February 15, 2019

Thank you.
I am interested in finding out . . . on page 5
there is a reference to the mandatory usage of the Job Board and showing evidence of activity. How long [a time period] is a potential client expected to provide,
and how much evidence of activity before they can
then make application for financial assistance? The Speaker: Thank you.
Minister.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, thank you.
The process with respect to utilising the C areer Development Office and the Job Board is for persons who are already on financial assistance. Honourable colleagues may recall that, previously, for a
person’s financial assistance to continue, they used to
have the job search sheets. And they would go from
place to place asking if there were employment oppor-tunities, and then have the person sign.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Precisely.
That was, obviously, being abused. And now,
we are utilising the services of Workforce Development. So, every recipient of financial assistance, in
order for them to continue having financial assistance,
will be required to attend at the Workforce Development Department, be assigned a career development
officer, work with that officer to assist them with résumé-writing skills, et cetera, similar to the Statement
that my honourable colleague made earlier today, the Honourable Minister Foggo, who spoke specif ically to
the advances that are being observed with respect to the Department of Workforce Development.
So, persons who are on financial assistance
will be required to work closely with their career development officer at the Department of Workforce D evelopment, to continue their financial assistance. O bviously, the objective is to get work to pay. So, we
want to make sure that people have the opportunity to
be employed gainfully so that they can be less reliant
on the system and on financial assistance.

Could you repeat the question? I think
the Minister did not get it clearly.


B ermuda House of Assembly Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes.
Have we seen any benefit from the new sy stem? Have people now been able to reduce their demand for financial assistance because they have had job success through Workforce Development?
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I cannot provide
full statistics with respect to that. What I can say is that this is something that has actually just com-menced. The process that heretofore was being ut ilised with respect to the job search sheets has been replaced with this. This is in the infancy stages of our utilising the direction between Financial Assistance
and the Job Board. So, we are in the infancy stages.
However, I will undertake, Mr. Speaker, to
provide updates to this Honourable House so that this
Honourable House will be aware of our statistics and what evidence we are seeing with the correlation, fur-ther use of the Workforce Development Department.

Yes.
So, would the Honourable Minister be able to
provide us with statistics on how many people were hired using the previous Job Board process versus the new, which we understand is undertaken? But I would like to know how many people actually were
employed using the old method.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, that is not a question that I can answer with respect to this. The Minister who sits two places to my right . . . that question
would probably perhaps be best posed to her, partic ularly given the Ministerial Statement that was read that addresses this particular issue.

Minister.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry and the Department
of Financial Assistance do not negotiate with the child
care providers. The process is such that if an indivi dual, because of their means, makes under the sum of $55,000, then they can apply for the child day -care
allowance. I believe the maximum amount awarded is $800 per month per child. There is no negotiation. The child care allowance is per child. And every individual
is permitted to shop around and go to one of the 80 or
so registered child care providers to see the econ omies of scale. But insofar as the Department of Fina ncial Assistance negotiating directly with child care pr oviders, that does not happen.

I thought you had completed all of your
questions. You did have two. Okay, we will let y ou
take that last one.
QUESTION 3: FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
REFORM UPDATE
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker. Perhaps a little unorthodox, but . . .
Page 5 of the Minister’s Statement, on which
the Minister has indicated that there will be an
amendment to the legislated formula to establish
538 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly awards for [those at the] low -income threshold, can
the Minister advise what the low -income threshold is,
as we speak?

Minister.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I
am glad the Honourable Member asked that question.
I believe as we speak, as of 2017, that information obviously is obtained through the Department
of Statistics, of which I do not have remit. I believe at the time it was . . . I do not want to speak out of
school.

Yes. Thank you, Minister. No further
questions for you, Minister.
We now move on to the next Minister to whom
Members have indicated that they would like to put
questions. And that Minister is Minister Foggo.
Minister Foggo, you have two Members who
have indicated that they would like to put questions to
you this morning. The first is in the name of the Member from constituency 19.
Honourable Member Atherden, would you like
to put your questions?
QUESTION 1: UPDATES ON WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, through you to the Minister:
Could the Minister indicate to us, how do Mr. and Mrs.
Public know that a person whom they are using for
electrical work is (a) a registered electrician, and (b) a
certified electrician?

Minister.
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Again, I did say that there is a
compiled list with the Department of Workforce Deve lopment. And so, they can check to see whether or not
the person is registered.
The certification is an ongoing process, and
the aim is to get everyone who is registered fully cert ified. But, as you can appreciate, it takes a while to undergo the assessments. And so, that is ongoing.
And the aim is to have everyone who is registered
fully certified.

Minister.
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Many of the assessors are
professionals. So, it is making certain that we have
them available to do the actual assessments. And
once that happens . . . that is one of the reas ons why,
as the paper indicated, we just graduated another group of assessors. Because that pool was somewhat small. And training more persons to be able to provide the assessment of the registered individuals is allo wing us to get through that process more quickly. So, it was the fact that we did not have a great number of assessors, and because of the time that it takes to do the assessments. Many of these assessments include practical components. And so, you can imagine we have to have everything set up to do that properly.

Yes.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I guess my question is, Is
the Ministry doing anything to make sure that those
people who are registered and not yet certified . . .
that they are doing something? Or is it all left because
the Ministry has not been able to do the certification?
My concern is that if someone gets registered and just
stays out there in the tide and does nothing, then the
public is at their mercy.

Minister.

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: We are trying to ensure that
we get that all done within a year. We put this process
in place under this current Administration, and we are
working feverishly and tirelessly to get everyone who
has been registered assessed.
And that is the best response t hat I can give
you at this point in time. As I said, that process is ongoing.

Thank you.
Minister.

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: We are not actually grandf athering people in. But we recognise those who have
worked in the industry for a great length of time and
that have the expertise, which is why the assessors are trained to go out there and make the evaluations
of those who are in the field working. And in that way,
most of those type folks, having worked in the industry for a great length of time, very quickly pass through
the assessment programme, because it assesses them from a practical aspect. So, the experience def initely qua lifies them. And like I said, they tend to do
quite well in the assessment.

Member, just clarify your question for
the Mini ster.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I am asking the question
in terms of . . . people do lots of things out there
around your house. Some of it is paid for; some of it is
540 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly free. I am just trying to determine in terms of, if you
are doing electrical [work], what is the criteria to d etermine that the work you are doing is such that [you
are holding] yourself out to be an electrician and
therefore should be registered and ultimately cert ified?

And my view would be, if I want to
make sure I am getting good work, I want to have
somebody who is registered. So, it is on [each] individual to make sure that the person whom they are
hiring is registered. That is just my opinion.

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: All persons who work, for
instance, in the electrical field, must be certified. And
so, again, if they are registered they will be certified.
They will be assessed, and they will get their certific ation.
[Inaudible interjections]

New question. Your third question.

QUESTION 3: UPDATES ON WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: My third question.
I know that in other professions, on a regular
basis there is a listing put up of people who are qual ified, certified or whatever else. And they do not have
to go through a Job Board or whatever else. Is there
anything that is done on a regular basis through the Ministry to issue a list of those people who are regi stered and certi fied so that Mr. and Mrs. Public can be
aware of whom they are dealing with?

So, the inf ormation is publicly known
for people who are registered, certified. Any further questions? No further questions
from that Member.
Minister, we have another Member who would
like to put a question to you. And that is the Member
from constituency 23.
Honourable Member.

QUESTION 1: UPDATES ON WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Minister, I wonder if you could just let me
know whether the Career Development Department is still working with the NEIT [ New England Institute of
Technology] for their technical improvement pr ogramme, technical education programme for our young people.

Minister, that brings to a conclusion the
questions that were put to you.
The next Minister that Members wish to put
questions to is the Minister of Works.
Minister of Works, you have two Members
indicating that they would like to put questions to you.
The first is in the name of the Opposition Leader.
Honourable Member, would you like to put
your question?

QUESTION 1: WASTE MANAGEMENT
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
On page 2, the Honourable Member mentions
that they would be bringing in these recycling bins.
And I will just read the part. It says, “These will be sold
at landed cost, and initially targeted at those neighbourhoods that use communal collections points . . . .”
In the vein of “initially,” I am interested in
whether or not those could be made available to the regular pickup routes. In one of the areas that I am in,
we are constantly having vermin [problems] because
people are using brown bags and they are using plastic bags. It would be nice if, at some point in time . . . I
guess the question is, are we looking at potentially making these things available to the general public,
from the government, at cost?


Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Thank you.
Minister.

Second question.

QUESTION 2: WASTE MANAGEMENT

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
No, he certainly did not make himself clear. That is
why I asked the question.
The second question I have is, on this graph
that I see where the public drop- off is, in comparing
2017 and 2018, I recognise this is a drastic increase
there, which is fantastic, actually.
And the question that I have is, Due to the
drastic increase of tonnage to the public drop- off, has
it resulted in less tonnage being picked up by the regular pickup, or the trucks?

Thank you.
Supplementary? No fur ther questions?
We now move on, Minister, the second Member who wishes to put questions to you is the Honour-able Member from constituency 23.
Honourable Member.

QUESTION 1: WASTE MANAGEMENT

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Minister, I wonder if you can tell us, in reference to page 3 of your Statement, in thanking the
general public for adapting to the new collections
schedule, is it intended that we will return to twice per
week? Or is once- a-week collection definitely the new
norm?

Mr. Speaker, I do not
have the page 3 because my eyesight is bad. So I have to have it in larger font. But I believe I said specifically that this would be a permanent part of the
Bermuda landscape. And so, there is no plan to return
to twice -a-week garbage collection, because that
means that we would have to hire more staff and we
would have to purchase more trucks.

Thank you, Minister.
Any supplementaries? No further questions ?
That now moves us on to the last Statement
that Members wish to put questions to. And that is the
Statement from the Minister of Education.
Minister, we have a Member who would like to
put a question.
And the Honourable Member from constitue ncy 8 . . . Honourable Member Simons, you have the
floor.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON STANDARDS -BASED
GRADING

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, I actually find
it incredible that this question would be asked, as the
public would be well aware that standards -based
grading and the introduction of standards -based education was a One Bermuda Alliance Throne Speech
initiative in 2015. So, if it was good enough for the
now-Opposition to introduce it, and produce a training
plan that failed to get it implemented within three
years, I find it incredulous that the Opposition Member
would now ask what the evidence is to support con-tinuing on with a programme that his Government i ntroduced.
However, Mr. Speaker, I will answer the question. And, simply put, yes, evidence will be provided to
that Member.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Once again —
[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]

The S peaker: Minister, just answer the question.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, again, I find it
incredible that this Member would start to state that
other countries, or other systems have taken two
years, but then ask me to provide evidence of other
systems that have implemented standards -based
grading. I do not get it. But it is the question he has
asked.
What I did say, Mr. Speaker, was that this was
a One Bermuda Alliance Throne Speech initiative in
November 2015. And the implementation commenced in October 2015. Three years on, it was a failed i mplementation process that was done by the former
Government. That is what I spoke to.
What we have done is reset the dial. And we
look and understand that, based on the research done by the steering commi ttee, it will take at least four
years for us to be fully implementing the programme that needs to be put in place, Mr. Speaker. That is why it is going to take four years.

Yes.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Minister indicated that in the 2015 OBA Throne Speech there was


Bermuda House of Assembly going to be a three- year implementation process that
has been a failed process.
Will the Minister agree that the failure was in
the now -Government dropping the ball because, from
10/15 until [the PLP] took over in 07/17, that was only
a one- and-a-half year period of time.
So, if three years was not enough to accomplish it, they dropped the ball. Will the Minister
acknowledge that?

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: The simple answer to that
is no. The ball began to drop. And I will refresh Members opposite that when we took over Government, one of the first things we had to do was to get the
teachers to rescind from their Work to Rule based on
the incompetence of the former Government.

[Inaudible interjections]

Mr. Speaker, from my understanding, under the standards -based grading pr ogramme there is a lot of re- teaching, re- assessments
that are required of our teachers. Mr. Speaker, this is
going to take more time to get through the curriculum.
Can the Minister confirm that the teachers will be pr ovided more support which will enable them to get to
their administrative work and lesson planning? B ecause there is much more re- teaching and reassessing in the standards -based grading pr ogramme.

Thank you, Member.
Minister. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I stated within the S tatement, Mr. Speaker,
the purpose of standards -based grading is to improve
the delivery of education and to give our students a
greater understanding of what they know and what they can do with what they know.
As the former Minister who sat in this place,
he would know that standards -based grading ties d irectly into Plan 2022, priority number one, increasing
academic rigour and student engagement, and priority
number three, enhancing the quality of teacher prac-tice and system leadership.
So, as I also st ated within the Statement,
there is a four -year plan. And within that plan is incorporated everything that teachers, administrators and
the Department of Education will need to do and have
in place in order to ensure that the most important thing that we are looking out for here is that our st udents get an education system that they can be proud
of.

Supplementary? We will take your
supplementary.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I have a
supplementary.
544 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister could . . .
He spoke to the leadership element that was included
in the plan. Does this leadership include the Work to
Rule by principals that has been experienced by this
Government?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, the principals
are fully engaged in this process, as the Statement
stated. Over the last two days, principals have been
engaged in professional development, and included
on the steering committee is a principal, Mr. Osborne.

So, they are retaining, they
are the defending champions right now in the Premier
League and still number one on the table. So, I enjoy
hearing the games when I cannot make it from Stad ium Lane.
But also, when we talk about winning teams
and those members who win, Mr. Speaker, I ask a question. If you are able to remember something that
happened in 1989, one thing t hat happened in
1989 [sic] was that Hurricane Emily.

Well, one thing that I did not
get the date wrong was February 1989, the general election. That is when the UBP had 23 seats. The
PLP had 15. And the NLP had one. But one of the
Members who won their seat in PLP was the H onourable Member who is now the Speaker, which means
that it has been 30 years that you have been in this
House!

Yes.
Hon. Lovitta F. Fogg o: I would like to associate the
House, and in particular MP Renee Ming, MP Kim Swan. I did associate the House already. All right.
Gone too soon is what I will say. And she is a
big miss in St. George’s, especially because she was
one who could be relied on for any type of community
event. She was there; she assisted. She was like a
little sister for me. I watched Selena grow as we were
next-door neighbours, from a baby to adulthood. And I
just will say that she is going to be missed by all.
Also, Mr. Sp eaker, another major loss for St.
George’s —I know him by his name Leroy “Tubby”
Richardson. And I think everybody knows about [this]
recent loss. I will associate the entire House. Mr.
Richardson was a patriarch for St. George’s, a well -
known sportsman, a treasure trove of history. And in
losing him, we have lost a great deal. St. George’s
mourns a gentleman who was, prior to his passing,
the eldest living Cup Match player. And so, I think we
will mourn his loss for many, many days to come.
And last but not least on my list is Mr. Marvin
Washington. I grew up with Marvin. He, too, was my
next-door neighbour. I would like to associate Jeanne
Atherden, our St. George’s MPs Renee Ming, Kim Swan, Colonel Burch —

Sounds like the whole House. Just include the whole House.
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: —Pat Gordon- Pamplin, the
whole House. Anybody who came into contact with Marvin knows what a great person he was. He was a
connoisseur of great wines and definitely food. He
was a Christian man. He was a liv ely man. He, too,
volunteered his services with organisations like the teen services. Marvin, wherever he went, from St.
George’s to Somerset, people embraced him because
of his communal spirit. We will greatly miss Marvin.

