable message be sent to His Excellency the Go vernor conveying Senate approval of the said draft
Agreement.

The Presi dent: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Thank you, Senator Campbell. A suitable
message will be sent.

[Motion carried: The Exchange Agreement between
the Corporation of Hamilton and McCalmon Trust PTC
Limited was approved.]

Sen. Vanc e Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: We will move on to your next item
which is the draft Agreement between the Corporation
of Hamilton and the Dianthus Trust .

Sen. Vance Campbell: Yes, Madam President, I
move that Senate do now take under consideration
the draft Exchange Agreement between the Corpor ation of Hamilton and the Trustees of the Dianthus
Trust regarding certain areas of land situated at Canal
Road and Laffan Street in the City of Hamilton desi gnated as parcel A and parcel B, as shown etched in
yellow and green, respectively on Q -Ship Enterprises
[Ltd.] drawing number 0516054 annexed to the
agreement, proposed to be approved by the Senate in accordance with the provisions of sections 20(1A) and
20(1B) of the Municipalities Act 1923.

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

AGREEMENT

EXCHANGE OF LAND AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE CORPORATION OF HAMILTON
AND DIANTHUS TRUST

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
I am pleased to introduce the draft Exchange
of Land Agreement between the Corporation of Hami lton, a corporation existing pursuant to terms of the
Municipalities Act 1923, the vendor, and Dianthus Trust, the purchaser, a local trust incorporated in
Bermuda.
Madam President, the vendor and the purchaser wish to enter into the agreement set out in the
draft Exchange Agreement. Madam President, section
20(1A) of the Municipalities Act 1923 requires that “Any agreement for — a) the sale of land which is the property of the
Corporation; or
b) a lease, conveyance or other disposition of
any interest in land which is the property of
the Corporation, being a lease, disposition or
conveyance expressed to be for a term exceeding twenty -one years or for terms renewable exceeding in the aggregate twenty -one
years,
and any related agreement, must be submitted in draft to the Minister for approval by the Cabinet, and be approved by the Legislature.”
The land exchange is required to allow the
Corporation of Hamilton to complete the sidewalk from
Laffan Street to the Canal Road, which many schoolchildren use. Both properties are almost equal in size,
one being 150.06 square feet and the other being 150.03 square feet. Madam President, the land currently belonging to the Dianthus Trus t is exchanged
together with full, free and unrestricted right and liberty of way and passage for the Dianthus Trust and the
owners, tenants and servants and all other lawfully authorised persons to go, return and pass and repass
at their will and pleasure , with or without animals and
vehicles of all descriptions, over and along the land being exchanged, given that the proposed land use is a public sidewalk.
Madam President, the draft Exchange
Agreement is such an agreement. It has been submi tted to the Mi nister and has been approved by the
Cabinet. It is now before the Senate for its approval in
accordance with section 20(1B) of the Municipalities Act 1923, which provides that “[t]he approval of the Legislature . . . shall be expressed by way of resol ution passed by both Houses of the Legislature appro ving the agreement, and communicated to the Governor by message.”
Madam President, this concludes my presentation of the draft Exchange Agreement. Thank you,

Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this E xchange Agreement Bill?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
Similar to the previous legislation, the Go vernment once again has our full support. You know,
we look forward to getting it done. Thank you, Madam
President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Exchange Agreement?


Bermuda Senate No, then it is over to you Senator Campbell.
You have full support.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President,
and thank you Senators.
Madam President, with that I move that the
draft Exchange Agreement be approved and that a suitable message be sent to His Excellency the Governor conveying Senate approval of the said draft
Agreement.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
A suitable message will be sent to the Governor. Thank you, Senator Campbell. Thank you, all
Senators.

[Motion carried: The Exchange of Land Agreement
between the Corporation of Hamilton and the Trustees
of the Dianthus Trust was approved.]

The President: We now move on to the last item on
our Orders for the Day and that is consideration of the
draft Agreement entitled t he Sale and Purchase
Agreement between the Corporation of St. George’s
and the W. M. E. Meyer & Company Limited. And
Senator Campbell, this is your Bill, you can proceed when you are ready.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President , I move that the Senate do
now take under consideration the draft Sale and Purchase Agreement between the Corporation of St. George’s and the W. M. E. Meyer & Company Limited
regarding a vacant lot of land known as Lot A situated
at Penno’s Drive in the Town of St. George’s as
shown within an area etched red on Bermuda land
survey from number LS7602 annexed to the agree-ment proposed to be approved by the Senate in accordance with the provisions of sections 20(1A) and
20(1B) of the Municipalities Act 1923.

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

AGREEMENT

SALE AND PURCHASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE CORPORATION OF ST. GEORGE’S AND THE
W. M. E. MEYER & COMPANY LIMITED

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Mad am President.
Madam President, I am pleased to introduce
the draft Sale [and Purchase] Agreement between the
Corporation of St. George’s, the corporation existing
pursuant to terms of the Municipalities Act 1923, the vendor, and to W. M. E. Meyer & Compan y Limited, the purchaser, a local company incorporated in Bermuda.
Madam President, the vendor and the purchaser wish to enter the agreement set out in the draft
Sales Agreement. Madam President, section 20(1A) of the Municipalities Act 1923 requires that “Any
agreement for . . . Madam President this is the same
as what we read in the two previous Bills so I will skip that part.

[Laughter]

Sen. Vance Campbell: If you do not mind, Madam
President?
The President: Not at all Senator Campbell, you can
continue with the Bill.
Sen. Vance Campbell: It has not changed in the last
minute.

[Laughter]
The President: All right. Carry on.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, the subject
lot is undeveloped and previously formed part of the
adjacent property to the west of Coal Shed building,
located at 6 Penno’s Drive, the property which is
grass, is roughly triangular in shape and used from
time to time for parking. During 2009 and 2010, the
Corporation of St. George’s and W. M. E. Meyer & Company, Limited eng aged in discussions regarding
the boundary adjustment of the aforementioned prop-erty, with a planning application subsequently made.
Attached at Annex 2 is the approved final plan of subdivision.
Madam President, after consideration of the
market sales information of non- developable land parcels attached at Annex 3, a market value of
$13,000.00 was affixed to the subject lot. An evaluation was conducted by a chartered valuation surveyor
representing Bermuda Realty. Based on the information provided to the Corporation of St. George’s
Council, members were satisfied that the proposed price is reflective of the true market value for the
property.
Additionally, the purchaser, W. M. E. Meyer &
Company Limited, has agreed to cover all costs ass ociated with the s ale. A tentative resolution was subs equently obtained and recommended to the Minister
responsible for municipalities to approve the sale. A ttached at Annex 4 is the sales and purchase agreement.
Madam President, the draft Sales Agreement
is such an agreem ent. It has been submitted to the
Minister and has been approved by the Cabinet. It is
now before the Senate for its approval in accordance
with section 20(1B) of the Municipalities Act 1923,
1156 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate which provides that “[t]he approval of the Legislature
. . . shall be expressed by way of resolution passed by
both Houses of the Legislature approving the agreement, and communicated to the Governor by message.”
Madam President, this concludes my presentation of the draft Sales Agreement. Thank you, Ma dam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this draft
Agreement Sale Purchase?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.

The President: Yes, Senator Robinson, you have the
floor.
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I am cer tain that my colleagues can predict what I am going to say next by
now.

[Laughter]

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Yes, the Opposition does
support this legislation and we do look forward to seeing positive activity coming out of the St. George’s area. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then Senator Campbell it appears you
have full support from the Senate.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President,
and thank you fellow Senators for your support.
So with that, Madam President, I move that
the draft Sale and Purchase Agreement [between the
Corporation of St. George’s and the W. M. E. Meyer &
Company Limited] be approved and that a suitable
message be sent to His E xcellency the Governor conveying the Senate’s approval of the said Draft Agreement.

The President: Is there any objection to the message
being sent to the Governor? No objection.
Thank you, Senator Campbell. A suitable
message will be sent.
[Motion carried: The Sale and Purchase Agreement
between the Corporation of St. George’s and the W.
M. E. Meyer & Company Limited was approved.]
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.
MOTIONS
The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
these—
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes, I would. Yes, I
would, Madam President.
The President: Yes, Senator Ianthia Simmons -Wade
you have the floor.
Sen. Ianthia Si mmons -Wade: Hi. Madam President,
I would like to send congratulations to Leroy Brownlow
Place who celebrated his 104
th birthday on July 24th.
He was born in 1916. In his early years he worked
with Bermuda Recorder , which was actually funded by
his father, for many, many years. He started a job at
the Corporation of Hamilton at 55 and he retired at 85
years old.
He is a Somerset fan Cup Match!

[Laughter]

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: He is an avid cricket
enthusiast. He goes up seven am in the morning and
he stays there until last call. This will be his first year
that he has missed Cup Match but he will still continue
to celebrate. He is a living legend in our community. I want to say, as the Chairman of the Ageing Well
Committee, he is what I guess I woul d consider an
individual who has aged well.

The President: Mm-hmm.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: He said it is a combination of good genes, positive attitude, he eats well,
he exercises every day. I see a number of people here in the Senate who are shaking their heads because they have not tried every day.

[Laughter]

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: So I would like to say
for those individuals, eight years ago . . . no, actually
12 years ago, he actually said what he really wants to
do is to live to 100 years. He is now 104. You saw the
recent pictures in the newspaper —

The President: Yes.
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: —he is walking, he is
talking, and he certainly appears to have all of his fac-ulties.

