May 29, 2024

Thank you, Madam President. I would like to have a follow -up question on that.
The Minister stated the criteria were included.
Were the detailed results of the score and according to
each criterion included in the communications to the
principals and the parents?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Minister, question —

[Crosstalk]


Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Was that the same question that was asked twice already? I am just seeking
some clarity.
The President: Senator De Couto, would you clarify
your question and repeat it, please? The Minister does
not understand.

Thank you, Madam President.
The Minister stated that the criteria were included. But of course, you could interpret that as saying
that the actual scores that went along . . . the resulting
scores that went along with each criterion may not have
been included. So, I would like to confirm if the detailed
scores for each of the criterion [that became] the results
that were then used for the decision at a granular, de-tailed level, according to each criteria, the results were
also provided along with a list of the criteria.
Thank you, Madam President.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President, as I am receiving the answer for that I will give it
to the Senate in one second.

[Pause]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, the
final report is being produced and will be published
shortly.

The President: Thank you, Minister.
Senators, the Minister has indicated that he will
provide the response, the answer to that question, shortly when he gets it.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: No, Madam President. I
said the final report is being produced and will be published shortly.

The President: The final report.
Senator De Couto.

QUESTION 2: TIMEFRAME WHEN PRINCIPALS
AND PARENTS WERE NOTIFIED OF FINAL
RESCORING OUTCOMES

Thank you, Madam President.
So to clarify, would it be correct to say that the
answer to the question of, Were the detailed results according to each criterion provided to the schools and
teachers?, the answer to that would be no?

The President: In the report.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: The answers will be in
the report, which will be produced shortly.

Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Senators, that ends the question period. We will now continue. Oh, I beg your pardon. We
will move on. There are questions that were put toward
Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Minister of
Health. And they were put by Senator Tucker, Opposi-tion Leader i n the Senate.

QUESTION: PROGRESS ON IMPROVING
NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNTS
REPORTING PROCESS

The President: The first question is, Would the Junior
Minister please provide the Senate with an update on
progress made since 2023 to improve the National
Health Accounts Reports process that is needed to
bring about a greater understanding of the spending
that takes place in our health care system?
Senator Hodgson, over to you for a response
to that question. There is a requirement for oral re-sponse today.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes, thank you, Madam President.
So, I would like to say that the Bermuda Government has actually implemented several key improvements to the National Health Accounts Reports
process in hopes of enhancing transparency as well as
accuracy in tracking health care expenditures. I do note
that the Health Council is currently reporting $780 million as the defined estimate of total annual health expenditure as of the end of fiscal year 2023 for the calculations, which were part of a recent project in partnership, or in relation to (sorry) UHC [ universal health
coverage]. And again, this is up from $736 million which
was published in the most recent released National
Health Accounts Report.

The President: That is the first question.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: That is the first question.

QUESTION: RELEASE DATES OF COMPLETED
NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNTS REPORTS
2019/20 AND 2020/21
The President: The second question: Would the Junior
Minister please inform the Senate as to when National
448 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Health Accounts [NHA] Reports were completed for fiscal years 2019/20 and 2020/21 and the planned date
for release to the public?
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: I can report that the NHA Reports for fiscal year 2020/21 have not been finalised to
date, as data tables are still being completed at this
time.
The President: Thank you.

QUESTION: RELEASE DATES OF COMPLETED
NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNTS REPORTS
2021/22 AND 2022/23
The President: The third question: Would the Junior
Minister please inform the Senate as to whether National Health Accounts Reports for fiscal years 2021/22
and 2022/23 are complete, and what is the planned
date for release to the public?
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, the full
data that are available for fiscal year 2022/23 are actually being analysed at this time. I do believe that the
Health Council anticipates up- to-date reports being
published by the end of the third quarter. So those details are f orthcoming.
I would also like to add that we are fully aware
of the importance of the National Health Accounts outputs in terms of the broader discussion of the value and
the cost -effectiveness of our health system. And so we
are aware of how the lack of data can hal t and seriously
compromise the accuracies made. That was the last one.

The President: Senator Tucker.

QUESTION 1: PROGRESS ON IMPROVING
NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNTS
REPORTS PROCESS
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you to the Junior Minister
for answering those questions.
I have a couple of questions on that point. So,
on question 1, while I appreciate that [the Junior Minister] did mention that some progress has been made, I
would just be interested to know if she can give a little
bit more colour to the specific progress that is being
made. And the reason that I ask that is because last year [the Junior Minister] did mention that internal and external stakeholders were being worked with to progress the National Health Accounts Reports processes.
So that is why I am asking for the clarification as to what
types of high- level initiatives have been implemented to
improve that process.
QUESTION 2: RELEASE DATES OF THE
COMPLETED NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNTS
REPORTS 2019/20 AND 2020/21

Sen. Robin Tucker: Second question would be, What
is the timeframe? And this is in response to question
number 2. I appreciate that the Junior Minister said that
the reports have not been finalised yet, the reports for
2019/20 and 2020/21. But can she give some
timeframe as to when the accounts [reports] might be
made available to the public?

QUESTION 3: RELEASE DATES OF THE
COMPLETED NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNTS
REPORTS 2021/22 AND 2022/23
Sen. Robin Tucker: And similar for question number
3, because [the Junior Minister] said [the reports] would
be updated by the end of the third quarter.
And why that is important is because the Junior
Minister did express, again in agreement, that the reports are critically important. But we have not had a
published report since 2019. So I am curious as to
where the information is, and why there is such a delay.
If she can provide some information, that would be
great.
Thank you, Madam President.
[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, Senator
Tucker had asked questions about providing some col-our around the progress being made. So, I do want to indicate that some of these improvements actually include the integration of advanced data analytics tools,
which is streamline d data collection and analysis. We
have also established a dedicated taskforce to actually
oversee this reporting process. And generally speaking, we are looking at increasing the ways to enhance
collaboration with both private and public health stakeholders.
I would say that additionally we have made efforts to standardise reporting metrics and methodologies to ensure consistency and comparability across
different fiscal years. All of this with an aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of health care
spending and to facilitate data- driven policy decisions.
There was a question in terms of the
timeframe, and I did speak to . . . but I am going to get
just a bit more flavour to satisfy that question.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Tucker, you have an additional question?

SUPPLEMENTARY
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Madam President.