We must send [condolences] to
his family.
Also, Ms. Michelle Roberts, also a true Somerset . . . I associate Minister Kim Wilson and MP
Scott Simmons to the [condolences] to the family of
Michelle Roberts.
Now, on a much lighter note, I would like to,
over this Christmas period, send congratulations to young Justin Donawa, who as a Bermudian was
drafted by the Columbus Crew in MLS [Major League
Soccer]. I associate the whole House.

But I must also congratulate the
Somerset Cricket Club for, last week, having their anniversary week, celebrating 114 years of their existence. I associate Minister Foggo.
Also, Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate
Ms. Keeka Simons, who was called to the Bar on
January 11
th. And that was a story of determination.
And lastly and finally, Mr. Speaker, following
along from MP Lawrence Scott again, I would like to
congratulate you, yourself, on celebrating 30 years
last Saturday in this House.

[Desk thumping]

Yes. I now recognise the Honourable
Minister Wilson.
Honourable Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I
am glad you allowed me to follow the Honourable
Member from [constituency] 28, because I would certainly like to be associated with al l of his congrats and
obits, particularly as it relates to the residents of Som-erset.
Also, I would like to personally extend congratulations to you, Mr. Speaker, with respect to 30
years serving this Honourable House and the Members and the constituents of Somerset.

Thank you.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I am going to ask if we can send
congratulations to [two] of your constituents, the Talbots, Quinton and Marjorie Talbot, on the huge feat of
celebrating 65 years of marriage bliss. They recently
celebrated their 65
th wedding anniversary. They hale
from Somerset and within your constituency. Both are
members of Allen Temple AME Church. And their s ecret to longevity is (if I can quote), “With a long marriage you have to give a lot, take a lot, and j ust try to
love it up.”
And in this day and age, unfortunately, when
we look at divorce rates of over 50 per cent within our
community, to see that this couple has reached a milestone, celebrating 65 years of wedded bliss, I would certainly like to extend congratulations on b ehalf of the whole House to the Talbots from Somerset.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. Yes.
I now recognise the Honourable Deputy.
Deputy Speaker, you have the floor.
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to be associated
with the remarks concerning yourself of serving 30
years in this Honourable House.
Mr. Speaker, I would like for this House to
send condolences to the family of Ms. Cheryl Eilene
Eve. She was the sister of LaVerne Furbert.

Yes. Yes.
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: I associate the entire
House with that, Mr. Speaker. She was certainly a
woman of great courage, character and integrity, Mr. Speaker.
Also, Mr. Speaker, I would like to send condolences to the family of Glenn Smith- Blakeney, the son
of a former Member of this House, Glenn Blakeney,
Senior. I want to associate the entire House. As you
know, he was a thorn in the side of Somerset.

Yes.

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: And he will be sorely
missed by all who knew him, particularly his wife and
children.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to send condolences to the family of Mr. Larry Trott, a cousin of
mine who passed away. And he will be sorely missed
by his wife, Suzanne, his sons, Jolly and Anthony, and
the daughter [Wendy] and the entire family.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes.
We now recognise the Honourable Minister
De Silva.
Honourable Minister.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to be associated with the condolences for Troy Berkeley’s family. I
had the distinct pleasure of doing a few things with
Troy, one being football in our latter years. And of
course, the other was celebrating victories after the
games.
I would also like to echo the comments that
Cousin, Honourable Member Derrick, made in refer-ence to Glenn Blakeney, Junior. I think that a lot of his
fire did come from his father. As you will know, his
father was quite fiery in this House. So, I think a lot of that was certainly in his DNA. And he will be sorely
missed.
I would also, at this time, Mr. Speaker ––a lot
of times we say that we would like the House and


Bermuda House of Assembly Members to give condolences when somebody pas ses. But I went to a funeral last week, Mr. Speaker,
where it was certainly a celebration of one’s life. And
that celebration was for Mary Burchall, from Southampton, whom I think you know, Mr. Speaker?

Yes. Yes.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: And her husband, Boysie,
loved her dearly. He stood by Mary through thick and
thin. And it would be remiss if I did not mention the speech that her son, Butchy , gave, Mr. Speaker, I
must say, to not only a packed church, but there was
not even standing room in the church. They brought in
extra chairs, had people in the hallways, people down the stairs at the Salvation A rmy. It was three and a
half hours, Mr. Speaker. But it was the quickest three and a half hours I ever experienced in my life. B etween Butchy’s speech and his brother, Rev. Clark
Minors, they did a fantastic job. And I think that all of the family, whilst there were very few tears, there was
a lot of laughter, a lot of memories, a lot of secrets
told, Mr. Speaker.
And it was certainly one of the most enjoyable
funerals that I have ever attended in my life and one that I will never forget. So, I thank Butch y and Clarky ,
and my heart goes out to the family, whom I know
very well. Thank you.

First of all, I just want to be assoc iated with the remarks already made for Tubby Ric hardson, Marvin Washington, Selena Minors, Cheryl
Eve and Michelle Roberts, and of course, Glenn
Smith -Blakeney.
And I would also like to extend thoughts and
prayers to the families of Marguerite Swainson ,
George O’Brien and Meredith Lattimore. And I would
like to associate Minister Foggo and Patricia GordonPamplin with those comments.
On a lighter and happier note, Mr. Speaker, I
would like to express congratulations. And one is to the new Councillor in St. George’s. To declare my i nterest, she would be related to me. And that would be
Cyniqua Anderson. She is trying to carry on the lega-cy of her father at this time. I associate the entire
House with those comments.

I associate the whole House,
Mr. Speaker. Gladstone would certainly be well known
in terms of sporting because of his football and cric keting aspirations. But most people do not know that he
was a real gentleman and a mentor to myself. And I would ask that c ondolences be sent to his wife and
the children, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
548 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly On that, I would also ask that the House send
condolences to [the family of] one of my constituents,
Mr. Ralph St. George Powell, who passed very r ecently. Mr. Powell and hi s family are great supporters
of the Tyrrells, and I certainly wish them all the best in their upcoming days, as well.
On a happier note, Mr. Speaker, I would ask
that the House send congratulations to one of my constituents, Ms . Mary Williams of Whale Vi ew Lane,
who is celebrating 103 years today, Mr. Speaker. Ms. Williams is very sprightly, still going about things on her own, but does have some caregiver there with her
at times. And I wish her all the best.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to ask that congratulations be sent to another one of my constituents,
of course, Yolanda Furbert. She has recently been
recognised, one of 62 persons in the world, as a Master Wedding Planner. I do not know how she went
about going to get that certificate. But I certai nly know
that she is well qualified. I would like to associate
Renee Ming and Scott Simmons, as well.
Mr. Speaker, thank you very much.

Thank you.
I recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 23.
The Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask that this Honourable
House send condolences to the family of Ronald Jeffers, of Dudley Lane. He was a long- time employee of
Gas & Utility. And his wife, Pearl, and t heir daughters
mourn his loss.
I would also like to be associated with the
condolences to the family of George O’Brien, who was actually the husband of one of my former co- workers,
so we had quite a lot of time to engage, one with the other. And I certainly wish well, especially to his son,
who is one of our Cup Match players, George O’Brien,
Junior. And I just wish them well during their time of
bereavement.
I would ask that we send congratulations to
Isabelle [Ramsay -]Brackstone, who was recently i nstalled as the Honorary Canadian Counsel. And I
would like to associate Honourable Member Susan
Jackson, Honourable Member Jeanne Atherden,
Honourable Member Renee Ming, Honourable Mini ster Kim Wilson and Deputy Premier Walter Roban. Isabelle [Ramsay -]Bracksto ne, we have the benefit of
not just watching her, as she is the Honorary Counsel,
but some of us served with her on the International
Women’s Forum. So she is quite an excellent addition
to the expertise that our organisation helps to bring to
the communit y.
And finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like for this
House to extend condolences to the family of “Sonny” Furbert. Sonny, Reginald “Sonny” Furbert was quite
an individual around town.

Yes.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: But I do not think
that you would find a meeker, more decent individual
with greater integrity and generally a very nice person.
Sonny was one whom everybody could embrace. We
spoke to him. He had his challenges, but Sonny would
give you the shirt off of his back.
I remember , Mr. Speaker, one day I am going
to work, and Sonny had with him a newspaper and
two cartons of milk. He handed me a carton of milk
and said, “Ms. Gordon- Pamplin, you have this.” Now,
that is generosity of spirit, and it is a quality that we should all em ulate. And I certainly mourn his passing,
and I would ask that condolences be sent to his fam ily.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes.
We recognise the Honourable Minister.
Minister Rabain, you have the floor.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask that a letter of congratulations be sent from this House, and I will ass ociate everyone within, to the Bermuda Union of
Teachers on the celebration of their 100
th anniversary
on February 1st. Mr. Speaker, the Bermudian Union of
Teachers was founded at a gravesite with the meeting of four teachers at that time, Rev. Rufus Stovell, Ms.
Adele Tucker, Ms. Edith Crawford, and Ms. Matilda Crawford. They were mourning the loss of a teacher
and recognised that, in order for the profession of
teachers to grow beyond what it found itself in, they
had to band together and look out for each other.
This organisation grew from that fateful
graveside meeting into Bermuda’s first trade union
entity to be formed in Bermuda. And so, the y have just
concluded a year of activities in which the result is that
they were to raise $100,000 for scholarships for st udents, Mr. Speaker. So, with that said, I would just like
for, again, a letter of congratulations to be sent to the
Bermuda Union of Teachers, and I associate the entire House with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister.
We recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 6.
Honourable Member Furbert, you have the
floor.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to also be associated with congratulating yourself for 30 years in this Honourable
House.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Thank you.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: They say that you were formerly the first —not the first, but when you were elec ted Minister of Youth, Sports and the Environment.
And now you have been able to rise to one of the
most senior positions that we have in this Honourable
House. I look forward to seeing your picture on this
wall one of these days, which will be here for probably
another 100 years.

[Laughter]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, unfortunately,
during the time that we were out, many people in
Bermuda have passed.

Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I have never seen so many
obituaries in the papers during Christm astime in my
whole life. So, Mr. Speaker, just a few people whom I
have to mention: First of all, the Honourable Member
mentioned my cousin, Sonny Furbert, who is my second cousin. Also, I understand he is the second
cousin of the Opposition Leader, Mr. Ca nnonier. I did
not realise that we have a relationship, at least a close
relationship with Sonny.

You are related, too.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Not quite; on my mother’s
side and on my father’s side.
[Laughter]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: But it is true. Sonny was a
very kind gentleman. And I know I was trying to help
him out, because Sonny had the ability to obtain money from social insurance, but could not because he
did not have a bank account or a place of abode. So,
to open an account at any bank, he had to have an ID.
And Sonny did not have a passport or anything else.
Fortunately, I have been working on something for the
last couple of weeks with people in social insurance
which allows those who are homeless to be able to get something. And so, hopefully, very soon, we will
be able to announce to the country, for those individ uals who have funds at social insurance —

Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, so, on and on. So, the next person is Ms. Greta Somner, who
is from Hamilton Parish, a lovely lady. And also, I
would associate my honourable friend, Derrick Burgess. She, unfortunately, passed (I think it was) last
week. We also had the unfortunate death of Irving “Jack” Romaine, a great footballer for North Village.

Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: And they tell me that he
played for Bermuda. I would like to associate the
Honourable Member W eeks, and also the Honourable
Deputy Premier in these remarks. And Tinee Furbert
also was at the funeral. I had the fortunate opportunity
to sing at that funeral, “His eye is on the sparrow and I
know he watches over me.” Also, I would like to be
associated with the remarks —

[Inaudible interjection]

You are asking for a rendition of it
now? We will save that for later.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I would like to be associated
also with the condolences for the family of Cheryl
(Furbert) Eve, who is also another cousin of mine.
So, Mr. Speaker, like I said, this period has
been a very . . . maybe because I am getting older I
see so many friends and relatives who are now pas sing on. So, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate myself
with the comments made in regard to Sonny Furbert.
Mr. Furbert was a character. But what struck me most
was his eloquence, and he was a gentleman. Whenever you walked by him, he spoke, and he spoke
clearly. And he let me know what was going on in
Bermuda, because he always read the newspaper.
I would like to also associate myself with Gr eta Somner. She taught me life lessons when I worked
with her at the bank when I was a tender 16 years old.
I would like to associate myself with the comments
made in regard to your 30 years of service.

Mary Williams, and Glenn
Blakeney, and the 100
th year anniversary of the Bermuda Union of Teachers.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to send congratul atory remarks to Alandra Swan —she is Outstanding
Teacher of the Year —and Rosalyn Minors, who
achieved the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
550 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda Educational Network. These awards are
basically done through nominations from your peers
within the teaching profession, so it means a lot to
everyone.
Ms. Swan was a P1 teacher at Francis Patton.
She says she goes to work daily and loves what she
does. She is a true leader and she is inspirational, and
she was well respected by her peers and lo ved by her
students. Ms. Minors had a 40- year career in teac hing. I knew her from Sandys when I went there. She
came from a family of teachers. And she is a lady who commanded respect, but ruled her classroom with a
tender touch. So, to Ms. Minors and Ms. Swan, congratulations ; keep up the good work. Your work has
gone, and we salute you for your contributions to developing young people in Bermuda.
Thank you.

You will be. You and your
team will be very confused.
I would like to offer condolences to the family
of the late Norman Minors, the golf professional who is the [brother] of Ms. Burchall. And I would associate
Honourable Minister De Silva and the Honourable
Member Burgess from constituency down in God’s
country, down there in the Bible Belt.
I would like also like for a letter of condolences
to be sent to the family members of Ms. Fay Wilkinson, from Ferry Reach. Li ke so many communities ––
Honourable Member Ming would like to be associated,
from constituency 1. And I am sure the Honourable
Member, Ms. Foggo, as well.
Ms. Fay Saltus Wilkinson has family in both
the West End and has hailed from Ferry Reach for many years now.

And my sincere condolences go out to them.
Also, my dear friend, Ms. Devoye Augustus,
from the Belmont Hotel, an extraordinary lady who
was the assistant maî tre d’ back in the 1970s when
those achievements were very few and far between for persons of African descent, in Bermuda in partic u-lar. But she was exceptional, along with her many colleagues, whom I credit for having raised me in the
hotel industry. And I am deeply saddened.
I would like to be associated with the condolences to the families of Glenn Blakeney, Junior; Leroy “Tubby” Richardson; George O’Brien, Senior;
and Irving “Jack” Romaine. And I apologise for others
whom I may have missed in this three- minute window.
But to Daniel Augustus, my congratulations go
out, as he won $5,000 in a mini -tour event down in
Florida, which gives him the confidence to know that
he is on the right path, doing the right thing, following
his dream. I know the Honourable Member De Silva,
who only mentioned his name the day before, and the
Honourable Member, “ Mr. Golf ” himself, Brother Burgess over there, and Brother Weeks is trying to be a
golfer now.

[Laughter]

You can do the House. It looks like a
lot of hands going up. Do the whole House.

Hon. Walton Brown: I shall associate the entire
House, Mr. Speaker. She exuded grace and charm
throughout her life. She was a long- serving member of
the Continental Society and made an active contrib ution to Bermuda over her decades of service. I ask
that this House send condolences to the honourable
family.
Thank you.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
We now recognise the Honourable Member
from constituency 19.