B ermuda Senate So I will say if you follow his example, you
cannot do muc h about your genes, but all the other
things that we recommended on the Ageing Well
Committee, that would make a difference in how long you will be around for your family and your children. So in behalf of the Senate I wish him many more years. I do not know how many he wants, but I wish
many, many more years, good health and happiness.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President.
The Presiden t: Yes, Senator Jardine, you have the
floor.
Sen. James. S. Jardine: I just wanted to be associated with Senator Ianthia Simmons -Wade’s comments. I
remember him well when I was an alderman at the Corporation of Hamilton. He always looked so young. And I a lways said to him that I hope I look as good as
he did when reached his age. I think I have failed him
miserably.
[
Laughter]
Sen. James. S. Jardine: I saw him recently; he still
looks the same as he did when he was at the Corp oration. And it has been some years since I was an alderman on the Corporation, and he still looks the same. He is an incredibly active individual and has retained . . . if all Bermudian seniors could look like
him and be like him, it would be wonderful. He is such a healthy individual and so cheerful. I remember him
well and I wish to be associated with her comments.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
I would just like to add my own comment too.
He introduced himself to me and he called the name
and I told him my name and he said, Oh, you are Inus
Diller’s daughter? And she was my cousin. And he
was telling me this well before he was 100 years old. He is a fine gentleman, and I want to be associated with the comments that have been made so far.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
Congratulatory and/or Obituary speeches?
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I will, Madam
President.
The President: Yes, Madam Attorney General, you
have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I would like to
send congratulations to several people, and I think today is my day for highlighting the Attorney General’s Chambers. But in particular we have a former Parli amentary Counsel, Dr. Anthony Richardson, who has left our shores and has gone to the United Ki ngdom.
And when I say “doctor” he received his doctorate while he was drafting legislation and provided services to the Government. But he has been singularly f ocused on higher education and advancing his career
and he has achieved many things. He has a Harvard
higher education teaching certificate. He has taught in other jurisdictions. And I have been informed he has been offered and accepted tenancy at a very presti gious chamber in the UK, i.e., 9 Bedford Row, Interna-tional Chambers. And these Chambers ar e specialists
in commercial, criminal and international criminal law matters. So, on behalf of the Senate it is so wonderful to see a son of the soil advancing beyond our shores to great legal esteem. And so I just want to congrat ulate him. He tends to follow us, and so I am hopeful that from the other side of the pond he is listening to
us today. And I would like to say, Well done!, on behalf of his former colleagues and us as well.
I would also like to congratulate Ms. Chardonnai Hughes who is one of our students. She has successfully completed her Master of Laws in legal practice and she has been employed with us since last
year. She has a wonderful pleasing personality. She is a hard worker and I am looking forward to her, hopefully, completing her pupillage at some point and being called to the bar.
We also have a young student , Eva Frazzoni,
[who] is returning to finish her law studies and so she
is leaving us on the 3rd. I am happy for her. I am happy that the Government has been able to continue i ts
summer programme to have students come through my Chambers and other departments to gain exper ience during the summer months. And so Congratulations to Chardonnai and G ood Luck to Eva.
I would also like to strike closer to home,
Madam President, bec ause throughout this period we
have been assisted by one of our own. And when I
say “one of our own,” Mr. Gilbert Rowling , who is
probably cringing at the moment, has been pivotal in
making our lives very comfortable during this session.
Gilbert is actuall y a policy analyst at the Cabinet Office who has . . . he is currently acting as the chief
protocol officer. I know Gilbert from my days as a PEN
consultant.
Not only is he well educated, he graduated
from the the University of Western Ontario and he also has an MBA, but he is one of the most accommodating, selfless . . . (what other word can I use?),
Bermudian who has provided a concierge service to
the Government. He is diligent, he is kind, and a wonderful young man.
And I would just like to acknowledge
him today because you do not often get that level of
service particularly when people can be pursuing
other more important things. But his k indness has
1158 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate struck me, and I would just like to say on behalf of
the Senate team thank you to our Gilbert.
I
am done, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Madam Attorney General.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
Congratulatory and/or Obituary speeches?
Sen. Vance Campbell: Yes, Madam President.
The President: Senator Campbell, you have the floor.
Sen. Vance Campbell: I would also like to associate
myself with the comments of Senator Simmons -Wade
as it relates to Mr. Brownlow Place. I do see some
signs of his ageing in that his judgment may be i mpaired in that he was wearing red and blue . . . but I
will take that —
[
Laughter]
Sen. Vance Campbell: —up with him the next time I
see him.
Secondly, Madam President, I do wish to
congratulate Latoya Brown -Hayward who was recently recognised by the Kiwanis Club of St. George’s as
their Hero of the Year. Ms. Latoya Brown- Hayward
pulled her . . . I believe it was her cousin . . . her
brother -in-law, sorry, Madam President, Omar Ha yward, a Paralympian, from their home as it was
ablaze, after attempting to put out the fire by herself.
She is a Royal Bermuda Regiment soldier and I just
want to congratulate her on her bravery and the Kiw anis Club recognition of her bravery and making her their Hero of the Year. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
Congratulatory and/or Obituary speeches?
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, Madam President,
Senator Richardson.
The President: Senator Anthony Richardson, you
have the floor.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to carry on the theme this afternoon of congratulating young people. And my focus is actually the Appleby scholars —
The President: Mm-hmm.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: The Appleby law firm
awarded a total of seven scholarships. I will call all the names , with your indulgence, Madam President.
The President: You certainly may. Sen. Anthony Richardson: Ms. Khayl’la Ball , Christopher Jackson, Zene Wade, Skye Burrows, Tiffany
Cooper, Anthony Howell and Candace Paynter.
I want to especially comment on Ms. Khayl’la
Ball, more so because I did not know who she was prior to COVID -19, but one of the wonderful opportunities we get as parliamentary representatives is to i nteract with members of the public in surprising circum-stances. I came to know her more . . . well, know of
her, I suppose, in the context of COVID -19.
She was one of those students who was
overseas and could not return to the Island. Her mother contacted me one day and [asked], basically,
if there was any way we could assist (me, in my other
capacity). And it was wonderful to go through the pr ocess of assisting her in getting to Bermuda. And then we were able to work with her because that was right around the time when the Government made adjus tments to its mandatory quarantine site. She was a
wonderful individual. And the very first physical meeting with her was . . . she had to remain at the point of
. . . at the airport in fact for about four hours. And despite the, in my mind, the arduous period of not knowing where she would be, she was tremendously pos itive during the entire time.
We were able to then help her to find, you
know, the whole nine yards. It was just really, really rewarding to work with her. And then one day I asked her, basically, why was she here and all those kinds of things. And she told me that she was determined to
come back because she had to attend an interview. [She] did the interview online and then she called me back to say that it went very, very well. And of course I followed up to find out what happened. Then she sa id
she actually got the scholarship.
The President: Wonderful!
Sen. Anthony Richardson: And the scholarship . . .
and she is very shy . . . . However, the scholarship,
Madam President, says, “This year’s Legal Education
Scholarship [is] valued at $30,000” which means that
her mother does not have to pay for the school fees, and if I am not mistaken . . . no, I’m not mistaken r ather, she is very, very bright . . . and again, following
now in Madam Attorney General’s footsteps to be a lawyer. And so now she is off to the UK, and I am
looking forward to her coming back to practice in
Bermuda in the longer term.
But, again, to all of those young persons, I
say, A job well done!
And a final comment in regard to the success
of the Bermuda Dual Enrolment Programme. I have
commented on it on several occasions. I have been
informed that history will be made this year because Bermuda College will take at least two students, age 14, into the programme, which means they have bas ically finished their high school gradu ation requir eBermuda Senate ments and are now moving on to the first stage of
their tertiary education. So it bodes well.
I commend also Dr. Duranda Greene, as
President of the college and all the directives that she
and her team do (she can’t do it by herself). And jus t
in a general sense to all of our young people now to
realise that education is very important and really, if
you focus on it, it is yours to obtain. So thank you,

Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
Congratulatory and/or Obituary speeches?
No. Then Madam Attorney General, you can
move us to adjournment.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident, I move that the Senate do now be adjourned until Wednesday, S eptember 16.

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
the motion to adjourn?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jones, welcome back. You
have the floor.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
FOR WILLING BERMUDIANS