Bermuda Senate If the Junior Minister can also just answer why
we do we not have a published report since 2019. That
is an important question, particularly because these re-ports actually detail the total health system expenditure for each year. So they are, as far as I understand it, supposed to be annually reported. But as I said, we
have not had one since 2019. And if you look at the
Health Council’s website, the 2020 reports are only 50 per cent complete. I would appreciate just an update on why.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I can
speak to that question.
I would say that the delay in developing the
past few health accounts [reports] in a consistent format to previous reports is a result of more recent and
more prominent noncompliance actually, as it relates to data submission. Of course, we do leverage audited fi-nancials for some stakeholders. But the timing of those financials varies widely depending on the audits.
I can also add that in many instances the
Health Council has looked to use various workarounds. One of those would be, you know, doing calculations in terms of using the raw transaction- level data. But they
have been aware of the lack of consistency in the data submitted, which of course does not allow us to create
the same sets of data tables that have been used by
the Health Council.
So, there are a number of anomalies which
have led to the place we find ourselves in now.
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Senate De Couto.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Senator Hodgson, would you want to
speak to the issue of delays in the reports? [Pause]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Before going down that rabbit
hole, Madam President, I did want to follow up on Sen-ator Tucker’s question—
The President: Yes.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: —about the timing of reports. So, the National Health Accounts Reports for fiscal years —

The President: I can hardly hear you. Can you speak
up [or adjust] your volume?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Oh. Sorry. Yes.
The President: Thank you.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: So, the reports for fiscal years
2019/20 as well as 2020/21 have been completed. The report for the fiscal year 2019/20 was completed at the end of 2021. However, the report for fiscal year 2020/21
was actually finalised, I believe, early in 2023. I believe
March. Both reports are scheduled for public release shortly. But of course we are going through the final re-views and approval processes to ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the data that have been presented.
And I spoke to it, I guess, a bit earlier. I do not
want to speak on the hospital itself. But generally speaking, we are continuing to work to update the methodology based on what data we can actually guar-antee, you know, in hopes of receiving those data. And
we will use the same process on an aggregated report
that will allow us to catch up to 2023 and would include
the information that we have learned through the UHC exercises that have taken place.
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson, and
thank you, Senators, for your response to the [written]
questions that were posed for [oral] answers today.
[Crosstalk]

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The President: Senators, I have just been advised by
Minister Darrell that the order of the debate on the . . .
there is a change in the order. So, at this time we will undertake the second reading of the Computer Misuse
Act 2024. And that is in the name of Senator Rev. Dr.
Emily Dill, the Junior Minister for National Security. So
that will be first. The second one will be the Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024. And the third order of the day will be the second reading of the Bermuda Health Council Amendment Act 2024. So we
will change the order in which they will be presented.
450 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Therefore, at this time we will entertain the second reading of the Computer Misuse Act 2024. And that
is in the name of Senator Rev. Dr. Emily Dill, Junior Minister for National Security.

STANDING ORDER 25

Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I move that the provisions of
Standing Order 25 be granted so that the Senate may now proceed with the second reading of the Bill entitled
the Computer Misuse Act 2024.

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

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Computer Misuse Act 2024 t o be read a second time on the same
day as its first reading.]

STANDING ORDER 25

Also, the Bermuda
Health Council Amendment Act 2024 and the Registra-tion (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024.
The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Health Council
Amendment Act 2024 and the Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024 to be read a second time on the same day as their first reading.]


The President: You will proceed with presenting the
Computer Misuse Bill.

Thank you.
Madam President, the Bill before Senate today
is the Computer Misuse Act 2024
. This Bill repeals and
replaces the Computer Misuse Act 1996.The Bill is the first in a series of legislation that will be amended to update Bermuda’s laws on cybercrime.
Madam President, I would like to give Senators
the benefit of an explanation on the difference between cybercrime and cybersecurity legislation.
The Cybersecurity Act focuses on preparedness for and protections against cyber threats. The Bill being presented now, the Computer Misuse Act 2024, is focused on creating offences of crimes committed using a computer or acts that involve unauthorised ac-cess to a computer or a computer system, whether or
not that access also involves impairing the operation of
the computer or computer system. This Bill gives the
police power to investigate and make arrests in relation to these offences and provides the parameters within which the Department of Public Prosecutions can initi-ate legal proceedings against a suspect.
Madam President, the analogy of going for a
Sunday afternoon drive might help explain the differ-ence. When we get into our cars, we put on our seat-belts and make sure our children are safely secured in the rear seat. We ensure that the windshield wipers an d
indicators are working optimally. We ensure that our
brakes are working well, and we lock our car doors. Doing these things helps us to ensure that our car and its
passengers are safe. This preparation and protection can be likened to cybersecurity.
Madam President, in this analogy cybercrime
may be compared to the illegal use of a vehicle, such
as auto theft, driving over the speed limit, parking in a
no-parking zone or driving while under the influence of
drugs or alcohol. These are criminal acts. Thankfully,
we protected ourselves, so we are unharmed. But these individuals must be dealt with and reprimanded for their crimes. That is what the cybercrime legislation
will do. It will provide the police and the Department of
Public Prosecutions with the powers needed to investigate and prosecute a cyberattack and other crimes committed using a computer.
Madam President, the Bill today specifically
creates offences against unauthorised access to com-puter material, unauthorised access to a computer with the intent to commit further offences or the intent to im-pair the operation of a computer, and any act in relation
to a computer that creates the risk of serious damage or actually causes serious damage.
The Bill also clarifies issues surrounding jurisdiction when a cybercrime is committed. It strengthens Bermuda’s international cooperation and ensures that cyber criminals can be investigated, arrested and con-victed no matter where the crime is committed.
Madam President, the offences created under
this Bill are serious. We have witnessed the damage that can be done by those commonly referred to as “bad actors” when technology is used for malicious pur-poses. As such, these offences each attract considera-ble tariffs ranging from imprisonment terms of six
months and fines of $18,000, to life imprisonment and


Bermuda Senate a fine of up to $1 million for offences that create the
most risk of harm or actual harm.
Madam President, the provisions of this Bill are
in line with the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime signed in Budapest on the 23rd of November
2001. The Budapest Convention is an international
treaty that addresses Internet and computer crimes by
harmonising national laws, improving investigative
techniques and increasing cooperation among nations. Bermuda is not a signatory to the B udapest Convention; however, this Bill and the amendments to the Elec-tronic Communications Act, the Criminal Code and
[amendments to] other local legislation will position Bermuda as a country utilising best practice in cybercrime legislation.
Madam President, I am pleased to commend
this Bill to the Senate for debate.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: And before I open the floor to Senators
to respond, I would just like to acknowledge the pres-ence in the gallery of Lt. Col. Mr. Edward Lamb, the
Permanent Secretary for National Security.
Welcome to you.
[Computer Misuse Tax Act 2024, second reading debate, continuing]