Bermuda House of Assembly Honourable Member, you have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Speaker, I would like
to have condolences sent to the family of the late
Shustan Badendock. Shustan went to McGill, which is
where I first met her. And when she came back to
Bermuda she threw herself into doing things in terms
of being a librarian. And she actually took that role
from just being a librarian to a whole new range of
things that you do for a company, and you do not realise that knowledge creates the opportunity to help a company grow.
But Shustan also, which is what is more si gnificant to me, became disabled. But that did not stop
her. She was someone who was out there all the time, doing things, opining on things which would improve
the lives of people who were disabled. So, I know that
she is going back to Montreal to be interred. But I
think she did a l ot for Bermuda.
I would like to also have condolences sent to
the family of Gina Payne- Scott. I knew Gina a long
time ago when she used to be involved in putting on a TV programme for young people. And I remember her
coming up, getting involved with horse riding and
showing kids the things that they could do.

Yes.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I would like to be assoc iated with the congratulations to Daniel Augustus. It is not only men who think about golfing and who support
him. And so I just want to let him know that Daniel
was my pro for a recent tournament. And I am really pleased to see that he is getting out there, winning his
first cheque.
Also with respect to golf, I was saddened to
see the death of Peter Stubbs. Peter used to be at the
Bank of Bermuda for a long time in terms of security.
And I see Zane putting his finger up, and Cole, be-cause—

The Honourable Member.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: The Honourable Member
Zane De Silva putting his finger up.
[Laughter]

The S peaker: And the Honourable Member Cole.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: The finger in a different
way up.

[Laughter and inaudible interjection]

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: But anyway, I am not going to let them take my three minutes away, Mr.
Speaker. I would like to also be associated with the r emarks for Norman “Notchie” Minors. Norman was one
of those people who was also a golfer, but also was
helpful to anybody who was interested in golf. And last
but not least, I would like to be associated with the remark s for George O’Brien, Senior. I had a grandson
who, a long time ago, was interested in cricket. And
George just used to deal with the cricketers, the
young cricketers. And he took care of making sure
that they not only knew about the game, but they u nderst ood about dedication, et cetera. So I was sad to
hear about his passing.
And on that note, Mr. Speaker, thank you very
much.

I would also like to send out co ndolences and be associated with the condolences for
the family of Ms. Shustan Bad endock. Shustan was
very instrumental in the community as it had to do with
disabilities and was actually one of the committee
members who helped to create the national policy on disabilities. And so, we are very thankful for her contributions towards pers ons with disabilities in our
community.
Also, I would like to send condolences out to
the family of Ms. Gloria Alfreda Daniels, who was a constituent of mine. She lived in the constituency for
over 40 years. So, just sending out condolences to the family of Ms. Daniels.
Also wanting to associate myself with [the
condolences for] Mr. Jack Romaine, known in the community for his contribution in the arena of football,
North Village player. And just wanting to send cond olences to his wife, Hilda, who was a very faithful wife,
and took good care of Jack. Actually, over the Chris tmas holiday when I went to go visit the family, Jack
was . . . I remember clearly, you know, being in the
sports arena, he was still taking really, really good
care of his body. And he had someone there doing
reflexology on Jack. So, just wanted to extend condolences to Aunt Hilda and to Irving and Erika, who are
his children.
And also, wanting to send condolences out to
the family of Kiara Marie Paiva. I will extend the condolences fro m the whole House because Ms. Kiara’s
life was one that was definitely gone too soon. Sending condolences out to the Berkeley family, as well, as
it relates to Kiara.
552 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is probably more of it, eh?

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. Yes.
I would also like to extend congratulations to
the BUT for their 100th anniversary. Some of us did
have the opportunity to partake in some of the cer emonies. And one of the founders, Rev. Rufus Stovell,
was actually the great -grandfather of the Honourable
Sylvan Richar ds in the House here. So, what a m omentous milestone for the BUT! It was quite intriguing to watch them as they marched down Reid Street,
then on up onto Church Street, in solidarity. So a wonderful thing there.
Also, condolences to Sonny Furbert and the
family. What a lot of people would not have known is
that he was a very prolific bowler up at the Warwick
Bowl, well known at that time.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, he was well known for
his bowling prowess. So, I kind of want ed to highlight
the fact that he was a sportsman and was very well
known at that time for his bowling up at the Warwick
Bowl. I did used to housesit with his mother, actually. He was older than me and was away at the time. But
it is rather sad to see that he has passed on.
In addition, congratulations in constituency 2.
The Honourable Member Swan had the privilege and
opportunity, as I did, to be a part of a dedication service for the New Testament Church of God: Rhema
Ministries.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, I just called your
name. And it was quite interesting. I was quite exci ted over the fact, because I was unsure whether the
church was actually open. But the dedication service
brought out many different denominations of churc hes’ bishops, reverends and the like to celebrate the
history of this particular church, because it did break
off from, I believe it was St. Paul ’s
[sic] in St. George’s.
It did break off from there. It was a racial thing. Back then, the church down in the heart of St. George’s,
being completely white, did not make it quite open to
blacks. And so, they opened up their —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: St. Peter’s, yes. St. P eter’s.
So, it was great to see that this church was
still s tanding, very small, but very much alive. So, I
want to congratulate them on their dedication. The
place looks wonderful.
And thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
good morning.
I would like to be associated with all of the
remarks and congratulations, and also the obituary
remarks made in this Honourable House this morning.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on two matters. I wish first
of all to recognise that Dame Jennifer Smith is here in our Honourable House, sitting in our Gallery. I was
very pleased to have attended, th e opportunity to attend—

Mr. Speaker, I offer her, from the
entire House, profound congratulations on being re cognised for the Black History Month, a wonderful celebration that was given in her honour at the Hamilton
Princess Hotel. She was most eloquent and beautiful
that night. And I believe that everybody present who did have the opportunity to speak did inde ed cover the
illustrious career of the Honourable Dame. So, I would
like to extend to her, on behalf of this House, a most
gracious congratulations.

Mr. Speaker, it would also be
remiss of me, in the last few moments of my remarks,
for me not to recognise you for the 30 years that you
have served in this Honourable House. Sometimes,
we take it very lightly when individuals have served
and given service to our communities throughout
Bermuda. But the ti me that you have spent, sir, in this
Honourable House and also throughout the communi-ty must be commended.
But, Mr. Speaker, it must also be mentioned
that not just you, Mr. Speaker, but your entire family,
having been a former Minister in this House, Mr. Terry
Lister; a former Minister without Portfolio, your uncle,
Walter Lister; and now your son. I know he is working
on his share of his 30 years of being in this Honour able House. But, Mr. Speaker, we congratulate you. We appreciate you. And thank you for putting the time
in in a community most deserving.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to start by
commending you on the 30 years of service that you
have rendered to Bermuda. You have inhabited a vantage point of history that I do not think anyone else in
this Chamber serving today can equal over that three-decade span. And again, we commend your service.
Mr. Speaker, just moving on, we were pr esented today with what I would call a veritable sports hall of fame with respect to those whom we honour
here. And those names roll easily off the tongue, from
Glenn Blakeney, Junior, who passed away, along with
George O’Brien, Senior. And then we had Mr. Leroy
“Tubby” Richardson, the great sage of all things cric ket and in life, who was tied to Mr. George O’Brien. George O’Brien’s children were his grandchildren.
Then you have the great Gladstone “Sad”
Brown, a gentleman cricketer if ever there was one of
his generation. And let us not forget Mr. Irving “Jack” Romaine, the North Village stalwart, a defender who
took no prisoners as a defender and was well known.
His brother, the younger brother, Mr. Milgrove Ro-maine, took his cues from his big brother’s style of
play. And so, let us not forget them. Lastly, Mr.
Speaker, I want to send out a special —

Troy Berkeley, yes. He was
a great young man, and for his generatio n made some
major contributions on the field of soccer. And his
death was a very tragic event, and the news hit many
fairly hard throughout the community, not just in Somerset, I might say particularly of my generation. So,
our love and our condolences go out to his family, as
well.
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that we
need to bear in mind, and I am doing all . . . I am a ssociating with all of that here, because prior speakers
acknowledged and offered condolences for all of
these people. But las tly, Ms. Cheryl Eve, nee Furbert,
who is the sister of LaVerne Furbert —I want to just
say that she made some major contributions to this community. And the Darrell and Furbert families
should be very proud of the contributions she made,
not only to their f amily, but also to Bermuda.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
We now recognise the Honourable Member
Richards.
Honourable Member, you have the floor.

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like the House to extend
condolences to the family of Mr. Hewitt DeVeaux
“Tumbi ” Tucker, who also was my first cousin, who
passed just after Christmas. Everybody knew him as
DeVeaux. He was a long- term employee of the tel ephone company. He was an im posing man, a very
large man, his physical presence. I would like to ass ociate the Honourable Rolfe Commissiong with my comments.
You know, one of my fondest memories of
DeVeaux was back in, had to be probably the early 1960s. He left Bermuda to attend un iversity in the
United States. And he came back to Bermuda after a
554 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly few months in the United States and announced to the
family that we were no longer to call him DeVeaux,
that his new name was Bubba Tumbi, Bubba Two.

[Laughter]

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: And I know everybody
in the family looked at each other and said, Okay,
DeVeaux. But that nickname stuck. So even up to the
time of his passing, his nickname was Tumbi. And that
is where that came from. So, I just wanted to let pe ople know the origin of that name. But DeVeaux was a
very big man, like I said. But he was very gentle. He
was loved by everyone. He is survived by his wife,
Cora, his children, Atiba, N’Gina and Shamir.
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to be associated with the remarks congrat ulating the Bermuda U nion of Teachers for their 100th anniversary. I was fortunate enough, along with my family, to be present at
the BUT Gala at the Southampton Princess. It was a
beautiful, beautiful event. Many of the past presidents of the BUT were there. They were honoured. They
spoke. It was very well organised. The band that was
there, the Wolshki Band , was incredible. It was just a
really, really beautiful night and a celebration of the legacy of the Bermuda Union of Teachers. So I wanted to be associated with that.
Also, Mr. Speaker, once again, congratul ations on your 30 years presence in this House.

Mr. Speaker, thank
you very much.
I would like to be associated with the condolences to the family of Mary Burchall. I was present
with the Minister of Tourism. And it was indeed ––
probably, I won’t say the quickest three and a half
hours I have spent, because I go to black churches on
a regular basis, you know.

[Laughter]

They were friends of
my late parents. So, I congratulate them on their 65
th
wedding anniversary. And I would also like to congratulate Dame Jennifer on the tribute paid to her for
Black History Month this month.
Mr. Speaker, for those who attended Nina
Simone—Four Women, back in January, it was . . . as
a fan of Nina Simone, I was a little sceptical, because I do not think any of these, you know, young people
around here today can understand and have a real
feel for what she was about.

But I can say that
those four ladies acquitted themselves amazingly. It
was an absolutely fantastic evening that I actually thoroughly enjoyed, and I thought they paid quite
honourable tribute to Nina Simone.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I am going to use up
most of my time on one of my more pleasant tasks in doing this job. I was invited to Purvis Primary School,
Primary 3 East and West, which, first of all, inspired me in the sense that the two teac hers there, Ms.
Kathy Bassett and Ms. Cherie Simons, had decided
that they were going to teach these young people
about our democracy. And so, they taught them about
the three branches of government. And they appointed them all MPs for [constituency] 27. A nd so, they
set about going around the district, around Purvis, and identifying things that, if they were the MP, what they
would do to fix them.

Mm-hmm.



Bermuda House of Assembly Lt. Col. Hon. David A. Burch: Well, Mr. Speaker, I
can tell you that it was probably the best thing I did in
all of January. I went to Purvis for an hour. I deliberat ely turned off my phone so none of my handlers could
find me because I knew that I was going to be longer than the hour. And, Mr. Speaker, I was just so i mpressed. They had been around the district. They had
done a massive collage on the wall of all of the issues
that needed to be addressed in the district. And so, I
explained to them that I was only the Minister of Public
Works. And so, I carved out my responsibilities.

[Timer beeps]

Good. Thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member wish to speak?
We recognise the Premie r. Premier, would you
like to yield to one of your Members? He wants to get
up before you if you do not mind. But he can speak
after you.
You can speak after him, you know.
Yes. Go ahead, Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today and I would like to be
associated with the remarks of which I do believe are
congratulations remarks, which were previously given
to the Pembroke Hamilton Club and Southampton
Rangers on their New Year’s Day exploits. And also,
associate with the congratulations to yourself, as well,
Mr. Speaker, on being in this place for 30 years.

Thank you.

Hon. E. David Burt: I would also like to be associated
with the condolences, which have been given by other
Members, to the families of Mr. Leroy “Tubby” Ric hardson; Glenn Blakeney, Junior; and Ms. Cheryl Eve. I do not know if it has been done yet, Mr.
Speaker. But I would like to, at least while I am on my
feet, send condolences to the family of the late Mr.
Ronniko Burchall, who was my cousin and whose life was ended early due to the gun violence over the Christmas period. I know that it was an incredibly diff icult period for the family and a difficult period fo r the
Island. And it was especially poignant when I had the opportunity to speak with the mother of Ronniko. And,
of course, she was incredibly distraught over the
senseless loss of life of her son. So, I wanted to make sure that those condolences were sent from this place,
Mr. Speaker.
Additionally, I would like to offer condolences
to the family of Ms. Miriam Patricia Raynor , the b eloved wife of Mr. Stephen Raynor, whom many of us
would know, who works at the Department of Comm unications, taking photos.

The whole House, yes.

Hon. E. David Burt: Ms. Raynor was in her 69
th year,
and was a constituent of mine. And, of course, it is always a tragic time when you lose a wife. I did have a
chance to see Mr. Raynor a few days ago, as he was
back on the job. And we had a chance to speak. Of
course, it is very sad. But I wanted to pass on condolences from this place.
And also, I would like to express condolences
to the family of Mr. Harry Collingwood Greaves, who, I
believe, was laid to rest yesterday, who inside was
also a constituent of mine. And, without question, he
will certainly be missed. It was without question fitting
that, of course, they came from a wonderful St.
George’s family and he was emblazoned with a very nice blue -and-blue tie. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker,
and thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start off my r emarks by associating myself with the remarks of Ronniko Burchall. I knew him personally, and my heart
goes out to him and his family. I w ould like to also a ssociate myself with the remarks for Glenn Blakeney,
Junior, and George O’Brien, Senior.

Yes.

556 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Michael A. Weeks: George O’Brien, Senior, and I
worked in the football fraternity together. We were both
match commissioners. And I remember him when I
was younger as the goalkeeper for Boulevard. So, he and I got to be pretty good friends.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to associate
myself with the remarks for Daniel Augustus, Junior.
Some in this Honourable House think that I do not
know how to swing a golf club.

[Laughter]

But Daniel has helped to
shape me. I was going with one of the Honourable
Members from constituency 2 to tighten up my swing
and save a little grass for the next person who comes
along.
But, Mr. Speaker, I would like to also send
congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Leon Burt. Mr. and
Mrs. Leon Burt are the uncle and aunt of my wife and
the Honourable Premier. They just celebrated 60 years. I would like to associate the whole House wit h
that, because Mr. Burt was a long- time employee of
Public Works.