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
Over the last week we have witnessed the
departure of several expatriate workers returning to
their homelands. A July 24
th story in the Royal Gazette
reported that over 60 Portuguese nationals quit the
Island i n a special repatriation flight. With the invasion
of this COVID -19 onto our shores, we have had to
view life —business, sports, entertainment and any
other activity that we do—differently.
This new normal should cause us as Berm udians to approach work wit h a different perspective.
The jobs that we have frowned on and refused to do
because it was beneath us, or did not pay what we
thought was a salary that sufficiently underwrote our
lifestyle, needs to be a way of the past. The highpaying jobs that were i n abundance in the 1990s and
the early 2000s are not there anymore so we as Bermudians need to be willing to do those jobs that we
took a pass on and left for expats to do. Jobs such as
landscaping, waiters, chefs, commercial cleaning, domestic help, skill ed labourers, and construction and
the like. Why? Because our economy has seen the shrinkage of jobs and the ones that have been able to survive through the recession are the ones that have
been traditionally filled by foreign workers. So as we come out of this state of emergency we must swallow
our pride and be willing to do those jobs that we once
looked down our nose at.
Stop making the expat workers the enemy.
Both political parties have maintained a stance of Bermudians first. And we make no apologies for that.
That position should never be surrendered or compromised. But what disturbs me is the general Woe is
me, the foreigners -are-taking -my-job attitude. We
Bermudians are made of stronger stuff than that.
Our parents and grandparents who may not
have had university degrees did the work that was
necessary to survive. They put us through school,
built their homes, and had money saved for retirement
to travel and enjoy the finer things in life in their d eclining years. If for whatever reason you are una ble to
go to university and qualify for that six -figure career
job, or if you did graduate from higher learning, and a
job in your field is not readily available, humble yourself, pick up that paint brush, lawnmower, serving tray
or whatever tool is necess ary to do the work with your
hands. Our forebears did it. The expat workers are
doing it. And with persistence and disciplined spen ding habits, they are able to make a prosperous life for
themselves and their families who live in a foreign
land. Who knows, if you are industrious and have a
good work ethic, maybe you can ascend to upper
management and ownership within an industry that is
a mainstay on this Island.
I can make this claim with authority because I
worked full -time as a waiter at a hotel after gr aduating
from high school at the age of 16. By the age of 37 I had worked through the hotel ranks and was made a general manager of a small size hotel here on the I sland. In between that time I attended Bermuda Col-lege and a Canadian university to equip my self to
qualify for the top job. But great outcomes start with
small beginnings!
If working for someone else is not your forte,
work to be an entrepreneur, one that can find enter-prising opportunities as the economy reopens. Be wil ling to work those so- called blue -collar jobs while you
prepare to be a business owner or engage in online
further education to upgrade your skill sets. Why is it
that we as Bermudians cannot see opportunities on our shores while that is all the foreigners see? Why
are many of our family members pulling up stakes and
pursuing opportunity abroad rather than making it
work for us here on our beloved Island? Because many times opportunity is disguised in work overalls
and gloves, and we miss it.
At present, there are hundreds of hote l wor kers unemployed due to this pandemic. There is uncertainty on whether hotels will reopen or remain closed
until next spring. There is a predetermined break -even
point in occupancy that every general manager within
the industry will want to attain in t he next few months
to justify a decision to open now or wait until next year. In the meantime, many of those expat workers
1160 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate who filled the jobs that traditionally Bermudians do not
gravitate to, such as chefs and food and beverage
servers, are seeing the un employment benefits coming to an end and no guarantee of work. So they will return to their countries and the hoteliers will not have enough staff on hand to open, if in a month’s time they
can find a financial reason to reopen.
What do I see from this potential dilemma?
Opportunity! It is time for Bermudians, both young and old, to return to the hotel industry. Make yourself
available for retraining in being a waiter, a chef, a spa attendant, or a landscaper. Those of you who are a lready employed in the h otel, be willing to receive
cross training in other departments so that a room attendant can be cross trained as a waiter, while a front desk clerk can upgrade his or her skills to be a
sous chef in the kitchen.
Allow me to destroy a myth that remains a
talking point amongst those who may not be in the
business of hiring. As a general manager of a hotel
with more than 100 employees, I preferred Bermudian workers and searched high and low to find them. I
was not unique in that approach, because most of my
colleagues within a management fraternity of the hotel
industry both foreign and local felt the same way. I
may be biased, but there is no group of people on
God’s earth that are friendlier and more personable than Bermudians. So we desperately wanted Berm udians to sell our Island’s attributes to the visitors when they checked them in, served them a beverage or
cleaned their room. But too often we were dealing with
workers who failed to show up for work, failed the
drug test at the hiring stage, or who had a poor work
ethic.
Come on people! We are running a business
and we need to provide top- notch service. So, as
much as we want to hire and train our fellow Bermudi-ans, we must have them commit to a good work ethic
and a willingness to go the extra mile whe n called upon. Very few people are willing to admit this flaw in our local work force. So we pretend it does not exist and
claim that foreigners are taking our jobs.
Hospitality is part of our DNA as Bermudians.
And generations before us were able to generate
enough wealth to give their families a great life. I know
of a female housekeeping department staff member [who was] at one of our major hotels all of her working
life and, through hard work, persistence and shrewd
money management, was able to purchase houses
here on the Island and overseas. Don’t chase the
money; follow your passions with great diligence and
purpose and the money will chase you. Be willing to take career changes that suit your personality and skill
set.
Here in Bermuda, as in other jurisdictions
about the world, we will have to reinvent ourselves.
This is not new, as we have been doing that as a nation since our inception over 400 years ago. Throughout our colourful history we have been whalers, ship builders, privateers, tourism specialists and intern ational reinsurance providers. This 21- square mile
piece of limestone, 650 miles from its closest major
landmass to the west of us, has punched above its
weight class for centuries. What this economy is cr ying out for is for people to b e willing to do the jobs that
we, over the last several decades, have been unwil ling to do because we figured we were too educated to do them, or they did not pay us enough.
The Government’s unemployment benefit
programme will come to a screeching halt. W e do not
want to create a generation of people who get comfortable with government assistance as a source of
income. We can appreciate that we are living through
unusual and exceptional circumstances. But there
comes a time when we have to dust ourselves off and
be willing to do the jobs that our expat workers do that, under normal circumstances, we would not venture to do ourselves.
Happy Cup Match holiday to my fellow Senators and the listening audience.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President.

The President: Senator Richardson, you have the
floor.

BLACK LIVES MATTER
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes, Ma’am .
Madam President, I will preface my comments
by saying that sometimes it is difficult to get up, because when you are down people step on you, or you
are feeling in a negative mood and they throw what
might be unintended criticism, but nevertheless it is
criticism. What I ask us to do sometimes is . . . we are
all human, sometimes consider the context before you
make comments. So, for me personally, don’t call me
up and start making accusations of another. Som etimes just ask a question or see how I am doing before you launch into what might sometimes be a di atribe because it doesn’t in any way help my attitude,
my mood or otherwise. So, with those comments,
Madam President, I offer this:
Madam President, Black Lives Matter. Black
Lives Matter? Black Lives Matter! Madam President,
each of those statements used identical phrases. But
the difference in articulation is based on the usage of
punctuation. So today I used a period, a question
mark and an exclamation mark. A rhetorical question
each of us and the broader com munity in Bermuda is,
What do we use after the proclamation of Black Lives
Matter —a period, a question mark, or an exclamation
mark?


Bermuda Senate Madam President, the May 25th, 2020 death
of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement
officers in Minneapolis caus ed a significant outpouring
of worldwide demonstrations. And I have mentioned before my observation of a broad demographic that attended the march in Bermuda on June 7
th, estimated
to contain as many as 7,000 attendees. So, Madam
President, as we prepare t o celebrate Cup Match
2020 and the inaugural Mary Prince Day my question
is, what next?
What is next for Bermuda to ensure the number and diversity of attendees on June 7th does not
result in just that, an emotional outpouring and no
more. Two recent experiences in my portfolio as Junior Minister of Education provide the context for my
following comment. One experience was the revel ation that a white Bermudian had completely and sel flessly undertaken to ensure that a young Black Bermudian had an actual education and undertook to fully
fund him from primary school all the way through un iversity.
The second was a white non- Bermudian who
planned to come to Bermuda with three younger chi ldren, and they asked me about schools in Bermuda.
Based upon what normal ly takes place I explained
that there are different social dynamics that take place
in the public school system versus the private schools
system. Midway through my explanation he interrup ted me to say , No, I want to know about public schools
because I wan t my children to attend public school
because that is the only way they will know what life is about.
Madam President, I am a proud graduate of
Warwick Academy. In many cases people ask me, or assume that I attended Berkeley. And then there is a
general conversation in terms of Berkeley versus
Warwick Academy. And I would say that I have lots of
friends from Berkeley, actually many family members,
my wife went to Berkeley and so did my two children.
But my personal experience going to Warwick Acad-emy helped to ensure for me socially that there is actually no difference fundamentally between Blacks
and whites in Bermuda and, therefore, we got a
chance to see us all in groups. In some cases when it comes to sports, there are some Blacks that are superior to wh ites and there are some Blacks that are not
in any sporting contests. When it came to academics,
we had a broad variety. Some, you know, just to a
class, you may have a white person or a Black person
that was the best in class, in terms of highest grades,
or the lowest. When it came to playing music, the
same thing would apply.
What I am getting at is that through that experience it allowed us to understand that on a man- toman or on a person- to-person basis, we are no different. Therefore, there is no need for us to presume that
a white person is better than a Black person, and the reverse, that a Black person is inferior to a white person. The challenge, though, that does arise is that
through socialisation, what I refer to as socialisation,
that in many cases whites will progress further in a
professional sense than Blacks. And when I say “s ocialisation” I am referring to the fact that based upon
your friendships and your social interactions that
sometimes persons are given greater opportunities
than others. So, going back to the Black Lives Matter,
we need to consider what will we do individually, because I cannot change you, but I can change me. And
I can change me by making fundamental decisions.
Today we talked about or certainly congrat ulated many yo ung people. Madam Attorney General
referred to many of the persons who actually write,
draft and research all of the laws that come into place
for us that will actually transition Bermuda in the longer term. Over the past year, we have actually looked at some laws and figured out that from the inception
they were racist. So it is certainly intended to provide
an advantage to white Bermudians. One of the most
recent ones for me was, of course, when we did the
Riddle’s Bay [(Warwick Parish) Special Developmen t
Order 2020] last week, or at the last [sitting]. We came
to find out that public money was actually used for a
private matter which ultimately ended up with Blacks
being excluded from the activity. And then what some
of us observed was that even when it came to the r eporting of that, what did the Royal Gazette do? For
whatever reason, and it is certainly not on a personal
level, they chose to have Senator Jardine as the face
of the whole discussion around the Riddle’s Bay.
Clearly I have no detailed infor mation as to why that
happened, but it is the observation sometimes of
things that we see that we then use our own bias to
figure out why it is or why it is not.
More recently ––and I say recently , the past
three or four days now ––the lead story since last
week Saturday, or not the lead story but the lead pi ctures, if you will, has been a discussion about criticism
of Dr. Weldon. And how that played out in my mind
. . . it was on the front page of the paper seven times.
The message in my mind was completely wrong to us
as a Black community because there were many other
things that could have been highlighted to show a
much more positive experience.
So I go back to my comment, Black Lives
Matter. What are we going to do? It is a challenge to
us individually and collectively. Going back to my current role as Junior Minister of Education, I will say this:
Clearly, Education at a young age and all the way
through would have one of the most significant i mpacts on our upbringing, our socialisation, and our
better understanding of each other primarily and si gnificantly to ensure that we recognise that skin colour does not make anybody inherently better than anot her.
I am going to end by saying this: for the past
two years, at least, while I have been a Senator, I have always tried to highlight what has been taking
1162 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate place in the public education system, not because I
have a bias against private education, but because
the narrative for so long has been that public educ ation has been “less than.” But I wanted to ensure that I was able to highlight the significant successes in pub-lic education. On occasion I have talked about the fact
that there have been many children right now who
have gone through the dual enrolment programme,
which is a public school programme, by whi ch children
who are able to complete the majority of their high
school graduation requirements are able then to a ttend Bermuda College courses on a dual enrolment
basis.
What has surprised me is so many of the chi ldren that did well at Bermuda College wer e actually
the younger children, i.e., those who were in the dual
enrolment programme. In many cases they were the
ones who got the highest grades and were then r ewarded at the end of the school year with recognition
for what they had achieved.
I want to underscore again to both us as a
people and to the business community also that it is
more than just money. It is actually the survival and
the success of Bermuda. [It] will go a much, much,
much longer way if there is greater support for what is
needed in the public education system. We know that
the Minister of Education which is [INAUDIBLE ] today
is leading the determination to make changes to the public education system. I believe it is going to be a
long-term investment, maybe 10 or 20 years, maybe.
But for those of us who currently have children in the
public school system we need to redouble our efforts in support of our children, because that is what is go-ing to have a significant impact on the success of our
children.
As a final comment, Madam Pres ident, I will
say that for all of us now, going back to my original
comments in terms of Black Lives Matter, we can
make decisions today and every other day in terms of
how we govern ourselves because Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter? Black Lives Mat ter!
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Anthony Ric hardson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Sorry, I am looking to see who . . .


Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Senator Simmons -
Wade.

The President: Senator Caesar, you have the floor.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Simmons -Wade. The President: I beg your pardon, Senator Simmons -
Wade. Your voice was very low and I wasn’t sure
where it was coming from. But Senator Simmons -
Wade you have the floor.

L. F. WADE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you.
Madam President, the [INAUDIBLE ] Wade
family was very [INAUDIBLE] and proud that the PLP
renamed the airport in honour of m y late husband, L.
Frederick Wade. I actually briefly thought when the
airport was being re named to ask whether or not there
was a possibility that we could move it to Somerset.
But I decided not to.
My husband was elected to Parliament in
1968 and served as an MP and as a Leader for 28 years. He worked tirelessly for all Bermudians. His
ultimate goal was to have a PLP Government, as he
believed that a PLP Government would be the best
Government to serve the people of Bermuda. Unfortunately, the past two ye ars prior to the PLP winning
Government he sacrificed so we could have Bermuda.
The airport belongs to the people of Bermuda. But I
am sure that those people would understand that this
is very personal for me and my family.
My initial concern was when the previous
Government decided not to put this contract out to tender, when the terms and the conditions of the contract were made public, I was more concerned and to
be quite honest, I was actually quite appalled. When the PLP regained power every effort was made and
continues to be made to amend the contract. To date,
all of their efforts have been unsuccessful. As a result
of the pandemic, it has highlighted even more the i ssues and the price that Bermuda taxpayers would
have to pay when $5.7 million was pa id out because
the airport was closed during the pandemic.
I ask myself the question, even though it was
acknowledged by Mr. Cannonier that the lawyers
hired somehow did not do good service in terms of
reviewing this contract, I do not understand why if he
had four MPs who are lawyers sitting for the OBA, that
no one could see that this was not a good contract for
the people of Bermuda. But then we have a hint. They would have had to have sight of the contract in order
to give their input. I do not know if this was the case.
The bottom line is, this contract and the situation that we have here in Bermuda as it relates to the
airport lies solely at the feet of the OBA Government.
Even during the sunniest day a cloud would be over the L. F. Wade Airport if this contract is not amended.
No one expected to have to be paying for 30 years.
Every time we travel, every time we look at that ai rport, we have to put our hands down and say someone is in my pocket , because we will be paying for a
very long time.
This honour is now bittersweet for my family.
As a Government we will continue to seek the legal


Bermuda Senate advice to bring amendments or changes to this contract without compromising Bermuda financially.
Again, we are honoured to have the airport named
after my husband, and I appreciate that this is the L. F. Wade International Airport.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

AIRPORT PROJECT AGREEMENT
AND REGULATED REVENUES

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
When we come into this Chamber, I really
strive to be as accurate as possible with my stat ements. And I really ho pe that my colleagues intend to
do the same. Regarding this particular airport com-mentary that we have had in the press and whatnot, I
do want to make it quite clear that in the same breath
that we are talking about not placing an airport out to
tender, or a certain contract out to tender, we then
have a Government, a current Government, that has
turned around and met folks overseas to discuss
sewage treatment and come back with an untendered
contract for the Ottiwell Simmons building.
So it is very, very , very convenient for me
when I hear that folks will like to lay this debacle directly at the feet of the OBA when we inherited a
Government that was fiscally mismanaged and capital
expenditure was out of control. And when you make a
deal you have to take into account your leverage in a
situation, you have to take into account the people
that it affects. And, at the end of the day, the airport
workers were working in conditions of mould, they
were working in conditions of things that were floo ding, roofs falling in and different things like that. And if
we did not act at the time, or at least my colleagues at the time did not act, then we would have to have a
different conversation about the One Bermuda All iance not caring about the type of work environment
that the airport workers are in. And I do believe that
during the time when this deal was made it was made
in the interests of getting the airport constructed so
that those workers could, indeed, work in suitable
conditions and we could become a tourism capital
without adding to the books .
Now, we had the option of increasing taxes on
people in order to pay for an airport and to put it out to
tender, knowing that the previous Government who
put projects out to tender ended up paying twice or three times f or those projects. So, obviously, if you are
a cash -strapped Government, you do not want to tax
your people to make up a shortfall to build a new pr o-ject, you create something that may not have been the
most suitable , but it was definitely the best thing at
that time.
So, I definitely want to kind of caution my colleagues when laying blame, especially when it comes
across quite hypocritical to support and then turn
around and say, Well, that deal wasn’t so great. And
then see an identical deal being made c urrently by the
Minister of Public Works. So we have to be very car eful in our criticism of certain deals when we then have
to turn around and see these same deals being made currently.
In that essence, I just want the people of
Bermuda to understand that , no, it was not a silver
bullet. It was not meant to be an end- all, be -all. But
90 per cent of Skyport’s employees are Bermudians.
And 60 per cent of the people who participated in that
construction of the airport were Bermudians. But I
would love and enc ourage my colleagues to give me
the financial details of this Milhouse [Engineering & Construction] deal and the arbitration centre deal that
has broken ground, and we still do not have the financial details of, that did not go out to tender. And we
are going to sit here and listen to somebody discuss
the tendering process. It just baffles.
With that, Madam President, I just wish that
we maintain as much accuracy as possible when we
are listing out these events . Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senator Jardine, you have the floor.

AIRPORT PROJECT AGREEMENT
AND REGULATED REVENUES

Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
In some respects, I was hoping that we would
avoid the discussion of the airport again, but reliving
the debate that went on back in February of 2017, I do
not think it is necessarily appropriate to go back and
rehash the decisions that were made at that time, ex-cept that I t hink it is important to clarify, or, should I
say, clear the air, with respect to this minimum rev enue guarantee. I first raised concerns about this minimum
revenue guarantee back in November of 2016 with the Government of the day because I was concerned based on the documents I had read that Bermuda had
an exposure, should we have to meet the minimum
revenue guarantee. And, Madam President, if you will
grant me some degree of latitude, I wish to read from
the speech that I gave during the debate that we had
in February of 2017, and just the bit about the minimum revenue guarantee so as to put this in full perspective. As I said, this was a matter that I first raised
1164 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate with the Government back in November 2016, and I
continued to pursue it until we actually got to the debate of the legislation in February of 2017.
The President: You certainly may.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you.
If I could just read from the speech that I gave
with respect to this debate, just one part of it. And it is
as follows: “There is a minimum revenue guarantee
which is set out in section 9 of the management
agreement and as defined in schedule A of the
agreement. This guarantee will remain in place until
the senior debt for the project has been repaid which
is expected to take 25 years. Bermuda will be issued
with an indication of the amount that has triggered the
minimum revenue guarantee. The minimum revenue
line which is used to determine whether or not any
payments are due from Bermuda under the minimum
revenue guarantee provis ion appears to be set using
airport passenger arrival levels of 750,000 or lower.
Historical airport passenger levels have fluctuated in
the last 18 years from a high of 997,000 passengers
in 1998 to its lowest level of 756,000 passengers in
2015. Again, w e do not know what these revenues are
in total or how much they could vary if different traffic
flow levels between the base case forecast. This is a clear risk to the consolidated fund cash flows and the
most significant concern I have about this transact ion
since the success or failure of this transaction depends on the attainment of the base case traffic flows.
Any decrease below a certain minimum regulated
revenue line amount will be funded by payments from the Bermuda Government during the 25- year debt
repayment period. Risk management considerations
are important. So I was disappointed to see that the
Government has not sought to mitigate its risk of having to meet possible cash calls with respect to the
minimum revenue guarantee payments by considering
insurance risk transfer solutions for this risk at least for the next five to ten years, while Bermuda gets its
financial house in order. Again, I have mentioned this
to Government as a step which could be taken. I have recently been given a verbal assur ance from them
that they will actively look at this option in order to safeguard the consolidated fund from any calls which could be made under the minimum revenue guarantee. This would then remove what I consider to be the
major concern that I have with t his transaction.”
And, Madam President, you may remember
that those were the comments I made during the d ebate on this particular Bill.

The President: I certainly do.