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

Thank you very much,
Madam President, and thank you to the Senator for the
presentation. I was thankful also for the analogy that
she used, because I think up until recently (or maybe I
am too old to be saying “recently”) people would have
thought of computer crime as victimless. You know, the
original version of this Bill was around in 1996 and was actually only last amended nine years ago. So, it is
easy for us to understand that perhaps things have
moved on since this Bill was created.
And I did do a little research about who in Bermuda has been convicted of these sorts of crimes. I found references to two —the two people who have
gone before the courts. And my understanding of their
offences was what I would term as stealing Internet access. And they were young men; I will just leave it at
that. So people say, Oh, you know, these are kids just messing around. They are stealing Internet time from Northrock and Logic or whomever is still around. And
who cares about that?
But of course, these are not victimless crimes
even for that because that goes to the bottom line of companies as if you were stealing out of the till. And we now know the prevalence of computing and networks
in our lives. I mean, they are embedded in everything
from, Madam President, you appreciate, sophisticated
health care systems and life support syst ems, to our
cars. I mean, I cannot even drive my car if the computer
does not work. So, this is certainly a welcome update.
I note that it has been modell ed after the 1990 UK Bill
of a similar title. So, it is good to see that we are learn-ing some lessons there.
I would like to note a couple of other things,
Madam President, and one or two questions. It seems
to me also that this Bill would address what we would
term a denial -of-service attack. And again, that is when
attackers would direct network traffic at a computing
system to make it unavailable to its users. So you could
imagine you would not be able to access your online banking. You would not be able to access your government payroll tax system, and so forth. And I think we
could say that 30 years ago that was not a concept that
was probably well understood outside of the highly
technical confines of serious network engineers.
So to summarise, it is good to see this update;
it is important for us. I do have some concerns, Madam President. You know, I think we can certainly agree that
some of these crimes are very serious and have very
serious consequences. I am concerned about what I
consider a pretty open- ended reference to what I would
call national security. To me that looks like it came out
of the UK Bill, and they probably have a body of law
and practice there that makes it pretty well understood
how they should determine w hat is a national security
concern. And to be blunt, I am not sure that we necessarily have developed that understanding of what that
means in Bermuda. And given that the fines could be
up to $1 million and life imprisonment for what I consider to be a pretty open- ended term, I guess my question to the Government would be, How would we define
and arbitrate what is damage to national security, given
I do not think we really have a track record of that understanding here in Bermuda. So that is my first concern, Madam President, and I would appreciate the
Government’s elucidation on that.
I also note that the Bill allows the Minister to
make regulations. And that is fine. We see that often.
But it also allows the Minister to make consequential
amendments to other legislation by regulation, subject
to negative resolution. And here I am a bi t lost, Madam
President, because I do not understand why, if the Gov-ernment were to identify some issues, it could not just bring legislation in the normal way. So this seems like
a Bill that allows a Minister to make changes to other
Bills, which I have t o admit, Madam President, I am
struggling [with]. So any information the Government
could provide on that I would appreciate.
And then I guess my last question— or I think
the people of Bermuda would really like to know, which I think would put a real point on this Bill —which would
be, How would the cyberattack that occurred in the fall,
452 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate what clauses of the Bill would that be classified under?
Because I think that would really make it concrete and
help improve everyone’s understanding of this Bill,

Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Kiernan Bell, you have indicated that
you want to ask questions. You have the floor.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President. I
have two questions. There may be some overlap with
the question that Senator De Couto just asked for which
I beg the Senate’s forgiveness.
My first question concerns [clause] 5. Clause 5
of the Bill addresses “Unauthorised acts with intent to
impair, or with recklessness as to impairing, operation
of computer . . . .” This clause is derived largely from
the UK Computer Misuse Act 1990, section 3. However, there is a material difference between the UK legislation and the legislation being proposed today. And
that is the notion of creating a statutory criminal offence
for recklessness.
Both the UK Act and the Budapest Convention
require intentionality around the commission of the crime, a computer misuse crime. And I wondered, and
my question, my fundamental question is, Why are we
creating a statutory offence for recklessness? Why are
we diverging from both the Budapest Convention and
the UK legislation in this important regard? Obviously, recklessness is a lower level.
The second question goes to [clause] 17,
which provides that the Minister may make regulations
which can amend this principal Act. Senator De Couto
has actually already raised this question. But I wanted to actually flag why I am raising the question. These
clauses are known in statutory drafting circles as Henry
VIII clauses. They are known as Henry VIII clauses because Henry VIII passed legislation back in his day
which gave him the power to legislate by royal decree,
bypassing Parliament. They are gener ally considered
undemocratic in bypassing the parliamentary process. They can be used in exceptional circumstances where it is clear that there is some emergent need to have that
kind of flexibility. So I would ask the Junior Minister to
provide an indicat ion as to why it is that this exceptional
power to legislate, by subordinate legislation, an Act of
Parliament without going through the parliamentary
process, bypassing Parliament, is needed in this case.
Those are my two questions. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Bell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
No. Then we will wait to hear a response from
the Minister.
Thank you.
[Pause] Sen. Rev. Dr. Emilygail A. Dill: Madam President.
The President: Senator Dill.

Thank you, Senators,
for your questions.
In response to question number 1 by Senator
De Couto, an example of damage to national security would be a cyberattack on critical infrastructure such as
the hospital or BELCO. Disruption to either would be a national security issue.
Question number 2: It is standard procedure
for Ministers to be able to make amendments that impact other legislation.
Clause 6 will cover cyberattacks.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
There are no further questions on this Bill . . .
Senator Dill?

For Senator Bell, with
regard to your question, I believe that it is covered by
the same answer that we gave to Senator De Couto,
that it is standard procedure for Ministers to be able to make amendments that impact other legislation.
And, Senator De Couto, with regard to the supplementary, the answer is covered in the cybercrime
legislation that is coming which lists all of the critical
national infrastructures such as BELCO.
The President: Senator Bell, you have a clarification or a question?



Bermuda Senate Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
If I may I will come back to the answer. I just
wanted to double- check. On the question of recklessness, we are still waiting for the answer on that question. And if I could, I just wanted to elaborate why that is a very important question to have answered.

The President: Mm -hmm.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: If recklessness becomes of a
standard under this legislation, employers are going to
have to roll out training. They are going to have to get
additional insurance perhaps that covers this. There
are consequences that I am trying to understand
whether they were fully understood and thought
through. The reason for that is that the concept of reck-lessness is a lower legal standard than actually inten-tionally causing harm. And so, one can envisage someone, perhaps knowingly, not complying wit h an employer’s computer cyber policies, not intentionally causing any harm, but now having subjected both the em-ployer and themselves to the risk of an offence under
this Act.
If that is what is intended, I think we should be
clear so that all members of the public now understand
that there is this lower standard that is going to be applied, which could apply to anybody who emails themselves a password in breach of their cyber policy.
Obviously, we do not want anybody doing that.
Does this apply to somebody who does not obey the phishing policy within their place of employment and opens an email which causes their place of employment to be subject to a computer attack? I am trying to
understand what the scope of this is. And the reckless-ness question is an important one.
Turning to the Henry VIII clause that I highlighted, which is [clause] 17, not to be confused with the clause before that, which is [clause] 16, which is the
general power to make regulations under this Bill. It is
not, in my understanding, common parliamentary practice at all for parliament to allow by secondary legislation a primary piece of legislation to be amended, thus
bypassing the parliamentary process. And if I am understanding the Junior Minister’s answer, the statement which is being made is that her understanding and the
answer is, That is common practice. Is that the common
practice which is being followed today in the House[s] of Parliament? I think that is a very important constitutional question to have answered. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Bell.

Thank you, Senator
Bell.
With regard to the recklessness question that
you raised, I believe I will confer more with the technical
team and the Permanent Secretary to get some more
clarification regarding that and revert back to you with the answer, given the seriousness of what you have shared.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: And, Madam President, that is fine.
But I would suggest that we then postpone voting on
the Bill until we get the answers to those questions.

[Pause]
The President: Minister Darrell.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I ask
that we proceed, please. Thank you.
The President: We will proceed.
[Pause]

The President: Senator Dill.

Madam President —

454 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: There is an objection to the third reading.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Tucker.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Madam President. You need
to do the right thing. And if we need to go into Commit-tee, I think we need to do that. So, yes, I object.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Senators, there is an objection to the
third reading, and we will need to go into Committee.

[Pause]

The President: Do you have a second to your motion?
Senator De Couto has seconded it.

Yes, Madam President. I
would second that motion. Thank you.

The President: We will go into Committee and . . .

[Crosstalk]
The President: We need to vote on this.
There have been two objections to the third
reading. So we would need to take a vote on it. There-fore . . .

[Pause]

The President: Senators, we are entertaining this division because there are two Senators who have ob-jected to the third reading. Therefore, will now take a vote amongst us as to whether or not we carry it over
to the next day of meeting.