And he has made a tremendous contribution to the community in Bermuda. I refer to them as Uncle Leon and Aunt Helen, as we were
taught back in the day, I being married to his niece.
But, Mr. Speaker, before I take my seat, I also
would like to send congratulations to the Seventh- day
Adventist Church in Devonshire. They had a community day, celebrating everyone in the community, 90
years -plus. I had the honour to be one of the speakers
there. And it was really heart -warming, with all of the
seniors in the area coming out and joining in the cel ebration, and their families and their children. It was r eally a grand occasion. You know, we were even s erved
lunch afterwards. And that is something I will cherish
for a long time. The Seventh- day Adventist Church is
not in my constituency, but a lot of my constituents go
to the Seventh- day Adventist Church. So I would like
to send my congratulations to the Devonshire Seventh -
day Adventist Church.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do not have to say who
he is. Everybody is associating themselves. He helped
to show me the way to organise a protest.
Some Devonshire residents, Mr. Winston
Lightbourne, Senior; Mr. Dennis Cross, I think he is
one of your Somerset folks; and Mr. Bryan Cartwright,
all from Alexander Road and Mary Victoria Road.
And lastly, Mr. S peaker, a schoolmate of mine,
Mr. Harold Trott, Junior, from Cottage Hill Road in
Crow, God’s country.
I want to emphasise to all men, please do not
be ashamed to get yourself checked out. Get your
health checked, your heart.

Well, I did not say that part.
We are never too young to get ourselves
checked out, because Mr. Augustus comes for you no
matter what your age is.
So, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and again co ngratulations on your 30- year run. And I am sure your
son is trying to figure out how to emulate that. Have a
good day, Mr. Speaker.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER

HOUSE VISITOR

Thank you, Honourable Member.
No other Honourable Member?
I would just like to take a couple of moments
just to acknowledge the congratulations that have
been expressed to my 30 years in this Chamber. But I
cannot accept that without acknowledging that class of
1989. And Dame Jennifer, who is in the Chamber this morning.
Dame.

[Desk thumping]



Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Dame Jennifer was a Member of that
class, along with the late Nelson Bascome, the late
Julian Hall, the late David Allen, the late David Saul.
We were all Members who came in that year. And it
almost chokes you up to think that there are only two of us left from that class. So, I stand in acknowledging
the 30 years, but acknowledging that we came in with
very strong, young— young Members, who were willing
to make the sacrifice to give a contribution to this
country. And to the betterment of the country I ho pe
that contribution has been.
And I just encourage all Members, when you
come into these Chambers, know you are coming for
the better service and the betterment of the country.
And that should be first and foremost in how you d eliver your service.
Thank you for the words of congratulations. I
acknowledge them all, and I appreciate them all.
On a lighter note on that side, I know many of
us . . . Minister of Health, I know many of us still have
a sweet tooth. So, there is cake outside to acknowledge that 30 years.

[Laughter]

We are mindful, Minister of Health. We
will be light on the cake, but there is cake there.
Before you partake of the cake . . . before you
partake of the cake, those who have volunteered to be
samples for Dr. Weldon, she is set up in the Senate
Chamber for you to give your sample. And she r equires it before you partake of the cake.
With those few remarks, I do believe, Deputy,
you will take us to lunch.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I do move that we adjourn until 2:00 pm.

I believe we have one Government Bill
in the name of the Minister of Health.
Minister?

FIRST READING

PROCEEDS OF CRIME AMENDMENT ACT 2019

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Good afternoon and thank you,
Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I am introducing the following
Bill for its first reading so that it may be placed on the
Order Paper for the next day of meeting, namely, the
Proceeds of Crim e Amendment Act 2019.

Members, there are three Orders on
the paper today, and I believe that we are going to be
doing Order No. 2, which is the second reading of the Mental Health Amendment (No. 2) Act 2018—should
it be 2018 or 2019? Yes, it was tabled in 2018 in the
name of the Minister of Health.
Minister?

558 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly BILL

SECOND READING

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 201 8

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I move that the Bill entitled the
Mental Heal th Amendment (No. 2) [Act] 2018 be now
read the second time.

Are there any objections to that?
No objections.
Continue on, Member.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I am so pleased to stand here
before this Honourable House today for the second
reading of the Mental H ealth Amendment (No. 2) Act
2018 .
Mr. Speaker , a primary purpose of the Mental
Health Act is to set requirements for the assessment, detention, treatment and rights of people suffering
from mental disorder who are at risk of harm to the mselves or others. International estimates, such as from
the World Health Organization, indicate that one in
four people will experience mental health issues in their lifetime. However, only 2 [per cent] to 3 per cent
of this group will have an illness that is severe, persi stent, and that will require ongoing treatment at times in
hospital involuntarily.
Mr. Speaker , since the introduction of the
Mental Health Act in 1968 advancements in care models and treatment methods has prioritised the si gnificance of social care, patient rights, and saf eguards. However, our legislation has not kept pace
with these advancements. This Bill is a first step to
bring Bermuda’s legislation in line with contemporary
methods of care while balancing the need to protect
the rights of the individual pat ients and to ensure, Mr.
Speaker , public safety.
Mr. Speaker , I first want to acknowledge and
thank the previous administration for initiating this i mportant work. I am proud to continue this initiative and am committed to the bipartisan collaboration tha t
makes it possible for us to achieve meaningful change
such as this amendment Bill with respect to mental
health, Mr. Speaker .
This amendment Bill focuses on key pressing
priorities. I have actively, Mr. Speaker , pushed to ensure its progress under my leadership as part of my
commitment to protecting persons in care and, more
specifically, to ensure we are improving the structures
in place to support persons with mental health needs
in our community.
Mr. Speaker , this Bill focuses on three primary
areas to improve treatment options and patient saf eguards: establishing community treatment orders; es-tablishing legislative requirements for consent to treatment; and establishing a framework within which
mental capacity can be determined.
First, Mr. Speaker , the Bill provides a legisl ative structure to support supervised community treatment in the form of community treatment orders (CTOs).
Mr. Speaker , CTOs will enable mental health
professionals to continue to treat patients granted leave from the hospital for extended periods of time
with provision for certain conditions to be set for patients, such as, attending appointments and the co ntinuation of their medication.
Currently, Mr. Speaker , the Act grants leave
that expires after 12 months and it cannot be renewed. Mr. Speaker , there are a number of chronic
patients within our community that know the system, and by that [I mean] they stop taking their medication immediately after the 12- month period has lapsed only
to have their health deteriorate, which wil l lead to r equired detention, yet again, resulting in what we are referring to as “the revolving door syndrome.”
Mr. Speaker , the introduction of these community treatment orders will allow these patients to receive appropriate treatment on an ongoing basi s at
home or in other community settings, which currently
is only available through readmission to hospital. So
not only is treatment in the community more cost -
effective, but it is the best place for true recovery from
mental illness.
As with detention under the Act, Mr. Speaker ,
safeguards must also complement this new authority and the Bill includes mandatory reviews and an a ppeal mechanism.
This treatment option will also rely on BHB’s
community teams already in place to support people
on community treatment orders. BHB will monitor
these resources to make sure that they are sufficient
to meet any growing demand.
Overall, this part of the amendment is a continuum of our commitment to and promotion of com-munity -based care and it is a first step to the lar ger
efforts of reforming our mental health system.
Mr. Speaker , secondly, the Bill provides a r equirement and framework for consent to treatment in specific cases. The Mental Health Act currently does
not require patient consent for treatment authorised under it.
In practice, Mr. Speaker , clinicians aim to o btain consent, however, there are no legal safeguards in place for patients who cannot consent or refuse to
consent to treatment.
As a result, Mr. Speaker , this Bill introduces
requirements for second opinions and consultations
based on the severity of the treatment proposed. These provisions apply to persons detained in hospital
or who are under a community treatment order.
Mr. Speaker , a key role introduced for consent
to treatment is the second opini on approved doctor
(SOAD). These doctors, Mr. Speaker , will provide a


Bermuda House of Assembly clinical opinion on the patient’s ability to consent and,
if the patient is unable to consent or refuses, the
SOAD must assess if the treatment is appropriate.
The second opinion doctor will be independent of the
Bermuda Hospitals Board in order to ensure a fair
process for the patient.
Finally, Mr. Speaker , the Bill establishes a
framework within which mental capacity can be de-termined. This is an essential component to consent
to treatm ent as capacity is required to be able to consent. The capacity framework will be outlined in a
newly established Code of Practice and will be based
on the United Kingdom’s Mental Capacity Act as well
as associated standards of practice, as consulted on
last year.
Mr. Speaker , the framework will define a person lacking capacity, will establish criteria for deter-mining such capacity, and will put safeguards in place
to ensure that decisions are made in the best interests
of the patient.
This Code of Practice will extend beyond the
determination of capacity and is a key mechanism to
ensure clarity on implementation of the legislation for
practitioners with respect to new legislative requir ements, as well as existing ones.
Before closing, Mr. Speaker , I would l ike to
acknowledge and thank the many people that contri buted to making this amendment possible. After mult iple attempts for over more than a decade to amend this Act, it was a dedicated group of professionals who
were able to finally make it happen. We ar e all indebted to the Mental Health Act Steering Committee and
Working Group, to the leadership at the Mid- Atlantic
Wellness Institute and, in particular, to Dr. Sebastian
Henagulph who has provided extensive medical and
technical advice to get us to this excellent position.
I am absolutely certain, Mr. Speaker , that we
would not be here without all of their assistance and, in particular, the expert advice of Dr. Henagulph.
In closing, Mr. Speaker , this Bill seeks to address some of the major gaps in the Mental Health
Act. It regularises some current practices while establishing new options, processes, and criteria that will require staff education and development to ensure
successful results.
This Ministry is committed to implementing
these changes to improve practice and protect and
promote the rights of persons with mental health
needs. However, we know that this is only a first step,
Mr. Speaker . Our mental health system needs major
work to ensure we can find sustainable solutions to provide care and supp ort needed for a healthier Bermuda. My Ministry and this Government are commi tted to the successful implementation of the Bill and
the ongoing work which is required to improve our
system.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Minister. Does an y other Member wish to speak?
We recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 23.
Honourable Member , you have the floor.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I thank the Minister for sharing
her brief with me so that we could be on the same
page and continue to hold hands across the aisle on
this very important work that must be done.
It is also important for me to thank both the
Government as well as the technical staff for ensuring
that this Bill has reached the stage that it is at today
so that we can have [legislation for] the effective
treatment and protections and care of our mentally
challenged members of our population. Having a suc-cessful regime that looks out for those who are less
able to look out for t hemselves under these circumstances is most important.
Mr. Speaker , mental capacity is not something
that we have control over in many instances and, but
for the grace of God, any one of us can be subjected
to the negative impact of a mental illness episode or
condition. We realise that [having] capacity —
notwithstanding that we do not have control over it —to
know that there is someone who is trusted, who is
able to consider all of the needs of our mentally inc apacitated members of the community to enable t hem
to continue to live in dignity and with the respect to
which they are entitled, to know that the Government
has continued this effort . . . and we are deeply appr eciative to know that there is an issue . . . or this is,
perhaps, not the only one, but t here are issues, this
one being one in particular, one in which we can
reach across the aisle and show a common support.
We support this legislation. As the Minister
indicated, it was started . . . a lot of it was started b efore and this is the culminatio n of the efforts and the
work that has been put into ensuring that this legisl ation is robust and that it is appropriate. We are appr eciative, certainly from the One Bermuda Alliance’s
perspective, but more importantly, Mr. Speaker , on
behalf of all of those mentally challenged patients who will now have a structure within which it will be able to be determined how their care can best be delivered.
And we have no objection to this Bill. We certainly
support it wholeheartedly and notwithstanding that the
clauses themselves are voluminous, it does not detract from the fact that with my very short introductory remarks we are fully supportive and thank the Gov-ernment for bringing this legislation.
Thank you.

Thank you, Honourable Member .
Does any other Honourable Member wish to
speak?
We recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 12.
560 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Honourable Member , you have the floor.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
I am actually ecstatic that we are at this point.
I have seen in my personal life and for many family
members, the challenge of not having this kind of legislation being amended and updated . . . the challen ges it has caused, some of the pain that it has c aused,
of not having a proper framework around how we treat, how we handle in a better way, those of us who
fall under, unfortunately, a mental health [diagnosis], I guess I would say.
I have seen, as I said, personally, in my own
family, where members di d not and were not monitored well as far as their medications were concerned, and it led many times to violence and all kinds of
things which could have been prohibited had we had
this kind of legislation in place that monitors a heck of
a lot closer what is happening to the patient, what is
happening with the family, and having a full -bodied
approach to this here that everyone is involved with
when we are having challenges with individuals with
mental health issues.
I believe that it is prudent upon us . . . and I
want to thank the Minister for recognising that this al-so was a concern of ours as we were looking to move
along this kind of amendment —the Mental Health
Amendment Act —and I am sure that it will be we lcomed by our communities. It will be welcomed. It is a responsible and protective and considerate thing for
us to be doing as legislators. And I am sure that the
needs of the patients and their families and Bermuda
at large will be pleased by this.
So I do not want to belabour the point, but
Bermuda has for many, many years needed this to
happen and we have, quite frankly, seen . . . by the
fact that we have not monitored this in the way that we should have—closely enough— we have seen things
happen in public that maybe should not have hap-pened where people have been injured, where people
have not received the proper assistance that they
should have, maybe been under . . . not under enough
scrutiny and the likes.
And, again, as I was going through this piece
of legislation I must admit it was a bit dif ficult because
. . . and I have no issues with speaking to the fact that
my father spent many years in and out of prison and in and out of St. Brendan’s (what it was called back
then), the hospital, and the challenges that it caused
because of improper or not enough scrutiny . . . was
very . . . extremely painful for me as a child to watch
this, and many of the things that took place that should have never happened . . . scary things.
And so as I was going through this rather
lengthy amendment, it brought t o mind to me that this
is fantastic . . . this is really fantastic! And sometimes I
know it takes us a while to get to some of this legisl ation, but I just want to say that I am just grateful that we are at this point and that families now will be in a better position . . . and patients will be in a better pos ition of being taken care of with this piece of legisl ation.
So with that in mind, Mr. Speaker , I am grat eful to the Minister and her team for bringing this piece of legislation to the table. We will get to some things in
Committee. I believe that there is some more that we
can do but, again, I am very appreciative of the fact
that we are at this point.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I rise to also lend my support to
the legislation. I think it is overdue and I am delighted to be a part of the team and a part of the Parliament
that will shepherd this through.
There are a couple of issues that I would like
to have addressed. And I wonder if the Minister could
enlighten us on what campaign, or communications
campaign, they have in place to basically destigmatise
the issue of mental health. I mean, I see mental health
as an illness as we see diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Obviously, [those illnesses] are challenging, but they have less of a stigma attached to them. So I
think, you know, the country has evolved, but we have
a ways to go. When we have this stigma there are
discriminatory issues, there are self -confidence i ssues. In fact, some patients may feel that they cannot
go to get medical treatment because they are embarrassed because of their condition.
So, Mr. Speaker , my question is will we have
an ongoing campaign to help destigmatise the issue
of mental health and make it, basically, like any other
illness whereby there is support, there is nothing to be ashamed of, and that the community will embrace you
. . . the medical community will embrace you, and you
should not be concerned because of your illness?
The other issue that I would like to address,
Mr. Speaker (and it is covered in the legislation), is the
home care. As we know, many, many families are facing family members who have dementia or Al zheimer’s. And I am finding that many people are taking care of their loved ones at home. And they do
need the support, they need the training, and they
need all the community help that they can get, and
also r elief. Because I know this takes a toll on family
members who are supporting their loved ones who
have dementia or other mental illnesses.
The other issue that disturbs me is isolation. I
can say that I went to a house a while ago and there was a lady who had dementia. And she was locked
inside of her house by herself. She had ropes tying
the knobs of the doors together. I knocked and she
said, Mr. Simons, Mr. Simons —and I knew she was


Bermuda House of Assembly not quite there, and to think that she was left home by
herself until h er next of kin came home—and she
said, I can’t get out; I’m locked in. I’m locked in. And I
just like . . . my heart just dropped to the floor.
So I wonder if there are ways that we can i nvestigate those types of circumstances and provide
some policing to ensure that no other people are
found in those types of circumstances.
We have to have some type of community
outreach programme whereby we can provide support
and check up on mental health patients. Like we have community nursing, we could have a similar situation
for mental health patients where we have community
nurses or community mental health nurses go on a
regular basis and visit our homes and check up on our mental health patients to ensure that they get the best
service and that they get the best outcomes.
So Mr. Speaker , with those few remarks I
would just like to share my concerns and, as I said,
this legislation has my full support and I would like to
see more done . . . and an advertising campaign that
will help destigmatise the mental health l abel in Be rmuda.
Thank you.