Sen. James S. Jardine: And, Madam President, it
was based on those assurances in great er part that I
gave my support to the determination of the construction of the new airport. And subsequent to that, I pursued Gover nment to find out whether they had indeed gone to seek insurance coverage. And I pursued it for some
months. I have to confess I do not recall how long it
was, but it seemed to be a considerable period of time thereafter, when I was finally told that they did seek to
see whether they could obtain the necessary insurances, and I was told that it was not cost -effective to
do so. And in fact, I think that was confirmed in a
news broadcast on Monday night on ZBM.
Madam President, I still believe that we could
have cobbled together some means of risk transfer of this particular risk. We are in a market here, I think it is
the third largest insurance/reinsurance market in the
world. And I suggested at the time that they could
have cobbled together some form of risk transfer
agreement probably involving a number of the large reinsurance and insurance companies here in Berm uda. We have over 174 qualified actuaries on this I sland. And I cannot believe for one minute that they
could not have put together a programme that would
have been cost -effective for us. However, that is now
all water under the bridge. But I thought it was i mportant t o clarify that the matter of insurance I certai nly raised back in November of 2016 and pursued with some vigour, as you are aware, in order to try to make
sure that Bermuda was not exposed under this minimum revenue guarantee.
And so it is distressing to me to see that we
have indeed been caught by a very unusual occurrence. But it is those unusual occurrences that one
buys insurance for, that one seeks to transfer the risk so that one is not exposed for the risk that we now
find ourselves having to bear. So I thought it was i mportant, Madam President, to (shall we say) clear the air or clarify this whole question of insurance coverage, because it was a concern that I indeed had back in 2016/17.
Thank you very much, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Hearing none, I would just like to say —

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President.

The President: I beg your pardon.

Sen. Vance Campbell: It is Senator Campbell.
The Pre sident: I beg your pardon. Senator Cam pbell?
Sen. Vance Campbell: Campbell.
The President: Yes. You have the floor.



Bermuda Senate POSITIVE CHANGES FOR BERMUDA

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, several Senate sessions
ago on the moti on to adjourn, I spoke about Frederick
Douglass. And I told how Frederick Douglass devoted
his life to abolishing slavery. And I spoke about how
Douglass fought for civil rights and to empower Afr ican Americans to develop their own skills and to take
responsibility for their actions and their lives. And with
that, Madam President, I began a number of, a series of speeches on the motion to adjourn on self -
empowerment and taking responsibility for one’s own
life, one’s own future and at times specifically a ddressing my comments to Black Bermudians.
Madam President, I advised that while purs uing their goals and dreams, Black Bermudians would
face challenges and obstacles of a systemic nature,
but that these challenges and obstacles should not be
used as reasons to quit. Madam President, I encou raged our people to keep moving forward and to never
stop when they encounter such challenges and obst acles.
In a subsequent session, Madam President, I
spoke to the fact that information is power and that it
is only thr ough the acquisition of information that a
group of people can develop the ability to control their
destiny. We also advised that the process of learning
and gathering and storing of information—and its
proper use, I might add—should be a lifelong exper ience. Madam President, I told of how children are being born with an inquisitive nature. They want to know
it all. They ask —they are bright and observant and full
of questions. I told that parents and educators must
nurture this nature, this natural desire f or information,
until our children can take control of the process
themselves.
Madam President, I read the poem, “ Trans ition 13 ,” whose author is unknown. And I would like to
read that poem again, Madam President, with your
indulgence.

The President: You certainly may.
Sen. Vance Campbell: And so, the poem goes,
We knew not
We studied
We learned all there was to know
We taught others

Then we forgot what we learned
And then forgot that we had forgotten

Now we are taught
(By those whom were once taught by us)
Knowledge
That we already had

So . . . We study
We learn all there is to know
We teach others
Will we forget . . . AGAIN

Today, Madam President, I would like to add
to all of this by talking about choices. Madam Pres ident, there are some things over which we have no choice or we have no control —the circumstances into
which we are born, our family and death. However,
Madam President, there are many things over which
we do have choice and over which we do have control. We can choose to leave our past in the past, and
make peace with our past, and make sure it does not
mess up . . . that we do not carry it into our present or
into our future and mess our present and our future
up.
We can choose to be happy or not. No one,
Madam Presi dent, is in charge of our happiness but
us. The one thing about happiness, Madam President, it is never too late to be happy. But we have to decide that that is what we want to be. It is all up to you and
no one else.
Madam President, we have the choice o ver
how we react to circumstances or how we let them
affect our life. You know, in Bermuda we are always
concerned about what someone else thinks about us. Why do not we adopt the approach that what som eone else thinks about is none of our business? You
know? I have seen times where people were mad at
somebody and did not even know why they were mad,
and this went on for years, Madam President. Wasted
energy ; wasted time.
It is our choice to be positive and not neg ative. We can choose to say or look at the glass as being half full versus half empty. If we are focused on
our life, we do not even see the life of others so that
you do not spend time unnecessarily comparing our lives with those of others. We do not know all of the
details of their journey anywa y. We do not know what
they have been through to arrive where they are. You
know? It may look like life is good for them, but it may
be the complete opposite.
So we can decide, Madam President, what we
want to do with our life today and forward. Make a plan and then let nothing distract you, distract us from
that plan. One of the big areas, Madam President, is
we have a choice in those whom we call friends. And I
would advise, Madam President, that we choose our
friends wisely as much as we can. Surround o urselves
with people who will lift us up and not try and bring us
down to where they are. I would encourage people to
let people go. Let go of people who are in your life
who are not adding to your journey. If they bring not hing, then, Madam President, it should be no issue in cutting them out of your life. You know, I believe, I firmly believe that there is a lot to be learned from bad
relationships. And when it comes to my children,
1166 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate many of whom are adults, I have advised them that
when a relationship has to be a secret, then it prob ably is not a relationship that they should be in.
We should always be encouraged, Madam
President. We should not be afraid to ask for help. We
may actually be pleasantly surprised at the response
when we do ask for it.
And as far as choices, I would like to conclude
this section on choices by saying that life is not fair. But from my perspective, life is still better than the
alternative. I would encourage our young men and women not to be afraid of failure, Madam President.
Most people, even those who appear to be flying high
in the best jobs, [with] the big house, cars, multiple
trips. Most people, including them, are only one or two
bad decisions away from disaster, Madam President.
If I can go down this road, it is okay t o be angry with God. He can take it. And when in doubt, r ather than stop, Madam President, just continue on, but
take smaller steps. Everything can change in a m oment. I would suggest we be flexible and do not
break. Do not be afraid to change, to evaluate your
circumstances and change direction, and listen to that still, small voice.
So that would be my advice continuing on the
theme that I have been presenting over the last sev-eral weeks on motion to adjourn. I took a break last week, Madam President.

AIRPORT PROJECT AGREEMENT
AND REGULATED REVENUES

Sen. Vance Campbell: But I now must switch gears,
Madam President. And I wish I did not have to, but I
feel compelled that I must now switch gears, not specifically talking about the airport, but the mere f act that
the Government of the day that made the deal said it
is the lawyers’ fault, Madam President. As the Government, any government , whether it is PLP Gover nment or not, Madam President, you cannot sort of select to be associated only with your success es and
blame others for your failures. It does not work that
way, Madam President.
According to the OBA, it is not the Finance
Minister, the OBA Finance Minister’s fault. It is not the OBA Cabinet’s fault. No one in the OBA read the con-tract? As my Senate colleague indicated in her comments, the OBA had four lawyers amongst their ranks.
Were they not asked to read the contract? Perhaps
they were like the rest of Bermuda—did not know
what was going on.
Madam President, perhaps this gross incompetence resul ted from the arrogance of the OBA. In
their minds, they are the finance guys. As they came into Government in 2012, they promised they were
going to fix the economy and provide 2,000 jobs. We will talk about how they failed in both instances in a
minute, Madam President, because they grossly failed
on the provision of jobs —nowhere near 2,000. Per-haps this airport project was to be a major jewel in
their re- election crown. And in their haste to push it
through, they were taken advantage of in the midst of
their [carelessness].
So we already said they failed to provide
2,000 jobs or anywhere near it. What about examining the finance guys? You know, we heard basically an
admission that the airport deal was bad for Bermuda.
But it is the lawyers’ fault. Today w e heard an attempt
to draw parallels to a project where there was a ground- breaking yesterday, a project under this Go vernment. We also heard talk of accuracy followed by a
whole bunch of inaccuracies. But one thing, Madam
President, any project that this Government engages
in, the overriding factor will be to ensure that the people of this country receive value for money.
Let us talk about the OBA and their lot on being the financial guys. During their term in Gover nment, you put your life at risk walking on the streets of
Bermuda. You almost basically had to walk on the yellow line because the overgrowth along our roads
was out of control. And that was to be expected be-cause they were not spending any money in those
areas. They were funding positions and then n ot filling
the positions —using the positions to fund the Amer ica’s Cup. And I am not knocking America’s Cup, Madam President, because I am a fan of America’s
Cup and have been since a young age. I do not know why, but I am. I am glued to the TV when America’s
Cup is on.
But it seems as though in hosting America’s
Cup, we put all of our eggs in one basket. There was no guarantee that it would be hosted here the next
time around unless and only if, and a possibility if the
US team won. And what if the US team did not win?
We know what happened when they did not. No
America’s Cup. We have $30 [million] to $40 million
put into Cross Island— no plans as to how it would be
used post America’s Cup or even how it would be paid for.
Morgan’s Point —$200 million cost to the taxpayer. The principals, one of the partners in the com-panies that owns that project, is worth almost half a
billion [dollars], or thereabouts , completely off the
hook. The people of Bermuda have to pay $200 mi llion. That is not the economic or financial manage-ment I want, Madam President.
SAGE Commission —this is something the
OBA commissioned, Madam President. Not one of their recommendations was implemented by the OBA!
But they are the financial wiz kids. Step aside, ever ybody! We are here. We will bring you back from the
brink. Rubbish! We have been on the brink since
2012. And this COVID -19 pandemic just proves the
delicate position we were in all along, Madam Pres ident.
What do we have now? There is a call for
what is the plan. Well, we do have the potential for 75plus jobs being injected into our economy as a result


Bermuda Senate of the SDO [special development order] for providing
for the Riddell’s Bay project. We have a recent Imm igration Amendment which is starting to gain traction to
attract peo ple here on one -year work permits to work
remotely.
We have heard today how this Government is
making it possible for others to invest and improve
their tourism product, which should translate into
higher occupancy rates, better value, more money
pumped i nto our economy. Yes, and the Ottiwell
Simmons Arbitration Centre will provide jobs. And as I
said earlier, we are eagerly awaiting the recommendations of the Economic Advisory Committee. And as far
as our Minister of Finance, he is the best man for the
job, and he is the man whom we need as our Finance
Minister for these times.
So with that, Madam President, I thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Yes, Madam President. Sen ator Caesar here.