[Crosstalk ]

The President: There have been two objections to the
third reading. We are now determining amongst all
Senators whether or not there is an approval of —

[Inaudible interjection]

The President: Senators, do you understand the —

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Excuse me, Madam President. Sorry. Can I just get a clarification? In the Standing Orders, this is the third reading. It says no Committee. It is just a vote on whether we pass the Bill or not.
[Crosstalk ]

The President: There was objection to the third reading. [Crosstalk ]

The President: We are taking a vote.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Correct. We are taking a vote.

[Crosstalk]

The President: There was objection. There were two
people, two Senators who objected to the third reading.
[Inaudible interjection]

The President: On that motion, yes. And I have said
that we would take a vote on it. We need to determine whether or not —

[Inaudible interjection]

The President: Yes.
Not everybody agrees to the objection to the
third reading.

The Assistant Clerk: Ready?

The President: Yes.

The Assistant Clerk: Senator Tucker.

[Inaudible interjection]

The Assistant Clerk: [Addressing Senator Tucker]
Okay. So say Aye or No. Aye is for the objection to the
third reading. No means you want to carry the Bill forward.
Aye?
Okay.

The President: If the Ayes win, we are going to carry
the Bill over.

The Assistant Clerk: Okay.

DIVISION
[Objection to the third reading of
the Computer Misuse Act 2024]
Ayes: 5 Nays: 5
Sen. Robin Tucker Sen. Hon. O. Darrell
Sen. Dr. D. De Couto Sen. A. Hodgson
Sen. John Wight Sen. Lindsay Simmons
Sen. Kiernan Bell Sen. Rev. Dr. E. A. Dill
Sen. Hon. J. Dillas -Wright Sen. Leslie Robinson

Absent:
Sen. Dwayne Robinson

The President: It is a tie. It is a tie.



Bermuda Senate [Motion failed on division: The objection to the third
reading of the Computer Misuse Act 2024 was de-feated.]
The President: We have to carry it over.

The Assistant Clerk: I thought it means it is lost.

The President: No, it does not. The motion is lost, so we carry on.
The Assistant Clerk: So we carry on.
The President: The motion was lost, so we carry on.
Continue with the third reading because there
is a tie.

BILL

THIRD READING

COMPUTER MISUSE ACT 2024

Pardon me? Excuse
me?
[I move that the Bill entitled] Computer Misuse
Act 2024 be now read a third time.
Madam President, I move that the Bill do now
pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill entitled
Computer Misuse Act 2024 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
Oh, Senator De Couto.

Thank you.
The President: Are there any other Senators who ob-ject?
Senator . . . it will be five and five again.

[Laughter]
The President: We have to vote on the passage of the
Bill. This does not happen often.
The Assistant Clerk: We have to do it, though. The President: We have to do it.
Senators, we would take a vote now on the final passage of the Bill. And therefore, we will vote again.
[Crosstalk]
The Assistant Clerk: Okay. Again, this is the objection
to the passage of the Computer Misuse Act 2024. If you object, say Aye. If you do not, say [Nay].

DIVISION
[Objection to the passage of
the Computer Misuse Act 2024]
Ayes: 5 Nays: 5
Sen. Robin Tucker Sen. Hon. O. Darrell
Sen. Dr. D. De Couto Sen. A. Hodgson
Sen. John Wight Sen. Lindsay Simmons
Sen. Kiernan Bell Sen. Rev. Dr. E. A. Dill
Sen. Hon. J. Dillas -Wright Sen. Leslie Robinson

Absent:
Sen. Dwayne Robinson
The Assistant Clerk: And the division loses on a tie,
so we will move forward.

[Motion failed on division: The objection to the passage
of the Computer Misuse Act 2024 was defeated.]
The President: The Bill is passed.
So, Senators, the Bill has been passed. The
Computer Misuse Act 2024 has been passed.
[Motion carried: The Computer Misuse Act 2024 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: And we will move on to the next item
on our Orders of the Day. And that is the second reading of the Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment
Act 2024. And that is in the name of Senator Lindsay Simmons, the Junior Minister of Home Affairs.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

456 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate REGISTRATION (BIRTHS AND DEATHS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2024

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I am
pleased to rise today to introduce the Bill entitled the Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024
.
The Bill seeks to amend the Registration
(Births and Deaths) Act 1949 to make provisions for the issuance of a short form death certificate. Madam Pres-ident, currently a death certificate can only be issued by the Registry General Department when the Regis-trar General is given notice that a death has occurred
in Bermuda pursuant to sections 11 and 12 of the 1949 Act. However, Madam President, there is currently an unfortunate delay in issuing a death certificate when the notice of death, Form E, has not yet been received
at the Registry General Department, where a medical practitioner or the coroner is reviewing a particular
death and is not yet able to determine the cause of
death.
Madam President, when the cause of death
cannot be determined or certified by a medical practi-tioner or coroner, then the Form E is not received by
the Registrar General, as neither the medical practi-tioner nor the coroner is prepared to sign off on notice
of death. This was evident during the COVID -19 pandemic when the Bermuda Hospitals Board directed their pathologists not to carry out a postpartum on a body that tested positive for the presence of the
COVID -19 virus. This created an issue where there is
a deceased person whose cause of death cannot be
determined, as no medical practitioner would sign off stating the cause of death.
Madam President, putting aside the emotional
distress of losing a loved one, this issue can and does
pose major complications in practical and legal aspects
of managing the affairs of a deceased. It can potentially lead to delays, disputes or difficulties in assessing ben-efits and closing accounts, as well as management of
other elements of a person’s estate.
Madam President, this Bill seeks to help address such challenges by permitting a medical practi-tioner or the coroner to complete a shortened notice of death when the cause of death cannot be determined. This [shortened notice will enable a medical practiti oner
or the coroner to] confirm that an individual is deceased
without having to immediately identify the cause of
death.
Madam President, the Bill then empowers the
Registrar General after receipt of an abbreviated notice of death to issue a short certificate of death. A short certificate of death is an abbreviated death certificate
that will only include the facts of the death or demographics and not the cause of death.
In closing, Madam President, the Registration
(Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024 is this Gov-ernment’s commitment to improve upon the vital regis-tration services provided by introducing a short certificate of death to simply confirm that a person is deceased and not to delay issuance of a death certificate when the cause of death cannot be immediately determined.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And before I open the floor to Senators
to speak on the Bill, I would just like to acknowledge and recognise Mr. Aubrey Pennyman, the Registrar General, who is in the Chamber with us today.
[Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act
2024 , second reading debate, continuing]
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Tucker, OBA Leader in the Senate,
you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I will say that I am happy to see this amendment, although it would have been nicer to see it a bit sooner because it has absolutely been a long time coming. So thank goodness that we have had some movement on this.
I am glad to see that the Government has
brought this Bill forward, which will greatly (or hopefully, fingers crossed) help to reduce the suffering that has been experienced by too many of our families on the
Island who have lost loved ones. And because o f
lengthy delays and outdated processes they were unable to obtain death certificates which are needed to help them to get closure and to address some of the practi-cal things after their loved one has passed away, such as dealing with estate matters, closing bank accounts,
obtaining certain survivor benefits and just generally to
assist them in settling the affairs of their loved ones.
So while the lengthier standard Form E will still
need to be completed, as I understand it, it will be re-quired at a later date. So at least this new shortened-form death certificate Form F1 can be obtained within
a couple of days. Therefore, that heartache that fami-lies have experienced over the last several years be-cause of unacceptable delays in getting the death cer-tificate, as I said, should be significantly reduced.
I do have just a couple of general questions. I
did notice that the shortened form requires an address for the deceased. And when I looked at the short form birth certificate, I noticed that there was no address re-quired. So, I was just wondering why the death certifi-cate has an address requirement. It could have some-thing to do with overseas people or people who pass
away on the Island or what have you. But if we could
get some clarification, that would be great.