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the
Chair]

Thank you, Honourable Member Simons.
Any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Mrs. Atherden.
You have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker .
I think we all have known people over time
who have either fallen victim to mental health issues
or who have not been able to be helped as much as
they could be. And I must admit, as the previous
Health Minister I am so pleased to see this. Because I
know of circumstances where you have calls from i ndividual family members to say, My son is not well and
he needs some help, but he can’t be admitted . . . and
then you have to try and go through the process of
what you can do to try to get someone to go see
someone to get them to actually, somehow, be convinced—convinced —that they need treatment.
And I think we all recognise now , with some of
the things that are being put into place, that is going to
really w ork well in both circumstances. One, because
you know you are worried, there are sometimes ind ividuals who are at danger of doing some harm to themselves, and there are other individuals who just
do not realise that they are not functioning the way they us ed to. So I think the idea of being able to order
the community treatment order so that some people who can be treated in the community as opposed to
having to be hospitalised, I think that this is excellent.
And, as my colleague said earlier, this is in
line with so many things that have happened over
time where people start to realise that there are many
ways in which to help individuals. And if people do not
have to be institutionalised, but can actually be treated
out in the community, then that is going to be so much
better, not only for them but also if we can also start to
educate the community as to the fact that they are
there and how to assist them, then you do not have any sort of stigma attached to it and you also have
people over time that, hope fully, will be encouraged to
understand what they can do to help their loved ones.
Because the bottom line is if persons are supportive of getting treatment, that is fine. But if they are
not [agreeable], if they do not understand and they feel that they are being somehow victimised or som ehow, somebody is doing something to them that is not
right, then it is important for us to have the facilities
and the ability that someone can have the second
opinion and their rights can be respected because over time t he identification of patient’s rights has become very important.
And so when I look at the fact that this Act ties
up the loophole of the 12 months and not being r enewed, then I think that this is very significant. But I also think that when you look at the fact that you have the second opinion so that if someone really does feel
that, I’m well . . . I’m well enough that this shouldn’t
happen to me, then they have the ability to know that
someone is going to look out for them. And this dec ision as to whether they are competent to be able to
make the decision on their health is going to be very
important. And in some respects it is almost like what
we have in terms of general health, you know, you
have the ability to get a second opinion and you have
the abil ity to make sure that afterwards . . . if you are
discharged and you can be out in the community, then
there is the opportunity for you to be treated at home
and not have this, what I call, societal stigma attached
to it.
All I wanted to say was that it is very important
when the Act talks about relying on the BHB’s community team because that is going to be important with all the things that the team . . . all the things that
are happening at Mid- Atlantic Wellness Institute and
all the things that have to happen in terms of the community, I think it is going to be very important that
the team is sufficiently robust to be able to address
the volume, potentially.
And I say the volume, potentially, because
once you start putting something out there which people realise that there are a number of people out there
that are, what I call the walking wounded, the ones
who are out there and they have not been able to be
identified and have treatment being offered to them, then it is going to be important that once t his starts
that we have the ability to make sure that sufficient
562 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly teams and care will be available to them. Because the
bottom line is that once you get started, I know, it is a
sin . . . it will be a sin afterwards, once you identify it
and you know that i t is there that you are being . . .
that you are having the . . . you are being over . . .
flooded by what I call the people that suddenly realise
that there is something that needs to be done.
And if nothing else, I realise that potentially, if
this goes the right way, that there is the opportunity for individuals who are suffering from mental illness of
some shape or whatever to actually be put back into the community. Because I take it like any other illness.
You are ill, you get better, [and] you go bac k into the
community. And, therefore, we then increase the
number of Bermudians out there that can contribute as opposed to having people parked on the side as if
to say, Oh, you know, you are never going to be able
to be a contributor.
We have to get it t o where they can be treated, that they can be back into the community, and will
be able to say that they once again have taken their role, in whatever shape or form that it can be, to make
a contribution. And it does well for us, it does well for
their fam ily, and it does well for the community.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , I know that there might
be some questions that might come up later on about different pieces of this Act. But I think that the mere fact that it is here, I would like to think that going forward we will be having the BHB and Mid- Atlantic
providing us information as to how well the pr ogramme is being received. Because I am mindful of the fact that the same way we ended up having a drug
court, we have a court, also like a mental health court, so it will be interesting to sort of see how well these
two things dovetail. Because sometimes people have
done things and have gotten into court only for it to be
discovered that they do have mental illness, and then
the question is how does the court recognise that and
not penalise them for, perhaps, acting out on som ething which totally was not under their control?
But in order to do something like that you
have to make sure that the system can make sure that they get the treatment and appropriately be back i nto
the community or, at least, have a way of being able
to . . . not be seen that you come there and you are
just out and nothing else happens afterward.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I think that we are
looking forward to this coming into being and looking forward to hearing about how well it is received and
some more about the community teams.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Good afternoon and thank you,
Mr. Deputy Speaker .
First off, I want to start by thanking the steering committee which worked very hard on this . . .
their input in regard to this legislation. Just like ever yone else has reiterated, it has been a work in progress
and much kudos out to the steering committee and all
of those people in our community who contributed
during the consultation period, actually, of changes to
the Mental Health Act. So it is with great gratitude that
we should be thankful for the updates of this legisl ation which has been much, much needed.
I just wanted to speak to the stigma of mental
illness and mental health. A lot of times mental illness will affect people with their first episode usually in
young adulthood or adolescence. And it is during that
period that it is really critical to assist persons with a
continuum of care thereafter. So with the stigma of
mental illness at times, it will sometimes prevent people from going forward with a continuum of care. And
so by updating this legislation there has been a history
of people not wanting to receive services at MidAtlantic Wellness Institute [MAWI] or St. Brendan’s
(back in the day), however, I do believe that they pr ovide an excellent and very caring service, there is still a stigma attached with institutions worldwide.
And so the opportunity for people to get community care is key. And it is vital so that they them-selves can still feel part of a community instead of
feeling part of an institution, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
Just like someone has a physical condition
like diabetes or hi gh blood pressure, or say someone
has a pressure sore or wound and they are in hospital and then they are discharged, they can get a continuum of care, meaning that they can get home care to
come to their home, someone to assist them with the
mending or the stability of their care thereafter.
And so with this legislation, this is great for
mental health [issues] with the continuum of care
thereafter and persons in the mental health field being
able to assist with the continuum of care for our loved
ones and persons in our community who are exper iencing mental health issues. A very hard- won and
tough- won . . . MP Atherden spoke about how we often get calls in regard to mental health issues with
constituents. And it can be very difficult for someone
living wi th mental health [issues], and so I just wanted
to say how . . . the issue when we talk about removing
the role . . . well, not removing, but working together,
collaborating with a relative when it comes to getting
someone the help that they need—it is ver y key b ecause sometimes someone with mental illness, the
closest person that they are . . . that they would be
willing and comfortable to share something with is a
close family relative or member . . . a close family
member.
So when we can take a mental health care
worker and put them in the equation of that family r elationship, then we are actually saving relationships


Bermuda House of Assembly when it comes to mental health. And so a family
member does not have to be fearful or be afflicted
with what the outcome would be of someone, their
family member with mental illness, thinking that they
are against them when they are actually trying to get help for them.
So this is legislation, Mr. Deputy Speaker , that
is well overdue, much needed, which will help break down the barriers as it relates to persons with mental
illnesses. It will also create a better awareness that persons with mental illnesses can be productive cit izens in our society.
So I am very grateful. Thank you, Minister, for
pushing this forward and making sure that these co ncerns are being addressed.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Thank you , Mr. Deputy
Speaker .
I rise today because I would like to speak on
behalf of members of our community who have expressed genuine concern around not only the welfare
of their family and friends who are suffering and living
with mental illness, but also the care and protection of
themselves as the family members and the care gi vers. And we certainly have a number of people who
are either living in our community that are suffering in
their own pain without any help. We have members in
this community who are suffering in pain, and in that
pain they are committing violent acts, either against
themselves or others. And to have a framework in
place such as this which the Minister has introduced
today gives us an opportunity as a community to just
give another layer of support for people who clearly
need to have that kind of care in place in order to live
a productive and harmless life.
In the past it seemed as though [there were]
people who were living in our community and living with mental health [illness], and no one really ident ified or diagnosed or created a treatment plan, an ongoing treatment plan. These patients tend to be out in
the community on their own, unless they commit an
act of violence and then the police pick them up and
they are incarcer ated (which can oftentimes be a s uper traumatic experience for someone living with mental illness) or they are left stranded because they have
not taken their medication, they become disorientated,
and there is not anyone there to provide any support
for them because people just do not know.
And now somebody knows, Mr. Deputy
Speaker , which is a huge improvement in the care of
people living with mental illness here in Bermuda, and to be able to have that kind of support. So even those
who are living with m ental illness who have to care for
themselves independently, when they are having to
defend themselves, whether it is around a social assistance programme or their employer, they now have the formal framework in which to at least show and
give evidence of some sort of prescriptive plan that
everyone . . . it validates . . . it validates and is much
appreciated.
You know, on the other side of that, it helps
with family members who are oftentimes caring for
family members and who do not really know what is
the best treatment or what is . . . any option or dia gnosis that has been presented and so there is . . . living on pins and needles and knowing that if the medi-cation is not forthcoming, if a family member is left
without the medication and their behaviour changes
and a family member is not able to react to, support,
or find the resources for that family member, then we
can find that families are in crisis over it.
So, with things like community treatment
plans, with the oversight of medical officers, case
workers, with some sort of structure in place, it gives
the community and it gives individuals and families
just another layer of support so that they have the validation, they have the evidence, they have something
in hand that when they are feeling vulnerable they have something that they can fall back on, something they can depend on and have the support.
I guess if there was any question, you know,
there is always . . . we always just want to get a little
bit more. But to make sure that we are, as a c ommunity, going to be able to provide the resources that when
someone is living with a mental illness that may be on
a community treatment plan, needs that support at a
particular time —the family may be in crisis —that there
are actually people, human resources, as well as medications and such that are available to be able to
alleviate any kind of emergency situation. And that we
find that families and patients are not waiting because
they have gotten into a situation where they do not
have the support that they need from the perspective
of treatment or medication and such.
So this is absolutely a fantastic move that is
being made. I look forward to even further (what is the
word?), sort of further reinforcement or further promise that we will continue to gi ve as much support to
the community as we possibly can so that there is no
interruption in the service and treatment of individuals
living with mental illness in Bermuda.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Thank you, Honourable Member Ms. Jackson.
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Mr. Famous.
You have the floor, sir.

564 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Christopher Famous: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker .
Mr. Deputy Speaker , I am going to speak
briefly, not so much on the mechanics of the Bill, but
about a period of ignorance.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , as you may know, I
come from Back o’ Town, but I live on Hermitage
Road. Hermitage Road is the road just before MAWI.
MAWI used to be called St. Brendan’s, or some people used to call it “the pink place.” Growing up in Devonshire anybody in the area was literally afraid to go near that place. If we saw, as we called them, patients
walking around, people actually used to throw stones
at them to keep them away from us. Anyone who lived
on that road . . . they were sco rned like, Oh, you live
next to the pink place, you’ve got to be . . . something
is wrong with you. As I said, ignorance.
About 10 years ago I got a call from one of my
friends. And he said he needed me to come see him. I
said, Okay, cool.
He said, I’m at MAWI.
I said, Maui? I can’t come to Hawaii.
Apparently, the name had been changed.
So here is the thing, Mr. Deputy Speaker ,
people in the neighbourhood were actually hurt when
the name got changed because we were so accustomed to St. Brendan’s . . . St. Brendan’s, the pink
place. The rebranding of St. Brendan’s to MAWI was
a progressive move, but the same people in the
neighbourhood who used to scorn St. Brendan’s felt
hurt because they took away something that was part
of our neighbourhood.
Now the physical building is still there in our
neighbourhood. There are . . . as the MP for the
community, that is in my constituency . So every service client at MAWI is my constituent. Every emplo yee, service provider at MAWI, is my constituent.
So, again, as a country we have come from a
place of ignorance to being somewhat more enligh tened. And this legislation helps to bring us even fur-ther into the enlightenment because not just at MAWI,
the physical plant, there are various privately owned
properties around in the area where service providers
now live. And the community has been more embracing of these persons.
And this Bill is only going to go further where
persons who for whatever reasons do not want to be
associated or seemingly associated with MAWI, can
get the help that they need. I know a gentleman, highly articulate. I did not see him for a month and he was
like . . . I did not pay it any mind at first, he said, I
know you ain’t seen me for a month.
And I said, Yeah.
He said, You know where I’ve been?
And I said, No.
He said, I was at MAWI being treated for . . .
some form of bipolar. This is a person who is highly
functioning in the community. So as we learn more about mental illness,
there are persons who have low functioning and high
functioning. Any one of us . . . there are people who
think that us being up here is a form of mental chal-lenge.
But any . . . as the Honourable Member from
constituency 23 said, but for the will of God any one of
us could have that snap. Any one of us in this Cham-ber, our family could experience it. We have . . . all of
us have somebody, a family member, that needs help.

So I thank the Minister, her
staff, most importantly I thank the service providers at
MAWI for doing what they do for our people.
In closing, Mr. Deputy Speaker , let me say
this to the people of Bermuda. Just as we have a cut on our hand, if it is bleeding real hard . . . well, you
know men, they will say, Let me just put a Band- Aid
on it. If it is blee ding too hard, we go down to the hospital. If we cannot . . . our back is hurting us too much,
we go to the hospital. If any one of us, in this House and the public, feel they are having some degree of
mental challenges, reach out to MAWI. Now they can
actually come to you. If you have a family member
you feel has mental challenges, reach out to MAWI. If they do not want to go there, MAWI . . . their service
providers can come to you.
So, again, I thank the Ministry, I thank the
Minister, and most of all I thank the service providers.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Mm-hmm.