The President: Senator Caesar, you have the floor.

SYSTEMIC RACISM IN BERMUDA

Sen. Crystal Caesar: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I am minded when I think
about Bermuda, and the environment in partic ular that
I grew up in, where I was told to get a good education,
get higher education, come back and contribute to
society. I often hear, I have even heard the very first
Black President of the US tell people that if you just
work hard you can achieve whatever your dreams are.
And whilst I think those are encouraging words, I like
to live in the land of reality. And these types of things
would be true if the world was fair, if life was fair. And
it is not. So I actually do not say those things to young
people. If you dream it, you can achieve it. Fly high!
Sky’s the limit. Because, realistically, Madam Pres ident, there are obstacles that some of us know and
some of us do not know.
And I will admit, having grown up in Bermuda
with a relatively good childhood, upbringing— had my
family, had great friends, et cetera—I had heard about
this thing called racism, but I did not really know what
it was, how it pertained to me. In fact, I remember in
particular, Madam President, there used to be a weekly editorial on a well -rounded student in the community. And there was one young lady in particular whom I
remember. I do not know why this story stuck with me.
She was of mixed race. And she was asked the question, Well, does it affect you? How has that affected
you? And she said, Well, I don’t really . . . I don’t
see any. I mean, I don’t see any difference. I haven’t
seen anything that affects me.
And admittedly, I think a lot of my peers felt
the same way. Well, we don’t see anything. We don’t
see anything about race. Everybody gets along, esp ecially here in Bermuda. But I will say, Madam President, that upon my
return to Bermuda after having been educated overseas and having worked overseas and lived overseas,
on coming back I was told (or I had heard, at least),
that, You’ve worked in the US. You had experience
there, you know. Somebody is going to snap you up just like that! And you have an accounting degree? Oh
my gosh! You’ve got it all.
So I walked in to every interview thinking, You
know what? I got this. And I will say I definitely . . .
most interviews that I attended, I did get the job.
But the reality struck when I continued to pr ogress in my career —or so I thought. In Bermuda there
is this insidious underlying system of racism that we have all come to just accept as the norm. We have lived with it so long, we have become so attuned to it
that we do not even realise when someone is saying,
Oh, that person doesn’t have the soft skills. More
times than not, what does that person look like when
someone is saying that?
Or for instance, when someone goes and applies for a job and they have an interview, or do not
have an interview, depending on who is looking at the
application. That person’s “name” (quote/unquote)
gives them away so they do not get a foot in the door.
I have sat on scholarship panels where, unfortunately, I have had people in the room say, I don’t know that person. And they went to a public school :
I’m not sure what kind of education they had. And I
am proud to say that I had all public education in
Bermuda while I was growing up. And I could not un-derstand what the difference was, why that made a difference.
So I started saying all that to say that the r eality struck when it came time, you know, yes, I got in
and I got into a job. And I was doing well. And I was
understanding, and, you know, I was making friends.
And I was attending meetings. And then it was time for me and at least one other individual to go for a job.
And we were both Bermudian, both educated here in
Bermuda. We were basically vying for this position in
a friendly way. But then, unfortunately, the person
who was overseeing us, a work permit holder, got
very deathly ill, very, very, very ill. She had ovarian cancer and so had to go through a very difficult round
of cancer treatment, et cetera. So basically, her post
was not filled at the time. And we needed someone, or
so we thought, to give us a direction that we needed,
the two of us, to reach this particular post.
But what happened was very demoralising to
the both of us. The company decided to bring in
someone else who worked for that company, but did
1168 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate not necessarily have the (quote/unquote) “qualific ations” that my counterpart and I had, and proceeded
to tell us that This person is going to be an extra pair
of hands . You know , Your boss can’t do the work.
She’s not here. We need that extra pair of hands. So
again, we merrily go along. Oh, welcome her in and
help her to learn everything about what needed to be
done. And then six months later, she’s our boss. And
magically, neit her of us is (quote/unquote) “ ready ” for
the position.
And I have heard this story countless times
since that experience. And it was such an eye- opener
to me because I am thinking, Well, I’ve done ever ything everybody told me to do. I got a good education. I was an A student. I was well -grounded. I got the
scholarship, full scholarship. I worked in the US, I came back, I got a good job. And I did everything that
everybody told me to do. But still, I have not been able
to reach, or my counterparts and I ha ve not been able
to reach a certain level of success in the workplace.
And why is that? Why is that? And I think we are so afraid to have the discussion that systemic racism in
Bermuda is pervasive. It is insidious. It is deep.
So many of us have these st ories, and we talk
about them in our little clusters, our little groups. But it is not something that we admit readily. So for i nstance, when a work permit application is put in and
that person has to have six years’ experience, but a
Bermudian applicant applies and they have five, can
someone please tell me why —and the experience
otherwise and qualifications otherwise are exactly the
same, why is it that this person who is non- Bermudian
tends to get the job? And I do not want anyone to give
me the story, O h, well, you know, we tried, but people
don’t apply. Or, That person just didn’t quite have the
soft skills.
I do not know in what company. I do not care
what you are doing. You could be pottery -making,
jewellery -making, sweeping floors, you still have t o
learn how that particular company or institution does
things. You have to be (quote/unquote) “trained on the
job.” So this notion that, Oh, we don’t want to have to
train that person to get up to that other person’s level
of experience, is a nonsense, in my opinion, because
everybody has to be trained. If you have core compe-tencies you can do the job.
The problem, however, Madam President, is
that too many people take it for granted that som ebody who does not look like them, or does not have the same las t name or did not attend the same school
or live in the same area, somehow that negates their ability to get the job done. And for too many Black Bermudians, this continues to be the case. I feel like
we have . . . there is this unspoken, Well, let’s not t alk
about that. Let’s all just get along. Let’s continue to
progress. I do not know how one can progress if we
do not admit what the realities are.
Oftentimes, in fact most recently, I had som eone say to me, You know, I know about the past. But it wasn’t me. It wasn’t my family. It wasn’t my people.
Or, You know, it just doesn’t affect us. But it is the
past, and it actually does still affect us. And it does. It
is the reality that is pervasive, not just in the wor kplace —socially, even in our sports clubs. It is ever ywhere we look. And I am not sure why we tend to have these colour -blind glasses on because it is what
it is. And we need to take them off and have the real
conversations that we need to have.
It is so interesting that in Bermuda’s schools, I
remember learning about the Holocaust. I remember
learning about the Windsor family, Greece and Rome,
the Vikings, et cetera, et cetera. And what I learned
about Bermuda was that we are boat -builders, and
onions were once an export of ours —very, very i nnocuous details. And so the real history around how
we are where we are and why we are the way we are, those conversations have not been had.
So my colleague recently just spoke about
Black Lives Matter. And it has brought to the fore di scussions that I think many of us have forgotten about.
Because we are all busy just trying to make our dollar so that we can buy our home or have our piece of the
rock and drive our car and buy our boats and all of
these types of things. But we are not living in reality.
Because if you do not know or cannot admit the way
things really are, I do not know how you feel that this
is realistic. It actually is quite crazy, for lack of a better term.
So I bring this all to a conclusion because we
have just renamed the second day of our annual Cup Match Classic to Mary Prince Day —which I think is
fantastic. It is absolutely phenomenal. And it has a
special place in my heart because 20- plus years ago
one of my dad’s teachers, Conchita Ming, whom I think very many people know, during the National
Dance Theatre of Bermuda, choreographed a piece specifically [for] me. And it was about Mary Prince,
way back then. And I actually danced to certain ex-cerpts of her book. And it helped me to realise that
this actually happened in Bermuda. This is a reality
that happened in Bermuda. But even still, 20 years
ago, it did not sink in like it does today.
And I am not sure if it is because I have chi ldren of my own now, and I have to explain to my nineyear-old why people are saying Black Lives Matter.
Why? What does that mean? So one of the largest . . .
I could talk about myriad different accomplishments
that this PLP Government has had. But the renaming
of Mary Prince Day rings very true for me and I think is
very important, because I have travelled. And I have
made the observations to other people: In any major
city that I have been to, and in particular in Europe,
most of those people know their history. They can tell
you about . . . Well, I was an exchange student in
what was then the Soviet Union. So they can tell you
about Stalin, they can tell you about Kerensky, they can tell you about Gorbachev, they could tell you
about all of the Ukrainian poets and actors and wri tBermuda Senate ers. But how many of us know about Mary Prince, and
know about her in such a way that it has become engrained in our lives?
These people know their history so much so
that they can recite the poems of [IN AUDIBLE] . You
do not need a tour guide. You will walk past a statue
or an emblem or a plaque, and most of the citizens of
those countries can tell you about that particular person. How many of us can do that about our National
Heroes or our people in history? And that goes to the
core of who we as Bermudians are. And I actually think it is quite sad that the majority of us cannot do
that. It is quite sad that so many Bermudians have
gone to their grave not knowing some of these things.
In order for a people to progress, we have to
go back to our foundations. In order for people to pr ogress, we need to see the realities of what history has
played in our lives. So I am proud that this PLP Go vernment is doing things like this, but there is so much
more to do. Because I certainly do not hope that we rename this day but then do not tell the children, Well,
what exactly does this mean? Because my daughter
said to me, Why did we do that? Why did we change
the name of Cup Match? And I was like, Oh my Gosh.
Here I am thinking about these things myself, but I
have not passed this on to my child. And how many
more of us have done that?
So whilst I have said a lot today, I think that it
is very timely, particularly around the Emancipation and Mary Prince Day that we are about to celebrate in
the next couple of days, and no, not in the traditional
way. But it actually may be better for us because we
are spending it with family. We are spending it with friends and not just (quote/unquote) “partying.” We
can actually reflect on how this will affect us going
forward as a people. And so that is my challenge to
people: Recognise where we are and educate y ourself on who we are.
Thank you, Madam President, for giving me
some time.