Bermuda Senate The next question also is that the cost of the
death certificate, the short form death certificate, is $25.
But the birth certificate was $20. So although it is not a
significant amount at all, I am just curious as to why
there was that difference, why they are not the same price.
And one other question (I said that would be
my third question) would be the Bill allows for an initial shortened notification of death to be given in certain
cases to alleviate any delays in the registration of a
death. So if the Junior Minister can give an idea of the
type of special conditions that would trigger that, then
that would be very helpful. What I am really asking is if
the shortened forms will only be allowed in certain instances, and if so, what specifically would those types
of instances be? Is it just where the cause of death is
unknown or the autopsy is incomplete? Or is it just across the board?
So just general questions. I will be grateful for
the answers. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Would any other Senator care to ask
questions on this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Sure.
My question is, Does the Government have an
understanding or estimate of how this might affect the collection of data regarding causes of death? I thought
that was important for managing health outcomes.
Thank you, Madam President.

[Crosstalk]
The President: Senator Tucker, they want you to repeat the questions.

Sen. Robin Tucker: All of the questions?

The President: Just so that they can . . . yes.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Okay. So, I had a question as it
relates to the difference between the shortened form
death certificate and birth certificate. Because the
shortened form death certificate, the only observable
difference was that the death certificate required a
home addr ess. So, I am just wondering why the home
address is required.
And the other question outside of the fee was,
What special conditions . . . or are there any special conditions that will enable someone to get a short form
death certificate? Is it only in an instance where the deceased’s cause of death is unknown or an autopsy is
delayed where there is expected to be a delay in providing the Form E? So, in short, what are the criteria for
getting a short form death certificate?
Thank you.
[Pause]
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
To answer Senator Tucker’s first question, to
prove that the individual died in Bermuda, which is rel-evant with regard to whether the death occurred in Bermuda or not, so that is why in the long . . . in the regular
death certificate an address is needed. And they still
have to fill out the form, the Form F. So those data will
be collected. So, yes.
And to answer Senator De Couto’s question,
data for the cause of death will still be required for accurate stats to be recorded.
The answer for the short form fee for the death
certificate, which is $25, is a standard fee for the death
certificate.
And there are no criteria. As soon as the notice
of death is completed, it must be filed at the Registrar General’s Office.
So that answers the four questions.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
With that then, you need to, with no other questions, move your Bill.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act 2024
be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of
this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled Registration (Births and Deaths)
Amendment Act 2024 be now read a third time.
458 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

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

BILL

THIRD READING

REGISTRATION (BIRTHS AND DEATHS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2024

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill entitled
the Registration (Births and Deaths) Amendment Act
2024 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Registration (Births and Deaths)
Amendment Act 2024 was read a third time and
passed.]
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons. And
thank you, all Senators.
We will now move on to the last order on our
Orders of the Day, the last Bill. And that is the second
reading of the Bermuda Health Council Amendment Act 2024. And that is in the name of Senator Arianna
Hodgson, the Junior Minister for Health.
Senator Hodgson.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I do now ask that [item]
number 1 on the Orders of the Day be carried over to
the next sitting of the Senate.
The President: Senators, it has been moved that this
order be carried over, the second reading of the Bermuda Health Council Amendment Act 2024 be carried
over to the next day of meeting.
With that said, we will now [move on].

MOTIONS
The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this . . . either of these? Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

I am really going to be
following up on comments already made. But I do feel
they deserve emphasis. And this is the section where
we often call names. And it does not mean that there
are not many, many other things that could be emphasised or discussed. S o, I will just call out some of the
things that struck me personally, and it is not against all
of the other vibrant activity that we had this weekend
that frankly reflected what I would term Bermuda’s rich
tapestry. I mean, obviously for a nation of our size to
have five, maybe six now, Olympians already con-firmed, and three in Triathlon? I mean, three triathletes,
Madam President! I am a bit of a mathematician, so I
like how that goes. So, I would just like to congratulate
all of them who are headed to Paris. I am incredibly
thrilled by that.
I would like to congratulate everybody in the
parade. I would just like to call out . . . I have heard a
lot of very good things about Vasco’s float. And I think
that got a lot of positive attention. And the Association of Filipinos [in Bermuda], again I think was a very dynamic performance. And of course, our own Gombeys,

I cannot say I was around
for the whole parade, but I understand it was a lengthy cultural experience. And it went well into the late afternoon, which I think was a great acknowledgement of
the importance of this weekend.
This year, Madam President, is the 50
th anniversary of the National Museum of Bermuda. And I just want to bring that to everyone’s attention. There will be a programme with some events later in the year. You
know, I am soon to be the outgoing chairman of that
museum. So, I do have an interest t here, you might say.

The President: Mm-hmm.

And I would like to highlight next week as also part of the 175
th anniversary of
the Golden Rule . The museum will be hosting an exhibition with artists from the Azores. And I am actually
quite upset because I will be off Island and I will miss it.
But I urge everybody to go up there and check that out. The museum has been able to put on some fabulous
exhibits, and this is a nice intersection of that 175
th anniversary.
And Madam President, some of you may know
that Trevor Moniz, the erstwhile Parliamentarian and


Bermuda Senate Minister and former Attorney General, is my cousin.
And I would like to wish him a very special birthday. And
I will not call the number, but it was particularly special.
So, this one is for my cousin, Trevor.
And I am going to stop there, Madam President. I am aware of the time limit. So, thank you.
The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
congratulatory and/or obituaries?
Senator Tucker, OBA Leader in the Senate,
you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I will start with condolences. We have not been
here for a little while, so I do want to express condolences to the family of Lynn [Burrows -]Stephenson.
She was a constituent, and also she was someone
whom I first met at . . . because we went to the same
church, so I met her at church. And so, anybody who .
. . I mean, certainly in the circle that I got to talk to her
in, Lynn was always very quiet, somewhat reserved,
but a very solid sort of a personality, not sort of gregarious or anything like that. But certainly just a very nice,
just genuine lady. For those who do not know, she was
a long- serving employee of the Department of Education. And I believe she retired from there after 33 years. So, you know, I was quite surprised when I learned that she had passed away. So, again, condolences to her
family.
Also I would like to express condolences to the
family of Arthur Chesley Trott. Mr. Trott was my art
teacher at Warwick Sec. And his son Arthur, who also
passed away some years ago, was one of my class-mates. I will say that Mr. Trott . . . on our school c hat,
you know, there were comments when Mr. Trott had passed away about how nice and genuine he was. I can honestly say that he had more than enough reason to
shout at us. We were a bit of a rambunctious group. But
he had more than enough reasons to kind of be the
“Randy Horton” in the classroom.