Hon. Michael J. Scott: A community order, a community consent order that this Bill —
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Treatment order. Thank you,
Minister.
A community treatment order, how important
this is. It imposes a new regime of mental health therapy onto a community that needs the humane, godl y,
clinical intervention that any democracy and communiBermuda House of Assembly ty requires and that we have lacked for a very long
time.
So we have shaped into legislation a regime
of a community treatment order. It is compassionate. I
imagine its responding to the profile of mental illness in our country. But that poses the very question that
this Bill largely provokes in my mind, which is, what
does mental health treatment look like in Bermuda for
us in the 21
st century?
Notwithstanding that the Minister and her
team, Dr. Henagulph, the Permanent Secretary, all of the staff, have recognised a problem and have been
minded to create community treatment orders as part
of . . . and I heard the Minister say in her brief, there is
more to do. And I can attest that there is more to do.
As counsel and the Minister of National Security ’s
spouse have presided in the court hearings where I
have attended on occasion, the Minister of National
Security has cited the Mental Health Court leadership
of the current and Senior Magistrate. These ar e developments that are all reflecting a response to mental
health in our country.
And so I am commending these provisions to
the House with the same support that it has enjoyed.
But I would also like to understand, for example, what
are the profiles of m ental illness and behavioural di sorders in our country? I know that many of our fellow
citizens, the citizens that the Honourable Member Mr.
Famous has just referred to, probably are belaboured and labouring under depression and anxiety, borderline personality disorders, obsessive compulsive di sorders, bipolar disorders.
I recall as a Minister in around 2005 having
statistics presented to a Cabinet Committee looking
into the presence of traumatic illness amongst adolescents and young people, and the numbers that were
presented as young people who were traumatically,
through various impacts, traumatically ill in our country
was astounding then. That was 2005. I then reme mber the former Minister of . . . whether it was social
rehabilitation in those days, but it was Minister Glenn
Blakeney, also presenting a report to the House about
the intergenerational traumatic profiles in our country.
I can go back even as far as the days when I
was involved as a new practitioner in my first murder trial being led by Dame Lois, and we had a psychi atrist come to give expert evidence. And we were then
having to look at the case from the perspective of the
diminished responsibility plea that was pleaded, the
examination by this expert doctor, Dr. Nancy Fold i
who had to make the analysis of what was the pro blem with this defendant who had killed his psychiatrist.
And so, really, having Minister Wilson bring
this Bill today causes me to hearken back to just looking at historically . . . and I hear the Honourable Member Mr. Famous when he talks about the days of St.
Brendan’s and the stigma. But I believe that the stati stics are important for us to understand the numbers of
persons and citizens in our country who suffer with trauma- related mental illness and all of those other
ones that I mentioned . . . depression, so that we then
craft policy about both numbers and then the staffing
complement, Mr. Deputy Speaker , that we have in our
country. And then we pose the question: Is the staffing complement for psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, behavioural therapists . . . is it adequate
and fit for task?
Because the Bill is narrowly focused . . . narrowly focused on community treatment orders to deal
with persons going AWOL (absent without [le ave]),
and it is not even leave; these are persons who are ill
and so they are leaving driven by some behavioural
. . . or mental or behavioural disorder.
And so the question I wish to pose is: What is
the ratio of treatment staff to our profile of both phys ical numbers of our citizens who are in this . . . who
are mentally ill? I pose the question: Are we adequately funding the ratio so that it is . . . along with the
community treatment orders, when persons are in our treatment facility (and the main acute care place is
Mid-Atlantic), are the outcomes going to be good outcomes because we are addressing and attacking the
problem in the fashion that we ought to —
compassi onately, clinically and humanely?
Questions about stigma have been raised.
And this whole question of mental illness always attracts this question about the stigma. In the United Kingdom I know that Prince William and Prince Harry
have gone out into that c ommunity of the United Kin gdom (England largely, perhaps all of the United Kingdom) to lead the charge about destigmatising the
treatment of mental illness. And everybody recognises
that we have this problem with stigma. And good peo-ple in our community must be minded to do the same
thing. And I believe we have the same level of champions and drum majors to work in the community.
But from the perspective that I rise to just
briefly speak on this afternoon, I believe it is important
that for good policy to c ome forward, we have to have
the right understanding of the ratio of our client base
and their profile (mental disorders or behavioural di sorders), and what is available on the ground and what
is needed to ensure that on the ground there is a
complete clin ical staff up to meet the needs of —

All right.
Hon. Michael J. Scott: So, the gravamen of my
presentation, though, Mr. Deputy Speaker , is to
acknowledge this step is in the right direction; but to
566 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly acknowledge that this step is of little value if it is not
embraced, or belt and braced and surrounded by
these other necessary parts —staffing, resourcing.
If it is not properly resourced, then the Mini ster of National Security, who is responsible for our corrections facilities and for law and order in our cou ntry, will see a bleed out of unwanted behaviours from
our citizens. It is such an important field of endeavour
for us to focus upon and to focus upon it with the
broadest possible . . . most earnest possible efforts.
The fact that the Bill is here under the rubric of
community treatment orders is one thing. But it does provoke the wider discussion about where we are and
what mental health treatment looks like in our small
community. And because it is a small community I always am optimistic in thinking . . . notwithstanding
the Minister of Finance’s involvement in funding, it is a small community. We know everyone. They are in our
homes, as the Member Famous has indicated. I meet
them as clients. We all hear about them as Members
of Parliament representing our constituents.
And so I am exploiting the Minister’s Bill to
speak more broadly. I recognise I am more broadly focused than the Bill in its important step [that] it is
taking. But for me treatment is an important area that I
would like to be assured or even directly involved in
helping with. Because we see the profiles all the time
and it is past time that we dealt and deal with beha vioural disorders and mental illness in our nation.
I hope that the insurance coverage, for example, is always there and that they are going to play
their part. The privacy point which was raised by the Honourable Member Ms. Jackson . . . I mean, today
there is an issue about privacy of medical records going on very much so in our community. And this has to
be a part of the consideration and policymaking in this
whole area of mental health in our country.
Ms. Jackson mentioned medication. And I see
in the Bill it refers to opting in electro . . . EC . . . electro-[convulsive] treatments and— that jumps out of this
particular Bill— and unsurprisingly, men . . . citizens
who walk off are obviously terribly troubled. And it is
either an option of medication or EC —it is here and
we will hear more about it —electro treatments. I would
like to understand and, yo u know, this is for me to do
and maybe for all Members of this House to visit more with Dr. Henagulph and members of the fraternity and
sorority of doctors in psychiatry, to understand what
the other treatments are.
I know that therapies, talking people through
their difficulties is there. But I do not under -emphasise
how much compassion is required in this area from all
of us. And often this cohort of our community and this
cohort of our citizens are either forgotten or they are
not given good enough treat ment.
So if I can contribute to this Bill being commended to the House, it is that in addition to comm unity treatment orders and the regime there, that there be an almighty focus upon the broader treatment paradigms needed in our nation.
Thanks, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Are there any further speakers?
Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and I thank Members of the House who participated in this debate and are supportive of the Mental
Health Amendment (No. 2) Act 2018.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , when I first was appointed the Minister of Health, I remember speaking to the PS of my team. And I indicated that there are a few
areas in which, regardless of the date and time, if I am asked to participate and lend my support to them by
virtue of attending a lecture, speaking at a lecture,
providing welcoming remarks, et cetera, then please
just automatically put that in my diary. And raising
mental health issues and awareness in the public was
one of those areas where I invited her to automatically
schedule me in and say yes for participating.
I would also like to commend really quickly,
Mr. Deputy Speaker , the charitable foundation of the
Mental Health Foundation because they, in answer to
a question that was raised by the Honourable Member
from constituency 8, insofar as the level of awareness
that takes place within our community . . . they do a
tremendous job in trying to meet their mandate and
their mission of raising awareness concerning mental health.
Also, MAWI themselves participate very actively in our community in attempting to also raise the
awareness of mental health within our community,
particularly as it relates to Mental Health Awareness Week, where I have partic ipated on two separate occasions as the Minister providing opening remarks.
Again, anytime I have an opportunity to raise awar eness . . . I was at a school a few months ago during
Mental Health Awareness Week where I also chal-lenged the students to also look at mental health and
the like.
So, I think we all —every one of us, all 36 of us
in this room in this Honourable House —have an opportunity to assist the community in allaying any concerns that they may have concerning mental health
and try to raise the a wareness. Because, as I indica ted, according to the World Health Organization, one in four of us —one in four of us —will experience some
type of mental health issue within our lifetime. So the
reality is . . . it certainly is not a laughing matter, it is
something that is a disease which is akin to any other
physical disease. And I think that it warrants our di scussion —open discussion, and honest dialogue. I
think comments belittling or joking about the particular
issue are a disservice to what the good work ers at the
Mid-Atlantic Health . . . MAWI, as well as the charit aBermuda House of Assembly ble organisation that I spoke about, [are doing] insofar
as trying to raise awareness.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , I can also indicate that
MAWI has three very active community teams that
support over 100 patients within our community by providing them with services, either through home
visits or also through the outpatient clinics —to answer
the question from that Honourable Member with r espect to the support of those members within the community that are employed by MAWI.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , again, I would like to
thank the submissions that have been made by Honourable Member s of this House in supporting this very
critical piece of legislation. As I indicated, it is a first
step. It is a long- time [co ming]. It is thrilling to know
that we are at least going in this direction. And I look
forward to further support by Honourable Member s
when we make further amendments to this legislation (which is quite dated) and help to assist those persons
within our community by providing the legislative
framework and the like to provide their services and answer and address their needs.
With that, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I would like to
move that this Bill be now read a second time and that
it be committed.

The Deputy S peaker: The Bill will be committed.
Mr. Swan?
[Pause]

House in Committee at 3:06 pm
[Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan, Chairman]

COMMITTEE ON BILL

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 201 8

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT ACT 2019

Yes.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: —and I will be proposing three
very minor amendments, which I believe are being
circulated as we speak. It does not effectively alter to
any subst antive degree the legislation itself; they are just some little housekeeping amendments that I will
propose as we get to them.
In this regard, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
move clauses 1 to 2.

Continue on, Minister.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: This Bill seeks to amend the
Mental Health Act 1968 (the “Act”) to provide for:
community treatment orders, patient consent to medi-cal treatment for mental disorder, the development
and issuance of a Code of Practice, and to make a
related amendment to th e Parliamentary Election Act
1978.
Clauses 1 and 2 provide the citation for the
Bill and insert definitions in respect of new and exis ting terms associated with the introduction of comm unity treatment orders, consent to treatment, and the
Code of Practice.
Clause 1 provides the citation.
Clause 2 amends section 1 of the Act to insert
definitions in respect of new and existing terms.
I would like to propose an amendment to
clause 2A, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you.
It has been proposed . . . clauses 1 and 2 with
amendment coming to insert clause 2A. Does any
other Member care to speak to the clauses and the
amendment? No.
Minister?

[Motion carried: Clauses 1 and 2 passed as amended.]
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you .
I would now like to move clauses 3 through
11.

Continue on, Minister.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clauses 3 through 11 amend
certain sections of the Mental Health Act to accommodate patients receiving treatment under community
treatment orders, ensuring consistent application of
procedures to all patients subject to treatment under the Act.
568 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Clause 3 amends section 17 of the Act to e nable that section, as it relates to the receipt of corr espondence, to apply to a patient who by virtue of a
commun ity treatment order is recalled to hospital u nder Part IIIA as it relates to a patient detained in hospital under Part II.

AMENDMENT TO CLAUSE 3

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: The motion to amend clause 3,
Mr. Chairman, makes further amendments to clarify that section 17 of the Act applies in its entirety to a
community patient who is recalled to hospital as it
does to a detained patient.
Clause 4 amends section 18 of the Act to e nable that section, as it relates to the ability of a medical practitioner to visit and examine a patient liable to
be detained in hospital pursuant to Part II (for the pur-poses of advising whether an application for the R eview Tribunal should be made in respect of that patient), to apply to a patient who is subject to a com-munity treatm ent order and is recalled under that order to hospital.
Clause 5 amends section 20 of the Act by i nserting new subsections which: (a) provide for the
granting of a longer -term leave of absence in respect
to a patient; (b) define what is meant by “longer -term
leave”; and (c) require that, before granting such leave, the responsible medical officer first consider
whether the patient should instead be given a community treatment order.
Clause 6 amends section 25 of the Act to e nable that section to apply to a patient who is the su bject of a community treatment order as it does to a
patient who is liable to be detained under the Act. In
such case, where a community patient is in custody,
in pursuance of any sentence or order of a court and
that detention is for a period or exceeds the period set
out in that section, the community treatment order to
which that patient is subject shall cease to have effect
at the expiration of that period.
Clause 7 amends section 26 of the Act to i nclude the discharge of a patient who is subject to a
community treatment order as being a type of order for discharge which may be made by the responsible
medical officer, the Chief of Psychiatry or by the near-est relative of the patient. This clause also provides
that where such an order for discharge is made, the
community patient to whom it applies shall cease to
be liable to recall to hospital and the application for
admission for treatment in respect of that patient shall
cease to have effect.
Clause 8 amends section 27 of the Act to enable that section, as it relates to restricting the ability
of a patient’s nearest relative from discharging that
patient, to apply to a patient who is subject to a com-munity treatment order as it applies to a patient who is
liable to be detained in hospital. Clause 9 amends section 29 of the Act to e nable that section, as it relates to the functions of a
court -appointed acting nearest relative, to apply (with
the necessary modifications) to a patient who is sub-ject to a community treatment order as it does to a patient who is liable to be detained in hospital. In such
a case, a person so appointed may make an applic ation to the Review Tribunal in respect of a community
patient within the period of six months from the date of
the order of his appointment a nd in any subsequent
period of 12 months during which his order of appointment continues in force.
Clause 10 amends section 30 of the Act to
provide that a court order made under section 29 ap-pointing a nearest relative in respect of a person who
is subsequently becomes a community patient, shall
cease to have effect when the patient ceases to be a community patient.
The motion to amend relates to clause 10A
and this clause amends section 36 of the Act to clarify
that where a responsible medical officer mak es an
order for a patient to receive treatment —

I had one clarification brought to my
attention. If we can move those clauses but . . . and
we will deal with the previous amendment and this
amendment separately and just get Members to vote on the amendment separately from including it all with
the same clauses.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Do you mind? Do you want to
proceed? Do you have any objections?
Mr. Chairman, I will take your leave.

Right. Okay. I am just taking some
guidance from the Clerk, who just advised to segment
them out, just for clarity.
If you could just move clause 2A again where
it amends section 15, and just go from there.

NEW CLAUSE 2A
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Well, . . .
Mr. Chairman, I would like to move that clause
2A as proposed with respect to the amendment be accepted by the House.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you.
Any objection?

[Motion carried: New clause 2A passed.]

Thank you, Minister.
And if we could do the same thing with the
amendment that you are about to propose now.

NEW CLAUSE 10A
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: [Clause] 10A the amendment
proposes that the clause amends section 36 of the Act to clarify that where a responsible medical officer
makes an order for a patient to receive treatment as necessary, that order is for the patient to receive such
treatment subject to the Act. And this clarifies, for example, that under such an order a patient is to receive
treatment subject to the provisions relating to consent
to treatment under the new Part IIIB.
I move that this amendment be accepted by
this Honourable House.

No objection . . . and that the
amendments be approved.
Any objection?
No objection.
Thank you, Minister.
[Motion carried: Clauses 3 through 11 passed as
amended.]

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I now wish, Mr. Chairman, to
proceed to move clause 12, which inserts new sec-tions under Part IIIA (which are referred to as the
community treatment orders); Part IIIB is the consent to treatment; and Part IIIC treatment of patients subject to community treatment orders, but not recalled to
hospital.
May I proceed, Mr. Chairman?