The President: Thank you, Senator Caesar.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam President,
myself.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

SYSTEMIC RACISM IN BERMUDA

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you.
First of all, I just want to thank my fellow Se nators for a very informative and compelling, and
sometimes emotive topic. Senator Campbell spok e on
motion to adjourn some time ago about Frederick Douglass. And that made me go off and start reading a book on him. And it is fascinating. It is well worth it.
So I thank him for that. And Senator Richardson’s
support of public education always has me sort of tr ying to get my head stuck back in that space and say,
Well, okay, if he said that, then what’s this? So it is
just stunning.
But one of the things that I have a hard time
sort of putting together is the necessity for us to . . .
the airport is a great example. It is the necessity for us
to have a go at each other. And by the way, I am
thinking out loud here, so I beg your indulgence. But one of the things that fascinates me is how a group of
people, otherwise rational people, can look at the
same set of facts and reach radically different concl usions, especially as it relates to blame/guilt. I mean, at
one point there was the comment about gross negl igence. And I am sure that this stone can be cast at
another glass house for other capital projects , whether
they be project overruns, commissions of inquiry, all
that kind of stuff.
So the one thing I will give to the people who
stand in leadership positions is, Well done for stan ding, first of all. Because the vast majority of people
would prefer to sit down and not even stand up on the day when it is named and lead. And no one is perfect.
So there is a degree of errors. And I am just mindful of
that. I do not want to go down the road of gross negl igence or doing anything to otherwise impugn upon a
person, not if I think that they have authentically and
genuinely and with their best effort tried to do well.
And if mistakes were made, then we should be held
accountable for those. I am a big, big believer in ac-countability.
I also identify with Senator Caesar’s comments because, yes, you do get that job. Or you get
onto that ladder. And people just start swapping out
rungs, you know. But as fast as you can get on that
ladder, they just start swapping out those rungs. A ppraisals always used to make me laugh. Appraisal
processes that are not connected to, for example,
compensation. So in other words, it is basically like
who is friends with who gets the better job, gets the
promotion, gets the vacations. And maybe that is why
I went and started my own company. And when I
would go out and I would bid . . . and I work in and
amongst financial services companies. I am very
mindful of those experiences that Senator Caesar so
eloquently brought out.
To that end, there have been some sweeping
generalisations, right? And without going into details
about every single circumstance and competing one against the other, and who was right and who was
wrong, I do just want to say that it appears that we
have not had a reckoning in Bermuda. Our political discourse always boils down to us and them just a lmost overnight. And considering there are 60,000 of
us, it is a bit of an accomplishment, to be fair, that we could find enemies so quickly and in so many places.
1170 29 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate But the part of it that really blows my mind is
our subjecti ve frames of references that are adapted
so radically different. One of us . . . we live in these
narratives, and that is not to say one is not . . . well, I
will put it this way. It has got to be hard to be always
right or always wrong. And I suspect neit her one of us
or any of us are actually that. I suspect we are indivi dually complex and difficult and with a number of suc-cesses and failures. And yes, none of us wants that to
be hung out on the washing line.
But nonetheless, here we sit in this Chamber
on the eve of what is effectively I call the Bermudian
New Year because almost everything in Bermuda sort
of rotates around Cup Match. And I take Senator
Caesar’s comments on board that this is probably not the best time to party. And it is a probably a great time
to reflect. Because given that we now have a number
of situations happening to us that do not care about
our narrative, our subjective frames of reference, it
does not care who is right or who is wrong—COVID -
19 could care less who is in Government; COVID -19,
$3.5 billion in debt, it does not care. Right? So we sit
here on the precipice.
And I take Senator Campbell’s comment that
we have been on the precipice since 2012. I am not sure I agree; but that is a fair point to bring up. We sit
on a prec ipice. And what is the phrase? If you are
digging a hole, once you realise you are in your hole,
stop digging. And that seems like what we should
spend our Cup Match doing—figuring out how we stop
digging.
Senator Jones made an appeal about how we
can tak e control, which matched Senator Campbell’s.
So that is great. I mean, I do not think we are actually
all that different. Or if we are that different, then we
have got a bigger problem than COVID -19 and $3.5
billion in debt. Because if we are so very different that
these calamities cannot get us to row in the same direction, then there is no win. There is nothing that will
bring us together —if we are that different.
And I really just hope that we are not. I really,
really hope that . . . I really do have a lot of time for
the Government Senators. And I hope one day we can actually engage in a way that does not require
accusations. Again, not to say that people should not
be held accountable, but certainly I cannot be led to believe that there is a great ev il and it is contained in a
person with whom I disagree, short of serious histor ical matters. And I do think that our racism, our sy stemic racism is present. We have never had a reckoning or a reconciliation. And anyone who can make
steps to bridge that gap to figure that out is probably going to be putting Bermuda in a better place for our
next step.
But as long as we continually fight about ev erything, yes, we are not going to pull this off. So I think
it is time on Cup Match that we take that chance an d
step back and really get a good look at it. Because we are all out of gas. And if we do not help each other, this is going to end way worse than any one of us can
conceive of —way worse than right now.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank yo u, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Hearing none, then—
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident.

The President: Sorry. Madam Attorney General, you
have the floor.

SYSTEMIC RACISM IN B ERMUDA

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
So on the eve of so- called Emancipation Day,
I am hearing all sorts of dispirit narrative, accusations,
emotive outpourings, personal stories, good and bad.
And words get bandied around like systemic racism .
And I think sometimes it does us all good to pause
and actually think about what we are saying som etimes before we say it. And so over this holiday, I have decided to take some introspective time. And I actually started last week to determine what this all
means.
What is emancipation? So we have a march,
and people talk about Black Live Matter. And out of
that came a new awakening. It was, in my opinion, a
very emotive response to something that has been a
part of our history from the time I ever came to be.
And when you look at what has or has not
been done, there are some things that really need to
be looked at. So when we talk about “ systemic, ” you
talk about something that is entrenched. And for me,
the first line of enquiry is, What is entrenched? And
how is it entrenched? So for some strange reason, I
have been delivered up to all sorts of reading. I mean, everybody knows I am a reader. I am not attacking.
But I eventually sat down and got to reading, and I
enlightened myself. A nd there are some things that I
think that we need to know and appreciate before we
embark down a road of uninformed narrative in some
cases.
So Senator Caesar made the point that we do
not know our history. And quite frankly, if you do not
know our hist ory, I think we should have a much more
sober conversation than slinging barbs back and forth
and being concerned with if a narrative is in fact a
barb, and so on and so forth. So my job today, undertaken by myself, is to bring some clarity to what we
are dealing with. Because I do not think people appr eciate the level or the gravity or the complexity of the
tasks that we are undertaking when we talk about tr ying to address systemic racism.


Bermuda Senate And so I came upon a presentation that was
done by CURB from long ago, which spoke to imm igration and history, you know, race, power, quests for
votes, et cetera. And I was a person who ran around
thinking (and I often say this) that the Act is called the Immigration and Protection Act 1956. It is all about
protecting us —protecting! That is the reason, protec ting Bermudians, generally.
And I have been enlightened recently as to
what that “ protection” was all about. And I think we are
woefully uninformed generally. And so my battle has
taken on a different complexion now that I have been
informed. So with your indulgence, Madam President.
I would love to enlighten the Senate with respect to a
few matters pertaining to our history before I leave today.