[Laughter]

Sen. Robin Tucker: And he was not. He was just very
kind, a somewhat soft spoken gentleman. He was
highly respected by his students. So, I cannot even re-call one time hearing Mr. Trott raise his voice or get
mad at his students or what -not, even though he had
plenty of reasons to. And Mr. Trott, I can tell you, my
assessment was painf ul probably for him because I am
not creative in any sense. So, you know, having to kind
of look at and grade some of my stuff must have been
really painful. But nevertheless, he will definitely be
missed.
On a lighter note, I want to express congratulations to Renee Brown, who was one of the recipients
of the Child Development Programme 2023. Renee
works with the Department of Child and Family Services. And she has been there for quite some time.
She received their 2023 External Collaboration Award.
And if anybody knows Renee, they will know that what
I am about to read as the criteria for her actually getting
[the award], it is truly deserving. So the award “recognises the external partner or agency that c onsistently
responds to child development requests within five
days, has contributed their expertise to process development at Child Development and has consistently engaged in the child development stakeholder meetings
over the past 12 months.” [UNVERIFIED QUOTE]
Renee helped improve Child Development
staff knowledge through cross -ministry training and
guidance. She is a wealth of information, a wealth of knowledge and always, always responds when she is
called upon. She has a beautiful, beautiful personality.
So again, I would just extend congratulations.
Also, congratulations to Glenn Jones on his
Emmy nominations.
And lastly, I would like to say congratulations
to Andre Lambe and, in particular, Nikki Bascome, who
is my cousin, on winning their boxing matches last Saturday night. And I will end by saying I know Mrs. Bascome is especially proud.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator, yes. Minister Darrell then.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I would like to start my congrats and obits with some sad news. And I would like to
send my condolences to the family of two departed PLP
stalwarts. The first one would be Mr. David Hughes.
Madam President, Mr. Hughes made it his life’s w ork to
stand for those who could not stand for themselves. Mr. Hughes was always vocal in internal party meetings,
and you would see him at events. Last time I actually
saw him was dancing in the streets at Labour Day. Mr.
Hughes was a fixture at Alaska Hall and always was
standing on what was right.
And secondly, Madam President, I would like
to send condolences to [the family of] Mr. Glenn Woods. Mr. Glenn Woods . . . if you ever were at a Progressive Labour Party event, whether it be privately or
publicly, he literally would be the one always carrying
the flag. If any repairs were needed at t he Reginald A.
Burrows Building, Mr. Woods was a long- time serving
member of the House and Grounds Committee for the Progressive Labour Party. And, you know, I would like
to send condolences to his family. I have taught his twin
daughters. I have been in the Bermuda Regiment with
his son. And all of the Progressive Labour Party (and I
know you will hear more about this in another place on
Friday) send their sincere condolences to the family of
Mr. Woods.
460 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Also, I would like to send condolences to [the
family of] a dear friend of mine, Ms. Michelle Woolf. Ms.
Michelle Woolf was laid to rest about a week ago,
Madam President, and definitely a life ended too short.
But condolences . . . I did have the opportun ity to see
her mom and her sister and pass along my condolences to them.
And a long- time friend of my father, condolences to his family, Mr. [Desmond] Morris Francis. You
know, Mr. Francis also was laid to rest about a week
and a half ago.
And on a lighter note, I would like to send some
congratulations . . . oh, sorry, sorry.
Also, condolences to the family of the young
man who unfortunately lost his life over the holiday
weekend, Mr. Zijae Jones. Condolences to his family
and all of the students at CedarBridge Academy, as he was a recent graduate of that institution. So, Madam
President, I would like to send deepest condolences to
that family as well.
And on the congrats side of things, I would like
to congratulate (I want to get this right; I do not want to mess this one up) Ms. Chiaje Rudo, who was crowned
as Bermuda’s Outstanding Teen at the Outstanding
Teen Awards, which were held over the weekend. The Outstanding Teen is something that I was a part of
many, many years ago. It was put on by Teen Services.
Many years ago I w as part of the youth committee that
helped with the panel of the Outstanding Teen. And I
am glad to see that back after a couple of years in the
wilderness. So, congratulations to all of the awardees
at the awards this past weekend.
Also, I would like to congratulate the stakeholders of St. George’s led by the Chamber of Commerce, the BTA [Bermuda Tourism Authority], the Ministry of
Transport and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, who unveiled the Bermuda Breeze event, which is an event they have put on in St. George’s to help
vendors make a connection with the tourists who visit
the Olde Towne of St. George’s and bring some vibrant
activity there. So, congratulations to the President of
the Chamber, Mr. Marico Thomas; the Chief Executive
Officer], Ms. [Danielle] Riviere ; and all who were involved in that. The MPs of the area who sit in another place, MP Swan, MP Ming, were very, very instrumental in getting this from conception to actual reality.
And from a sporting note, I want to say congratulations to the organisers of a tournament that we saw in Bermuda about a week and a half ago, and that was
the Bermuda Smash Invitational. Congratulations to the organisers of something different that came to the Island. It brought some overseas professionals to the Island. And I think that we will see that tournament expand. And I think cricket enthusiasts were happy to be
able to be a part of this.
And finally, congratulations to Mr. Alje Richardson. And if you are a cricket fan like myself, you would note that he was recently announced as the new captain of the Somerset league cricket team. And not getting ahead of ourselves, but most people would
know that usually, usually the tradition is that once you
are named the captain of the league side, it usually
means that you will slide in and be captain of a different
side that we will celebrate on the 1
st and 2nd of August.

The President: Mm -hmm.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: But that is not my team,
so I cannot speak on their internal workings, you know. July 20, Madam President, is the date that I will be looking forward to, when Cleveland takes the cup from Bailey’s Bay .
So, thank you, Madam President. That is all I
have for today.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
And I did see Senator Dill. You wanted to
speak on the congrats and obits. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would like to first of all associate myself with
the condolences that were expressed for Mr. David Hughes and Mr. Glenn Woods by Minister Darrell. Certainly they are two gentlemen who will be deeply
missed. They were very passionate about Bermuda
and her people and very passionate in their support of the Progressive Labour Party. And they will be deeply
missed.
I would also like to associate myself with the
condolences to [the family of] Mr. Arthur Chesley Trott,
who was also an individual, an artist. And I had the opportunity to grow up in the same neighbourhood that he lived in. And just the many ways in which he touched
our lives.
As Senator Tucker shared, there have been so
many people who have passed over the past few months. But I would like to lift up a few who touched my
life that I would love for condolences to be sent. In particular, the family of Lori Robinson, who was an e ducator. I had the opportunity to work with her at Sandys
Secondary Middle School. But sadly, this family this
week will be funeralising her father, Mr. Calvin Simons. So we express our sincere condolences to that family.
Mr. Simons, in particular, was the individual when I
worked at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts. He was an individual whom we could always depend on. He filmed most of our productions and
helped us to create an archive of professional, theatri-cal and artistic works. He will be deeply missed.
Also, another educator, Mrs. Judith Ratteray,
who actually taught me. Mrs. Ratteray, taught at Sandys Secondary School for many years. She served
in the Economics Department, and she was well regarded for her contribution in the education field.
The other educator whom I would love to list is
Lucinda Worrell Stowe. Lucinda was a woman who was
very passionate and very skilled in dealing with youth