Yes.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clause 12 inserts new Parts
IIIA, IIIB and IIIC into the principal Act.
Part IIIA introduces new sections relating to
community treatment orders as follows:
Section 48A empowers a responsible medical
officer to make an order discharging a detained patient from hospital, subject to that patient being liable
to be recalled to hospital. This section defines a detained patient as a patient who is liable to be detained in a hospital in pursuance of an application for admi ssion for treatment.
Section 48B provides that a comm unity treatment order may be made where the responsible med-ical officer is of the opinion that: (a) the patient is suf-fering from mental disorder and it is appropriate for
him to receive medical treatment; (b) it is necessary
for the health or safety of the patient or for the protection of other persons that the patient receive such
medical treatment; (c) subject to the patient being li able to be recalled to hospital, medical treatment can
be provided without the patient continuing to be detained in a hospi tal; and (d) it is necessary that the
responsible medical officer be able to exercise the
power to recall the patient to hospital if the relevant
criteria are met. This section also requires that, before
making a community treatment order, a mental we lfare officer must agree with the opinion of the responsible medical officer and must agree that such an order is appropriate. Finally, this section provides that a
community treatment order shall not be made in r espect of a patient who has not attained the age of 18
years.
Section 48C sets out the conditions that a
community treatment order must specify. Such cond itions include that the patient make himself available
for examination and any other condition as agreed
between the responsible medical officer and t he mental welfare officer. This section also provides that fai lure to comply with a condition may be taken into account for the purposes of exercising the power to r ecall the patient to hospital.
Section 48D provides for the duration of a
community treatment order which shall, subject to that
section, be six months.
Section 48E provides that where a patient is
subject to a community treatment order, the applic ation for admission for treatment in respect of that pa-tient does not cease to have effect but the power to detain the patient in hospital pursuant to section 10(1)
does not apply during the period the patient is subject
to the community treatment order.
Section 48F provides that a community trea tment order may be extended from the six -month per iod for a further six months and from the expiration of
that period for a period of one year and so on for per iods of one year at a time. This section requires that within the period of two months before the expiration
of the community treatment order, the respons ible
medical officer must examine the patient. If from this examination the conditions set out under this section are met, the community treatment order may be extended. This section, however, requires that when
determining whether the conditions are met, one or
more other persons professionally concerned in the
patient’s medical treatment must be consulted.
Section 48G enables a patient who is subject
to a community treatment order to apply to the Review
570 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Tribunal with respect to the making, extension or revocation of such order.
Section 48H empowers the responsible medical officer to recall a patient in respect of whom a
community treatment order is made where, in his opinion, the patient requires medical treatment in hospital and there would be a risk of harm to the health or
safety of the patient or to other persons if the patient
were not recalled to hospital for that purpose.
Section 48I provides that where a patient, in
respect of whom a community treatment order is made, is recalled to hospital, the responsible medical
officer may either revoke the community treatment
order or release the patient. This section also provides
that where such a patient is recalled to hospital and his community treatment order has not been revoked,
the patient must after 72 hours be released but will
remain subject to the community treatment order.
Section 48J provides for instances where a
patient, in respect of whom a community treatment
order is made, is recalled to hospital but then absents himself from that hospital wit hout permission. This
section sets out, in such cases, the persons who are permitted to take such patients into custody to be r eturned to hospital. This section also prohibits such a
patient from being taken into custody after six months
have lapsed from t he first day of his absence without
leave or after his community treatment order has expired. Finally, this section provides for instances in
which the community treatment order may be exten ded where such a patient is absent without leave.
These include wh ere the patient is absent without
leave: (a) on the day on which the 72- hour period
within which he can be held on recall expires; (b) on
the day the community treatment order is to expire; or
(c) the week before the community treatment order is
to expire.
Mr. Chairman, section 48K applies to a patient, in respect of whom a community treatment order
is made, who is recalled to hospital but is then absent
without leave from that hospital for less than 28 days.
This section provides for instances where the patient
returns before the community treatment order expires or after the community treatment order expires and in
both cases the community treatment period may be
extended upon the return of the patient.
Section 48L applies to a patient, in respect of
whom a community treatment order is made, who is
recalled to hospital but is then absent without leave from that hospital for a period exceeding 28 days. This
section sets out, in such cases, the duty of the r esponsible medical officer upon the patient’s return to
hospital. This section also provides for the extension
of the patient’s community treatment period and when
such an extension is to be deemed to take effect.
Section 48M empowers the responsible medical officer to revoke a community treatment order if, in
his opinion, the grounds for which a person may be
admitted to treatment under section 10 of the Act are met and it is appropriate to revoke the order. This section also enables a number of provisions to take effect
(after revocation) as if the patient had never been di scharged onto the community treatment order or to take effect as they did before the community treat-ment order was made. These provisions include:
(a) section 15 of the Act, which deals with the effect of
an application for admission; (b) section 22 of the Act,
which deals with the duration for which a patient ad-mitted to hospital may be detained in hospital; and
(c) provisions of the Act and any other Act relating to
patients liable to be detained or detained in hospital in
pursuance of an application for admission to hospital
for treatment.
Section 48N provides that where a community
treatment order expires, the patient to whom it applied
shall be deemed to be discharged absolutely from liability to be recalled to hospital and provides th at the
application for admission for treatment shall cease to
have effect. This section also provides that expiration
of the community treatment order takes place upon
the expiration of the community treatment period, which is subject to extension under th e Act.
Part IIIB introduces new sections relating to
consent to treatment as follows:
Section 48O provides that Part IIIB applies to
any patient who is liable to be detained in hospital u nder the Act and to community patients who are r ecalled to hospital. This section, however, provides that
Part IIIB does not apply to the following patients:
(a) patient who is by virtue of a voluntary or informal
admission for assessment becomes liable to be detained for 72 hours; (b) a patient who is under an
emergency application for assessment that has not
ceased; (c) an in- patient who may be detained in hospital for a period of three days; (d) a patient who is
removed to a place of safety in the execution of a warrant and may be detained there for 72 hours; and (e) a
patient who is removed from a public place to a place
of safety and may be detained there for 72 hours to
enable such a person to be examined and the necessary arrangements for care made.
Section 48P provides for the forms of treatment requiring patient cons ent and the second medical opinion. Such treatment includes any surgical operation for destroying brain tissue or the functioning of
brain tissue and any other forms of treatment that the
Minister may by regulations, subject to the negative
resolution proc edure, prescribe. This section provides
that such forms of treatment may only be given if the patient has consented and a second opinion approved doctor [a “SOAD”] has certified along with two other
persons (who are not registered medical practitioners): (a) that the patient is capable of understanding
the nature, purpose and likely effects of the treatment;
(b) that the patient has consented to the treatment;
and (c) that it is appropriate for the treatment to be
given. This section requires that when cert ifying that it
is appropriate for the treatment to so be given, that the


Bermuda House of Assembly second opinion approved doctor must consult other
persons (none of whom shall be the responsible medical officer or the person in charge of the treatment)
who have been professionally concerned with the p atient’s medical treatment.
Section 48Q provides for the forms of treatment requiring patient consent or a second medical
opinion. Such treatment includes the administration of
medicine to the patient by any means and at any time
durin g the period for which he is liable to be detained
as a patient to whom this Part applies, where three
months or more have elapsed since the first occasion
in that period when the medicine was administered to
him for his mental disorder. This section also empo wers the Minister to prescribe by regulations, again subject to the negative resolution procedure, other forms
of treatment to which this section is to apply. This section provides that such forms of treatment may only be
given if: (a) the patient has consented and either the
responsible medical officer in charge of the treatment
or a second opinion approved doctor has certified that the patient is capable of understanding the nature,
purpose and likely effects of the treatment and that
the patient has consented to the treatment; or (b) a
SOAD has certified in writing that the patient is not
capable of understanding the nature, purpose and
likely effects of the treatment; or that the patient being so capable has not consented to it but that it is appr opriate for the treatment to be given. This section r equires that when certifying that it is appropriate for the
treatment to be given, the SOAD must consult other
persons (none of whom shall be the responsible medical officer or the person in charge of the t reatment)
who have been professionally concerned with the p atient’s medical treatment.
Mr. Chairman, section 48R provides for the
forms of treatment involving electro- convulsive ther apy and such other forms of treatment as the Minister
may prescribe by regulations, subject to the negative
resolution procedure. Such forms of treatment require patient consent or a second medical opinion. This
section provides that such forms of treatment may
only be given if: (a) the patient has consented to the
treatment and either the responsible medical officer in
charge of the treatment or the SOAD has certified in writing that the patient is capable of understanding the nature, purpose and likely effects of the treatment in
question and that the patient has consented t o it; or
(b) a SOAD has certified in writing that the patient is
not capable of understanding the nature, purpose and
likely effects of the treatment; but that it is appropriate
for the treatment to be given and that giving the treat-ment would not conflict with any previous wishes
made by the patient which may be valid and applic able to the treatment in question. This section requires that when certifying that it is appropriate for the treat-ment to be given, the SOAD must consult other persons (none of whom shall be the responsible medical
officer or the person in charge of the treatment) who have been professionally concerned with the patient’s
medical treatment.
Section 48S provides that any consent or certificate given under sections 48P, 48Q and 48R may
relate to a plan of treatment under which the patient may be given one or more forms of treatment to which
those sections apply.
Section 48T provides that a patient may at
any time withdraw his consent in respect of any form of treatment to which sections 48P, 48Q and 48R a pply. This section provides that if a patient has consented to such treatment but, before its completion,
withdraws his consent or if a patient ceases to be c apable of understanding the nature, purpose and likely
effects of the treatment, then the remainder of the
treatment will constitute a separate form of treatment and the sections which apply to the treatment will a pply as such.
Section 48U provides for the review by the
Bermuda Hospitals Board in the following circumstances: (a) where treatment requiring consent and a
second opinion (section 48P) is given to a patient;
(b) where treatment requiring consent or a second
opinion under section 48Q is given to a patient in a
case where a SOAD has certified that the patient is
not capable of understanding the nature, purpose and
likely effects of the treatment in question or, being so capable, has not consented but it is appropriate for the treatment to be given; (c) where electro- convulsive
therapy or such other form of treatment is given to a
patient pursuant to section 48R in a case where a SOAD has certified that the patient is not capable of understanding the nature, purpose and likely effects of
the treatment in question but it is appropriate for the
treatment to be given; and (d) where treatment is gi ven in respect of a community patient who is recalled to
hospital. This section sets out when a report on the
treatment and condition of the patient is to be submi tted to the Board and provides that the Board may give
notice directing that any certificate enabling treatment
to be given under the various sections to which this
section applies shall not apply to treatment after a certain date, and in such cases the relevant sections will
apply as if no such certificate had been given.
Section 4 8V provides for circumstances in
which the requirements for the giving of treatment un-der section 48P (treatment requiring consent and second opinion), section 48Q (treatment requiring consent or a second opinion), and section 48R (electroconvulsive therapy, et cetera) do not apply. These
circumstances include where it is immediately neces-sary: (a) to save a patient’s life; (b) to prevent serious
deterioration of the patient’s condition, provided the
treatment is not irreversible; (c) to alleviate serious
suffering; or (d) where it represents the least interference necessary to prevent the patient being a danger
to himself or others, provided the treatment is not irr eversible or hazardous.
572 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Section 48W provides for the giving of treatment in respect of patients who are subject to a community treatment order but are detained in hospital
after being recalled there or who have been detained
after having their community treatment order revoked. This section provides that the requirements for the
giving of some forms of treatment do not apply if the
certificate requirement in respect of that patient has
been met, thereby having already authorised the gi ving of such treatment.
Section 48X provides that the consent of a patient shall not be required for any medical t reatment
that is not a form of treatment to which section 48P
(treatment requiring consent and a second opinion),
section 48Q (treatment requiring consent or a second opinion), or section 48R (electro- convulsive therapy,
et cetera) applies. And this sectio n provides, Mr.
Chairman, however, that in such cases the consent of
the patient shall wherever practicable be sought and
the patient’s consent, refusal, or lack of capacity to
give consent must be recorded.
Section 48Y provides that a SOAD must be a
medic al practitioner, registered under the Medical
Practitioners Act 1950 and must be either a specialist
in psychiatry or qualified to practise as a psychiatrist
by virtue of a qualification recognised by the Bermuda
Medical Council. This section also provides that such
a person must be appointed by the Minister in accor dance with the Code of Practice. This section also pr ovides for the approval of other approved persons in
accordance with the Code of Practice.
Section 48Z provides supplementary prov isions for Part IIIB.
Part IIIC, Mr. Chairman, introduces new sections relating to the treatment of patients who are subject to a community treatment order but who are not recalled to hospital. These sections are as follows:
Section 48.1A provides that Part IIIC appl ies
in respect of “relevant treatment” given to community
patients. Relevant treatment is defined under this section as treatment for the mental disorder from which
the community patient is suffering and is either a type
of treatment to which section 48P ( treatment requiring
consent and a second opinion) does not apply or is a
type of treatment to which [section] 48Q (treatment
requiring consent or a second opinion) or section 48R (electro- convulsive therapy, et cetera) does apply if
when given to the commu nity patient those sections
would have applied to that treatment had the patient remained liable to be detained in hospital.
Section 48.1B provides that in order for rel evant treatment to be given to a community patient, there must be authority to give it (for example, the patient has consented to the treatment and has the c apacity to so consent) and, if it is a type of treatment to which section 48Q or [section] 48R applies, the certif icate requirement authorising that treatment is met.
And this section pr ovides that the certificate requir ement is met if: (a) a SOAD has certified that it is ap-propriate for the treatment to be given; and (b) the
responsible medical officer has certified that the patient has capacity to consent to the treatment and has
consented to it. Finally, this section provides for i nstances where the certificate requirement does not
apply (for example, where the treatment is immediat ely necessary for any of the reasons that are set out in
section 48V).
Section 48.1C provides that where a comm unity patient has given consent with respect to any
treatment, he may at any time before the completion of the treatment withdraw his consent. Where a co mmunity patient’s consent is withdrawn, the remainder
of the treatment will constitute a separate form of
treatment for which authority must be obtained before
it can be given. This section, however, also provides
that treatment under section 48Q or [section] 48R may be continued, pending compliance with those sections, if the responsible medical offic er in charge of
the treatment considers that discontinuance of the treatment would cause serious suffering to the patient.
Section 48.1D provides for the various cond itions that must be met before a person is authorised to give treatment to a community pat ient. Such conditions include, for example: (a) taking reasonable steps
to establish whether the patient lacks capacity to consent to the treatment; (b) having reasonable belief that
the patient lacks capacity to consent to the treatment; (c) having no reason to believe that the patient objects
to being given the treatment; and (d) ensuring that the
giving of such treatment does not conflict with any
previous wishes made by the patient which the person authorised to the give the treatment is satisfied are
valid and applicable to the treatment in question.
Section 48.1E provides, in cases of emergency, for the various conditions that must be met before
a person is authorised to give treatment to a comm unity patient who is lacking capacity to consent. Such
conditions include, for example: (a) having reasonable belief that the patient lacks capacity to consent to the
treatment; and (b) that the treatment is immediately
necessary for any of the reasons that are set out in
section 48V.
Section 48.1F makes supplementary prov isions with respect to the certificate requirements un-der Part IIIC. This section provides that a certificate
meeting the requirements may relate to a plan of
treatment under which a patient may be given one or
more forms of treatment (to which s ection 48Q or
[section] 48R applies) and requires that a SOAD, be-fore giving such a certificate, shall consult one or more other persons professionally concerned in the
patient’s medical treatment. Finally, this section en ables the Board to give a notice directing that such a
certificate is not to apply to treatment given to a patient after a date specified in the notice.
Section 48.1G provides for what has to be
considered when assessing whether a community patient objects to treatment.