The President: Certainly, Madam Attorney General.
Carry on.
Sen. the H on. Kathy Lynn Simmons: So let us start
with Emancipation. It is not a cricket match; it is not a
holiday. It is actually “any effort to procure economic
and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a
specifically disenfranchised group.” So i n Bermuda we
would tend to believe, and the facts will bear it out,
that Black Bermudians are the disenfranchised group.
So what does this look like in terms of our
history? From the historical perspective, we stand on the shoulders of some literary and s ocial and political
giants, from Ira Philip to Eva Hodgson to Kenneth
Robinson, and even my recently departed colleague,
Walton Brown, who actually had studied this. And so in 1616, according to research, and right up to 1834
there was the banishment and d eportation of free
Black people from this country. And Kenneth Robi nson, in his book, Heritage, actually said in 1806 . . .
and this is what he says, and this is what they record: “Whereas the black population of these Islands, has of
late years increased, and is increasing, in a manner
very injurious to the welfare of this Community; and
whereas it is thought expedient to adopt all such
proper and practicable measures as may be calculat-ed to diminish the relative proportion of the black to
the white population . . . .”
In 1834, following Emancipation, the white
oligarchy (and I had to learn what they were) doubled
the voting property qualifications for voters, electors,
candidates and jurors and candidates. It was cold -
blooded, a retrograde piece of legisl ation which raised
the qualifications for electors and candidates for the
first time in 55 years. And we talk about Emancipation.
In 1942, UK immigrants . . . an Act was
passed to encourage white immigrants coming to
these I slands from the UK. The first post -abolition e ndeavour was to increase instantly the relative size of
the white popul ation. That was launched. Then we
have the arrival of the Portuguese in 1846. Then we had the West Indies immigrants in 1894. They began migra ting to Berm uda in larger numbers and were
viewed as troublemak ers by the white oligarchy. And
they were fearful of the radical ideas because our Caribbean cousins have always been much more pr ogressive when it comes to what is necessary, based
on their history. They got off of those firs t.
So those people were fearful of the ideas being brought to Bermuda, and so we were encouraged to see ourselves, as Black Bermudians, as better than
our West Indian cousins. And we all know the term inology “Jump up” and know the unflattering terms that
were used to describe people who actually could have
taught us something about a fight that we needed to
fight.
So Ira Philip in his book Freedom Fighters:
[From Monk to Mazumbo], went to say, “This is the
story of ruthless power exercised by the ruler s of
Bermuda”
Who are they?, I asked myself. It reveals how
traditions have been passed on to the courts, Parli ament (remember, that is our construct) and the m onopolistic daily press and, more recently, through the
medium of power politics. And it amassed t he divide
and rule tactics that for generations confused and
demoralised Black Bermudians and segregated Black
and white Bermudians and poisoned Bermudians’
West Indian relationships. And we know that. We know that.
So by the 1920s (and I am not going to be too
long) Bermuda’s Government imposed strict regul ations and ended up banning the immigration of whole families. So employment . . . and this is where the
Portuguese have a piece. Employment freedom of
Portuguese workers was restricted for decades, keeping many immigrants confined to jobs as farmers,
cleaners or gardeners . It was not until 1982 that the
job category restriction was lifted so even the Port uguese got their piece.
And we hear from the people in that community with regard to their struggle. From 1921 to 1931,
the population exploded. So after the forced purchase
of 512 acres of land and destruction of Tucker’s Town,
or the Tucker’s Town Black community in 1920, the
majority of those who were allowed to come to Bermuda during this period wer e white, brought in to
manage the burgeoning tourist industry. Many stayed
on to marry. They became Bermudians. They were
domiciled here.
In the 1930s the Government ensured Port uguese separation. This was not . . . not by design, this
was not by —
An Hon . Senator: It was by design.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Yes. It was by
design.
So in the 1930s the Government ensured Portuguese separation by withdrawing Portuguese from
the Black schools and creating new schools for them.
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Bermuda Senate And then we had birth control. So in 1935, there was a
government paper called The Report on Unemployment which recommended that laws be passed to
compulsory sterilise certain segments (mostly Blacks)
of the population. And while the recommendation was not carried out, it caused an outcry publicly from both
Blacks and whites. Yes. And what prompted the document was the realisation that the Black population far
outnumbered the white population.
And then in 1937 Margaret Sanger was invi ted to meet the Members of the House of Assembly, the Legislative Council, our people, the Board of
Health, the Bishop of Bermuda, Colonel Dill and the
Attorney General to discuss birth control. We had an
article in The New York Times entitled “Bermuda Birth
Control To Limit Negro Families.” Know yo ur history!
And in 1941, Steven High in a book entitled Base Colonies in the Western Hemisphere, [1940 –1967] and I
quote, “‘For a hundred years’, concluded the Amer ican vice consul, ‘a small group has made Bermuda its
own paradise by controlling legislation and by seeing that taxation policy kept all but themselves in strict
economic subjection. While they themselves accum ulated fortunes subject to no taxes whatsoever . . . . ’”
And recently, Madam President, I was the
happy recipient (happy and unhappy) of a copy of a
magazine entitled Holiday that was printed in 1947,
and [it was] really, really enlightening. And the first,
one of the articles was entitled “Bermuda—the Old
Families that Own it and Run it.” And I say this b ecause it is relevant to the cons truct in which the work
. . . and I am saying this to focus Senators not on the
senseless political barbs that we all are subjected to from time to time that are unnecessary . . . if you focus
on what we are charged with responsibility for, I think
our nar rative would be somewhat different. Because
according to this magazine, which talked about the old families who own it and run it, they list the families by
surname: Butterfield, Spurling, Watlington,
Trimingham, Gosling, Darrell, Tucker, Smith, Hoss,
and Trott. And what was interesting was that they
have a profile on members of these families. Harry Durham Butterfield. They have a little bio on him. He is a member of the Colonial Parliament, sat in it.
Sir Stanley Spurling, he is a member of the
Colonial Parliament, was since he was 21 years of
age. Hereward (and I do not know how to pronounce
these names) Trott Watlington. He was a member of
the Colonial Parliament. The Trimingham brothers,
Kenneth F. and Eldon H. Trimingham , both had
served in the Coloni al Parliament. Colonel Ambrose T.
Gosling, he is the member of the Colonial Parliament. Brad Darryl wasn’t. And I am going through this wonderful magazine. John William Cox. He was a member
of the Finance Committee of the House of Assembly.
And lastly, Sir Howard Trott.
And I say all that, Madam President . . . I am
not going to speculate about Mr. Trott. So we sit in a construct, and I take you back to the definition of “emancipation” —“any effort to secure economic and
social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group . . . .” So what we
have in this country, Madam President, whether we
want to call it racist or not, is a system that did not
lend itself to equality. And so if we as a collective i ntend to live up to the charge of service that we signed
onto, I think our narrative would be and should be a
little bit different, because there is real work to do to
dismantle a system that is actually enshrined in our
body of laws.
And so, as I said earlier, when as Mini sters
we go to amend a particular piece of legislation, it is
actually imperative that we do a wider review to see if
any of those provisions, in whatever piece of legisl ation, fall for consideration with regard to this exercise that we claim is important, that we claim we are going
to undertake as a country. And so, to all of you who
think that by imploring somebody to give you a job . . .
and let me hearken back to Senator Jones. This is a time of great concern, great collective (how can I put
this?) I wi ll be . . . I will be simple. You cannot conti nue to advance the narrative that brands Bermudians
as lazy, as non- industrious, as not wanting to do certain jobs —

Sen. Marcus Jones: Point of order, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Senator Jones, what is your point of
order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Sen. Marcus Jones: I believe the Madam Attorney
General is inadvertently misleading the [Senate]. I
never used those words, “lazy.” I never used or i mpugned the integrity of the workforce of this country.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Madam Attorney General.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Yes, Madam
President. I will continue.
In his impassioned speech about the expats
leaving, he talked about Bermudians refusing to do
jobs. He talked about us needing to swallow our pride.
He talked about us needing to be industrious, as if we
are not. He talked about us having to have a good
work ethic, as if we did not. And I am simply saying to
Senator Jones, Be careful what you say . Because at a
time w hen our people need the collective goodwill and
encouragement and support of all of us . . . and rest
assured, there is a segment that this characterisation
may apply to. But the myth that the 1 per cent or the
prosperous people in this country got there b y simple
hard work may in fact, based on our history, just be a myth. It may just be a myth.


Bermuda Senate Because if you go back to the reparations that
were given to the slave owners, and if you go back
and understand what they underwrote in terms of i ndustry in the UK and in our country, I think our narr ative would be a little bit different, a lot different. So let us all agree . . . and I am giving everybody homework.
You can say, AG, be quiet. I am giving you all hom ework now.

[Laughter]
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Do some reading over the holiday. Do some reading over the hol iday. Because when this Government comes with init iatives, more initiatives that aim to level the playing
field economically, I am not going to seek bipartisan
support; I am going to expect it. I am going to expect
it, because the system that we have to dismantle is
not a joke. And the irony of it is that we all work in this
construct. And my hope is that one day when we b ecome an independent nation—not if, but when —we
will be able to c raft a construct that serves all of us.
But in the meantime, we have some real work
to do to dismantle the system that has never worked for our people—has never worked for our people. So
let us go home and refresh, and come back with a
new narrative, one that is going to uplift our people
during these dark times.
And I would like to say they are not too dark
for me. Because I tend to see the glass as being half
full with promise and opportunity that we can all band
together and make. So with those words, Madam
President, let me just say before I close that, to Mr.
Somner, who is helping more technologically challenged people every session—

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I would just
like to thank him for the assistance that he continues
to give all of us during our sessions.

Some Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: And to wish
him well over the holiday. And I am sure Senators will
align themselves with those remarks.

An Hon. Senator: Yes. Yes.

Sen. the Hon. Kath y Lynn Simmons: And to the
staff of the Legislature generally, we do appreciate
what you do for us. And I would encourage all of you
to take some introspective time. Take some introspective time because the road that we have to travel is
not going to be easy. It is going to require real leader-ship. And I think that we are in good hands. So check
yourselves and come back with a renewed purpose
and a narrative that is going to embrace change. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Madam Attor ney General.
And I would like to thank all Senators. I am
sure the listening audience, having heard each one of
you speak passionately about your concerns and
about our Island, I am sure that they have learnt quite
a lot. And maybe many of them in the co mmunity will
take a leaf out of your book, Madam Attorney General,
and do some reading, particularly on our history.
But I would like to take this opportunity also to
thank Mr. Somner and the administrative staff here for their support of us. I want to wi sh each and every one
of you, as well as the listening audience, an enjoyable
Emancipation Day, a Mary Prince Day and a Cup
Match holiday. Be safe, everyone. Follow the COVID -
19 restrictions. Maintain your distance, and wear your
masks.
So with that, Senate stands adjourned. Thank
you all.

Thank you, Madam President.
*[At 5:20 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Wednesday, 16 September 2020.]


*[His Excellency the Governor, acting on advice from
the Honourable Premier, dissolved the Legislature
on
Friday, 21 August 2020.]

[His Excellency the Governor, acting on advice from
the Honourable Premier appointed that a General
Election be held on the 1 st day of October 2020.]


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