Bermuda Senate at risk. I had the opportunity to work with her within the
school system and see all of the many ways in which
she touched the lives of others. And she will be deeply
missed.
Last but not least, I would like to offer condolences to the family of Mr. Andre Dill. Mr. Andre Dill is
the brother to my father -in-law. He was an individual
who gave much to this community, and we offer our
sincere condolences to that family, to his chi ldren and
his wife. And we pray that they will be comforted during this period.
On a much lighter note, I would like to offer
congratulations to Ms. Brittany Darko, Brittany Pitt
Darko, who was named Nurse of the Year. Brittany is
the daughter of my first cousin. But one of the things
. . . I have had the opportunity to witness Brittany when
visiting individuals in the hospital. I have always been
extremely impressed by the level of care that she provides, her professionalism. She started out very young
as a nurse, moved back here from the U K. And I certainly want to congratulate her on this accomplishment.
In the world of theatre, I would like to lift up two
Bermudians who are doing great things. Mr. Angelis
Hunt, who has been cast in the musical TINA —The
Tina Turner Musical in the West End in the UK. So congratulations to Angelis. And also to Sedona- Sky Duffy
who has been cast as one of the Heathers in the musical Heathers the Musical [where] she debuted last
Wednesday one week ago in the West End in the UK.
So we congratulate our young people on seeing their
dreams become reality. And we are really proud of them, and I look forward to an opportunity to be able to
witness both of them onstage in the UK in the not -toodistant future.
And last but not least, Madam President, I must
take the time to congratulate Minister Owen Darrell and
his entire team for the outstanding job that they did with the Bermuda Day celebrations. Actually, the entire Heritage Month has been outstanding. The level of energy,
with their theme Culture Equals Energy, we have seen
that exemplified in so many different ways. And so we
had a wonderful time, from the marathon which was absolutely wonderful to see return to its beginnings. And
we want to celebrate and congratulate and thank Mr.
Elmore Warren for his persistence and for all of the individuals who played a part in making Court Street
come alive in such a very positive way last week, to Dr.
Gina Tucker and the race committee. And congratulations to our champion, Mr. [Lamont] Marshall. And to
the young man, Mr. Ryan Outerbridge, who makes his
way in this field.
So I say thank you, Minister Darrell, for your
hard work and for your leadership. And please express our sincere congratulations and thanks to everyone
who was a part of our Bermuda Day and Heritage
Month.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill. And I see Senator Robinson.
Senator Leslie Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
Firstly, I too would like to associate myself with
the condolences on the loss of both Mr. Hughes and
Mr. Woods . Mr. Hughes was certainly someone who
loved Bermuda. And you could certainly glean from all
of his knowledge and love for Bermuda and also for our
Progressive Labour Party. And also Mr. Woods, who
was just a workhorse. If I had to describe him, he was
a workhorse for our party. And again, he is sadly
missed.
On a lighter note, I too would like to congratulate Minister Darrell and his team for a wonderful Heritage Day celebration and in actual fact Heritage Month
celebrations. It has been a wonderful month! And just to have that actual Heritage Day/Bermuda Day be full
of sunshine, it was just wonderful. And to see all of the
students in particular who were taking place in the parade, in particular those beautiful floats. It was just wonderful to see all of the cultures of Bermuda coming together and celebrating on a special day.
I would also like to recognise young people,
particularly with the teen awards and their having a spiritual award for the teens. I thought that was wonderful
to have some young people recognised for spiritual
leadership. Dominique Brown and Tajer Basden, I want
to call those two out. They won the Spiritual Leadership
Awards. And I will say as a member of Bethel AME
Church, both of them growing up at Bethel AME
Church. Tajer is still working at Bethel and Dominique
moving over to St. Philip, I can truly say that they have
come up and you can tell that they do wish and want to
live spiritual lives. So we congratulate them. And they
are first cousins, and the patriarch of the family, their
grandfather, is Norris Burgess. So I just want to extend
congratulations to the Burgess family.
Also, I wish to highlight the 35 young people
who are going to be part of the Youth Employment Programme this year. It is just wonderful that we have 35
young people who will be getting employment through
that particular programme.
And I also want to congratulate my cousin,
Carol Clarke. She is a stalwart in the community for ser-vice, particularly to seniors. She was recognised at
Bethel AME Church at their Palm Sunday symposium.
She was recognised and had a luncheon. And she was
recognised for her community work over the last 25
years and in particular her weekly feeding ministries as
well as her seniors Christmas luncheon, which has become very, very popular on the first Saturday of December of each year. Also she was recognised at
Grace Church on April 28 for her piano playing. So she
is a lady of many talents, and I am just happy that she
is being recognised.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
462 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to speak?
Kiernan Bell, Vice President, you have the
floor.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
I want to associate myself of course with all of
the congratulations and condolences that are given.
On the condolences side, I would like to provide my condolences to the family of Braxton Stowe,
whom I knew personally, and to his wife Laverne, son
Jamie Braxton, Jr., as well as the wider family. He will be missed.
On a lighter note, I would also like to give congratulations to all high school graduates. They are all graduating right now. My daughter just graduated.

The President: Wonderful!

Sen. Kiernan Bell: So, it gives me an opportunity to
give her a little shout -out. But to all of them as they embark on this next adventure. Congratulations to all of
them.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you, Vice President Kiernan
Bell.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Hearing none, then I would just like to associate myself with the condolences that have been expressed for Arthur Chesley Trott. And Lucinda Worrell
[Stowe], who, I agree, Senator Tucker, was an excel-lent, really wonderful person. She spent some time at
St. Brendan’s. But in the community, she was absolutely a wonderful person. And she had an excellent funeral as well. I was pleased to be there to visit with the
family.
Also, I would like to express condolences to the
family of Mr. Austin Warner, who was an addictions
counsellor. And I had worked with him some years ago,
and he died recently. And I just want to express condolences and have condolences sent to his family.
Obviously, I would want to congratulate Nurse
Brittany Darko, who won the Nurse of the Year this
year, and a well -deserved award for her.
And I would like to associate myself with the
congratulations to Minister Darrell and his entire team.
I mean, you gave your report this morning, and that was
absolutely splendid. I enjoyed the day on Front Street,
and it was absolutely tremendous. People were saying,
I think this is the best one that we’ve ever had! But anyway, it was absolutely wonderful. And of course I want
to recognise and congratulate those from the race
weekend, those who ran the marathon. I thought that
was very well done. And we do not often hear about the
young people who get up at seven or eight o’clock in
the morning and have their race. And I would like to congratulate Speaker Lister and his family because
they take responsibility for seeing that that goes off well. So, with all of that, I just associate myself with all that has been said here in the Senate today.
With that, we will move on to Adjournment. And
it is over to you, Minister Darrell.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I now ask that the Senate
adjourn until Wednesday, June 12.
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
the motion to adjourn?
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I will.

The President: You want to speak on the motion to
adjourn?

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Yes, please.
The President: You have the floor.