Bermuda House of Assembly Section 48.1H provi des supplementary prov isions for Part IIIC.
Mr. Chairman, I would now like to move
clauses 13 through 15.

Yes, I would just like to invite Members, if they wanted to comment on the clauses that have been shared thus far in clause 12 and it goes
through Part IIIA in Part III.
Any Member care to speak?
Continue on, Minister.

[Motion carried: Clause 12 passed.
]

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clauses 13 through 15 amend
certain sections of the Act to accommodate patients
subject to a community treatment order.
Clause 13 amends section 61 of the Act to
provide for the periods within which an application
may be made to the Review Tribunal: (a) by the nearest relative seeking discharge in respect of a comm unity patient; (b) by a court appointed acting nearest
relative in respect of a patient who is or subsequently
becomes a community patient; (c) by a community
patient in respect of whom a community treatment
order is made; (d) by a community patient with respect
to a report to extend the period of his community
treatment order; and (e) by a community patient
whose community treatment order has been revoked.
Clause 14 amends section 61G of the Act, as
it relates to the Board informing a patient’s nearest relative of that patient’s discharge, to apply to a pa-tient who is subject to a community treatment order as
it does to other patients.
Clause 15 amends section 62 of the Act to
enable the Review Tribunal to discharge a patient who
is subject to a community treatment order.

Okay. We would like to invite Members, if they would like to speak to the clauses just
presented.
Minister, if you could move that all of those
clauses that you have read fro m 48 . . . from 3(a) up
until the present time be approved as read.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I move that clauses 13 through
15 be now approved and form part of the Bill.

Continue on.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clauses 16 and 17 amend the
Act to clarify offences for certain actions taken by
those responsible for the care and custody of mentally
disturbed or disordered persons or thos e who induce
or knowingly assist a community patient from absenting himself from hospital without leave.
Clause 16 amends section 65 of the Act to
provide more simply that it is an offence for a person who has care or custody (whether by virtue of any
legal or moral obligation or otherwise) of a mentally
disordered person, or a person who lacks or appears
to be lacking mental capacity, to ill -treat or wilfully neglect that person.
Clause 17 amends section 67 of the Act to i nclude as an offence inducing or k nowingly assisting a
community patient recalled to hospital under Part IIIA to absent himself without leave.

Continue.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clause 19 inserts a new section
into the Act that provides for the Minister to publish a
Code of Practice that will provide detailed guidance
for mental health professionals involved in applying the powers under the Act.
Clause 19 inserts new section 78A into the
Act. This section requires the Minister to prepare, i ssue and publish a Code of Practice to provide: (a) for
the guidance of all health professionals responsible
for the care and treatment of patients suffering from
mental disorder; (b) for the guidance of persons acting
in connection with the care or treatment of patients;
(c) for the guidance of persons assessing whether a
patient has capacity in relation to any matter; (d) for
the guidance of persons responsible for assessing
whether a patient gives consent in relation to a matter
and shall include criteria for assessing the validity and
applicability of any previous wishes made by the patient; (e) the appointment, and minimum qualifications,
of a mental welfare officer; (f) for the appointment, selection, training and utilisation of SOADs and other
approved persons; and (g) with respect to such other
matters as the Minister thinks fit. This clause also pr ovides for the Minister to include, in the Code, a stat ement of principles and enables the Mi nister to amend
the Code and to delegate the preparation or amend-ment of the Code or any part to the Board or such
other body as the Minister considers appropriate.

Continue, Minister.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clauses 20 and 21 are the First
and Second Schedules of the Act.
Clause 20 amends the First Schedule to the
Act to provide that in proceedings bef ore the Review Tribunal, where such proceedings relate to a patient in respect of whom a community treatment order is
made, extended or revoked, the Review Tribunal must
comprise one medical practitioner who satisfies the
Chairman that he has experience in psychiatric care.
Clause 21 amends the Second Schedule to
the Act in relation to Part III of the Act to do the follo wing: (a) to provide that when considering a leave of absence for a patient, the requirement of the responsible medical officer to first consider a community
treatment order shall be read as not applying to a p atient who is subject to a restriction order, or who is
kept in custody until the pleasure of the Minister is
known or who is subject to a transfer direction that is
further restricted; (b) to provide that the provisions
relating to the discharge of a community patient shall also be read as not applying to those patients; and (c) to make housekeeping amendments where the
provisions no longer apply.

Continue.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Clause 22 amends the Parli amentary Election Act to appropriately reflect the Bermuda Constitution.
Clause 22 amends the Parliamentary Election
Act 1978 to repeal section 4(2)(f) for the purposes of removing the reference to the mental disorder (as d efined under the Act) and substituting the words set out
in section 55(2)(b) of Schedule 2 to the Bermuda Constitution Order 1968.

Clause 22 has been moved.
Does any Member care to speak?
Minister, would you like to move that it be approved?
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I would like to move that clause
22 do stand and form part of the Bill.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: It has been moved that clause 22 become part of the Bill.
No objections.

[Motion carried: Clause 22 passed.]
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I would like to move clause 23.

It has been moved that the Bill be
reported to the House as amended.
Any objections?
No objections, Minister.
The Bill will be reported to the House as
amended.
[Motion carried: The Mental Health Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2018 [Mental Health Amendment Act
2019] was considered by a Committee of the whole
House and passed with amendments.]

House resumed at 3:46 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2018

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT ACT 2019

Good afternoon, Members.
Are there any objections to the Bill entitled the
Mental Health Amendment (No. 2) Act 2018 [Mental
Health Amendment Act 2019] being reported to the House as amended?
No objections. It has been reported as described with the amendments to it.
That brings us to the end of the debate on that
item, which was the only item on the Order Paper to debate today.
And Minister , would you like to do your third
reading?

BILL

THIRD READING

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2018

MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT ACT 2019

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I move that the Bill be now read
the third time by its ti tle only, namely, the Mental
Health Amendment (No. 2) Act 2018 and be passed.

No objections to that?
Premier?

MALICIOUS INTENT OF THE ROYAL GAZETTE

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker , it looks like we are
going to get out pretty early, so this is a good thing.
And if you will allow me, Mr. Speaker , I would
like to begin my address on the motion to adjourn to Parliament this evening with a quote fr om Malcolm X.
576 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly And the quote is, Mr. Speaker : “The media’s the most
powerful entity on earth. They have the power to
make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty inn ocent, and that ’s power.”
Mr. Speaker, the strength of legacy instit utions often rests in their dignity and ability to provide
reliable and steady leadership. The world in which we
live is always changing, evolving, and transforming
the way in which we do the simplest things .
Over a hundred years ago, the sinking of the
Titanic was communicat ed to the world by telegram,
and took days to be fully appreciated or understood by
the wider world. Today, as I speak, thousands of
Bermudians are listening to my voice through radio or
online as they go about their daily lives; instantane-ously receiving every word happening in this House.
Mr. Speaker, the era of social media has been
accompanied by a concurrent lack of responsibility.
The use of that medium as a weapon in relationships,
business, and even politics, is now an unfortunate
feature of this tr ansformative method of communic ation. But, Mr. Speaker, traditional or legacy media has
been determined to evolve and survive these chan ging times by bowing to the desire of its readers for
speed in the passage of information, but determined
to retain thos e attributes which define our respect for
their craft —honesty, integrity, balance, and a sense of
community.
Mr. Speaker, it is regrettable that our one r emaining traditional print publications, the Royal G azette , in no way, shape or form subscribes to these
basic tenets. Mr. Speaker, this is no ad hominem attack. This is no retaliation under the cloak of parli amentary privilege. This, Mr. Speaker, is a day of rec koning.

Uh-huh.

Hon. E. David Burt: It is to put the people of Berm uda on notice that the Royal Gazette cares more about
its political mission than it does the success of the
Island of Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, it is now crystal clear that the
Royal Gazette has joined hands with the Opposition,
One Bermuda Alliance in a concerted effort to cast
doubt and irreversibly tarnish this Government’s work in the diversification of this economy.
I speak specifically, Mr. Speaker, to the
FinTech industry . At every turn we are treated to a
litany of endles s speculation, baseless questions and
falsehoods, all designed to derail any possible suc-cess in this area, Mr. Speaker . And I have to say, Mr.
Speaker, it is entirely coincidental that I am giving this
speech a day after the largest bank in the United
States announced its own plans to launch its own
cryptocurrency. So, if you’re going to ask me, Mr.
Speaker, who I am going to trust, the Opposition or JP
Morgan, I am going to take JP Morgan.
[Desk thumping]

Hon. E. David Burt : So determined, Mr. Speaker, are
the Opposition and its partner, the Royal Gazette, on
their mission, that all of a sudden , according to them,
the world- respected Bermuda Monetary Authority and
our own Registrar of Companies no longer know how
to conduct compliance checks.
So, Mr. Sp eaker, imagine this: Bermuda and
its regulatory regime can pass amendments and
checks by oversight bodies all over the world. The BMA can be hailed from Port of Spain to Paris. Our
work is recognised publically by the Secretary General
of the OECD at the W orld Economic Forum in Davos,
but somehow it cannot be recognised on Par -la-Ville
Road.
Why, Mr. Speaker? The answer is quite si mple. The mission is to make sure that this Government
does not succeed. It is a concerted and joint effort.
And I do not believe that any amount of protestations
from Members opposite can change the facts.
Why do I say that, Mr. Speaker ? What causes
me to get to my feet today on this motion to adjourn and lay down this marker? Because, Mr. Speaker,
beyond the idle and, quite frankly, embarrassing under-informed comments from the co- leaders of the
Opposition on the F inTech industry, this week Berm uda has suffered a significant loss of business. And the responsibility for that lies directly at the feet of the
Royal Gazette.
Mr. Speaker, I regret to inform this Honour able House and the public that after a brazen and un-professional interaction between a Royal Gazette reporter and a principal of a company newly incorporated in Bermuda, which culminated in that reporter’s
disregard for facts, or the right of an individual or a
company to have its affairs remain private, that that company has now chosen not to move forward in setting up an office in Bermuda.

[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, this egregious action is compounded in its consequences for our econ-omy. Six Bermudians were to be employed b y this
company. Executives were set to move from other
jurisdictions to Bermuda, and the company planned to
staff up to 20 people over the next two years. But, it
does not stop there, Mr. Speaker.
Any realtor will tell you that there are hundreds of thousands of vacant office spaces in this country. With the new Economic Substance provisions
and the work of organisations like the BDA and the
Government of Bermuda, we are on the cusp of finally
seeing some movement in the rental of long- vacant
sites and buil dings throughout Hamilton and beyond.
Mr. Speaker, as if to add insult to injury, this
company had negotiated a lease for 2,000 square feet
of office on Pitts Bay Road that has been available to


Bermuda House of Assembly rent for some time. And guess what, Mr. Speaker; it
will be a vailable for rent for a little bit more time longer.
So, Mr. Speaker, six Bermudian jobs lost, the
lease of an entire floor of office space cancelled, executive relocations and accompanying rental housing
will no longer happen, payroll taxes to be paid to the
government to reduce deficit now gone, and, most
importantly, possibly the potential for this poisoned
experience to be shared among others considering
Bermuda for their operation base. All this lies at the
feet, Mr. Speaker, of a newspaper whose miss ion is to
destroy the Progressive Labour Party in Government,
which seems to be more important than seeing a
company operate in our country and succeed.
Mr. Speaker, as politicians we are fair game.
What we say and do, how we spend public money or use public land and property, is subject to justifiable
media scrutiny. It is what we all signed up for, Mr.
Speaker. But business people seeking to invest in this
country, and who show a commitment to securing and using Bermudian talent as part of their own econ omic
model, and who seek to establish a physical presence here, should not be subject to such conduct. Serious
business people will simply not allow themselves or
their reputations to be collateral dam age to fuel the
unrestrained quest of the Opposition vi a the Royal
Gazette , to see this Government’s work come to not hing.
It is simple, Mr. Speaker. In 2019 business
people have choices. And they will choose a jurisdi ction where the press recognises that if private bus inesses want to keep their affairs privat e, they have a
right to do so. The Opposition says that Bermuda should be more like Cayman. Well, please tell your
friends on Par -la-Ville Road what happened in Bermuda would never happen in Cayman.
It is very simple, Mr. Speaker, while we are
facing unprecedented global challenges —whether
from US tax reform or EU economic substance—it is very sad that we cannot, in this country, seem to get
out of each other’s way .
So, Mr. Speaker, today I say to the Royal G azette and those who seem determined: Stop it! This is
not about you. This is not about the Progressive Labour Party. This is not about Front Street or up town. This is about Bermuda.

Yes!

Hon. E. David Burt: There are dozens of men and
women at the Bermuda Business Development Agency in the FinTech Business Unit and the Business D evelopment Unit that are working tirelessly to deliver
the economic growth this country needs and desires.
Mr. Speaker, these young men and women
are not all PLP members or supporters. Some are family member s of persons in the OBA, like Mr. Kevin
Richards, the son of the former Minister of Finance, who leads the business development for emerging
technologies and economic diversification.
Mr. Speaker, another example is Mr. Dennis
Pitcher. Nobody will call Mr. Dennis Pitcher a fan of
the Progressive Labour Party; but he is a bright and
talented Bermudian working hard to build the future of
his country. We have put past differences aside to
work for the benefit of this country, recognising that
we have a unique opportunity .
Mr. Speaker, the disappointment felt in the
voice of Mr. Kevin Richards after he received the call that all of his hard work over the last six months was
derailed by a Royal Gazette journalist with clear, mal icious intent, was palpable. But, Mr. Speaker, his di sappointment cannot be compared to the young Bermudians who were hopeful that they would soon be
employed. Mr. Speaker, one young Bermudian for-warded me an email he received earlier today, and I
am going to read it, so Honourable Members of the
House and the public can understand the disappointment which may be felt by some in our community.
The email said, and I quote: “Thank you for
coming in to meet with us regarding the positions . Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in a recruitment
process, our client has decided to suspend the r ecruitment for these positions due to unforeseen ci rcumstances. If things should change and the recrui tment is reinstated, as we have your resume on file,
you will not need to reapply. We hope that the outcome of this application will not discourage you from
applying with regard to any other suitable positions
which may occur in the future.”
Mr. Speaker, the young man who received
this email has not had a full -time job since he grad uated from university last May. And, thanks to our daily
newspaper, aided and abetted by those who want to
see the Government fail, he will now have to continue
his search as this company is no longer an option.
So, Mr. Speaker, as I close, there is a challenge to be laid down. Tha t challenge is to those who
oppose us and the work of which we are doing . Do
your politics. Represent those that demand that you
do so. Question, object, debate, all of that is fair. But if
your mission is one other than ultimately ensuring the
success of Bermuda and Bermudians, then please be
warned.
The people of Bermuda will not forgive you
and, Mr. Speaker, I will ensure, personally, that they will never forget.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

[Desk thumping]

Thank you, Mr. Premier.
I note no other Member moves, so I take it
that the House is going to now close for today . And
we will see you next Friday at 10:00 am .
Members, have yourself a good weekend.

578 15 February 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Gavel]

[At 4:02 pm, the House stood adjourned until 10:00 am, Friday, 22 February 2019.]