OBA SILENCE
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I am
shocked actually that I am the only speaker who wishes
to speak today on the motion to adjourn. Madam President, I say that because when you open the daily,
when you open certain social media sites, it seems that
individuals who sit across the aisle in this place have a
lot to say. So, Madam President, I came this morning
fully prepared to speak about the record of this Government and to speak about the positivity that we are doing
to help those in the community. And the reason they
say, Madam President, that good work usually speaks
for itself. But the problem you have, Madam President, is that individuals who sit on the other side in this place
and another place tend not to use the space that they
are given to speak.
I learned a long time ago, my mom used to
speak . . . (well, she still does) French. And they say
that “parliament” is derived from a French word “ parler .”
In French I learned a long time ago with Levyette Robinson, Ms. Lydia Perinchief at the Berkeley Institute that
“parler ” means “to speak.” So that is why I start today,
Madam President, and I am shocked that we see the
One Bermuda Alliance Senate Leader doing a lot of speaking in the daily, but not much speaking in the Senate.
We often hear, Madam President, the Opposition whine quite a bit about collaboration, communica-tion. And if I have this wrong, Madam President, the
One Bermuda Alliance Senate Leader can point -of-order me. The Senator knows how to contact me, Madam
Presid ent. So when I am going about doing the work of
the people, because Lord knows I am busy, and some-one puts an article in front of me of a whining


Bermuda Senate Opposition Senator, I actually do not know how to respond. So, I would have thought that maybe that discussion could have been brought to this place and I
could listen respectfully to the One Bermuda Alliance
Senate Leader speak.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Madam President, point of order,
please.

POINT OF ORDER

Sen. Robin Tucker: And my point of order is that the
scheduling issue is not the first time it has been brought
up.
[Crosstalk]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I have not spoken about
a scheduling issue, Madam President.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
That is the article that he—

[Crosstalk]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I have not spoken about
a scheduling issue.
Sen. Robin Tucker: —that he is referring to. Thank
you, Madam President.
The President: Minister, carry on.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you.
The One Bermuda Alliance had the opportunity
to speak. No one did.
Then, Madam President, I have to take my time
with this one. I come up here from time to time, and
some will say that the Progressive Labour Party has a
strong mandate. And they may say, Well, blessed with
the riches that the people support you. I come up here, and I always wonder, Well, why is it that I don’t hear
anything in another place from the Opposition? I just don’t hear it.
So, I was in another place a couple of weeks
ago when we talked about the Tourism Investment Order. And I was shocked again that all I heard, once one
individual from the Opposition spoke in another place,
was negativity! Talking about developments that had
nothing to do with the Order, not praising the work that the Government is doing to invest in the tourism product, which will then mean investing in jobs for Bermudians, which will mean people can take home money and
boost the economy. I heard nothing about that, Madam
President. Once again, when given the opportunity to
speak, the One Bermuda Alliance remains silent.
And the most sickening of all . . . I have to delicately go around this. On a weekend where there was
positivity, there was also tragedy. And a certain One Bermuda Alliance Senator could not help himself but to
jump on the bandwagon of tragedy and put that as the
feature of his weekend highlights. Sickening, Madam
President! But yet we come to this place and that same
Senator is silent. In the congrats and obits, that same Senator was silent.
I know we are politicians, Madam President.
But as I sit here, I tell people all the time, What we do
is serve the people. And when you come to this place
and you hear nothing to assist the people . . . but I am
sure there are probably tweets and everything else that are going along. You had a Senator not even here today, supposed to be enjoying a vacation. But besides
that, h e will speak on social media about the Government Senate Leader. Sickening, Madam President.

PLP ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: So I am going to finish
my remarks by talking about and speaking, using my
platform in the Senate to talk about some things that
the Government is doing that directly impact and help
the people. I gave a full Ministerial Statement this morning about two. One was the assistance of Bermuda Day
participants and how that turns over to see the joy and
the revelry on the streets. That stuff does not happen
by chance, Madam President. And I know I heard some
accolades in here that were directed to the Minister,
myself. There is a whole team of people. There was a
whole community that sent in suggestions. How about
you look at this? Why don’t we do this?
So yes, Madam President, I am going to speak
on it today in the Senate. I can pull up a litany of mes-sages, and I am going to send them to the Senator from
the One Bermuda Alliance and see if they show up on
his Instagram feed of all of the parents, Madam President, who could not afford to go to summer day camps
a year ago because the spaces were small. The spaces
sold out too fast. There may not have been options
available for what their students wanted to do. And in
another place that I sit on Tuesdays, i t was a directive
that, Next year, Mr. Minister, this cannot happen. We
need to put the focus of the community first.
So in February when we talk about, or March
when we sit here and the One Bermuda Alliance likes
to get up and just ask gotcha questions all the time, and
we meticulously lay out the budget allotment for this
Government and how it will benefit the people, what
you saw two weeks ago, Madam President, were the fruits of that labour where we had private sector camps
come on board wit h government camps and double the
placements that we were able to give to young people
in this community. Not a word said about it by the One
Bermuda Alliance. Not one!
The role of politicians is to serve, and one of
the roles of this place is to speak. So while we can sit
up here and we can dance around and do political
games to get things to go in their favour, I will continue
464 29 May 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate with my colleagues of the Progressive Labour Party to
serve the people of this country who need it most.
Two hundred, about a quarter -of-a-million dollars supporting young people in this community. And as
some Senators like to point out, they were not young people from just one side of town or one community
club. We span the entire gamut of national sports governing bodies in this country. Shocking. The Senator
who sits on the other side said not a word about it. We
come to speak, Madam President.
We see events like the Bermuda Smash Invitational that was supported by the Ministry of Tourism,
Culture and Sport. We saw other jurisdictions look at
what we were doing and say, This is amazing! Look
what Bermuda is doing! And they came in support of an
event that I expect to go global, an event that I expect
to help the community.
So, Madam President, while you would have
seen a lot of scurrying around earlier, maybe they have
somewhere to go. Maybe they have somewhere to be.
But as for the work that is needed for the people of this country, you only have to look as far as the work that
Senator Lindsay Simmons is doing and has done. On
a day after the election did not go her way, Madam
President, you would think that the newly elected MP would offer to go help her pick up trash. Nope! Instead,
the Senator who sits aside me decided to go on social
media and post pictures about government vehicles,
engage in discussions about dropping off people at the
polls. Sickening, Madam President! And I would urge
them to take some time, do some research, come to this place and speak on things that actually matter to
the people of this country.
I know my time is probably short, Madam President.

The President: It is short.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: But I can sit here, and I
will come back next time, on June 12. That is when we
are scheduled to come back. And I will challenge them
to come with some solid debate to this place, something that people can tangibly see what you are trying
or attempting to do. Because right now we see nothing
as far as an alternative. We see solid work day in and
day out from the Government of Bermuda, which is a
Progressive Labour Party Government.
So I will finish, Madam President, by saying I
am thankful that you enjoyed the Bermuda Day festivities. I am thankful that we got to see Court Street in all its glory and shine. I am thankful that we had a solid
competition in the running race coming dow n. And I will
congratulate them at another time.
But, Madam President, I had to take this opportunity because I was prepared that all of the stuff that
we see in other places that I say, Oh, just put that aside. When Senator Tucker wants to say something of quality, she will bring it to the place where she has a platform. Nothing. Senator De Couto, a lot of time on Twitter. Let
us bring it to the Senate and let us talk about it. Nothing.
So I will come on June 12, Madam President,
with another list of all of the work that the Government
is doing for the people of Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Owen Darrell.
Thank you.
With that said, would any other Senator care to
speak?
Hearing none, the Senate stands adjourned
until June 12. Thank you, Senators, for your time and
input today. Stay well.
[At 1:01 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until 10:00 am
Wednesday, 12 June 2024.]