October 4, 2023

Madam President, I
hereby present for the information of Senate the Legal
Aid Annual Report 2023. Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
And the next is in the name of Senator Robinson, the Junior Minister for Economy and Labour.
Senator Leslie Robinson, you have the floor.

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2022/23
FINANCIAL YEAR

BERMUDA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION (BEDC) PROPOSED
EXPANSION OF THE NORTH EAST
HAMILTON EEZ TO SOUTH EAST
HAMILTON APRIL 2023
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I hereby present for the information of Senate the Department of Financial Assis-tance Annual Report for 2022/23 Financial Year; and
the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation
(BEDC) Proposed Expansion of the North East Hamilton EEZ to S outh East Hamilton April 2023.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.

NOTICE S OF MOTION S

GOVERNMENT FEES (TRADE MARKS)
REGULATIONS 2023
The President: We have two notices of motions, and
that is in the name of Minister Owen Darrell, the
spokesperson for the Cabinet Office.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Good morning, Madam
President. Thank you.
The President: Good morning.



Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I hereby present for the
consideration of Senate the draft Regulations entitled
the Government Fees (Trade Marks) Regulations
2023, proposed to be made by the Minister responsible
for Finance in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2 of the Government Fees Act 1965. And I give notice that at a later point in this meeting I will move that
the said draft of Regulations be approved.
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
The next notice of motion is in the name of
Senator Robinson, Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister
of Economy and Labour.
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
(PROHIBITION OF ENTRY) (NO. 2) ORDER 2023
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I hereby present for the consideration of Senate the draft Order entitled the Bermuda Immigration
and Protection (Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Order
2023, proposed to be made by the Minister responsible
for Immigration in exercise of the powers conferred by
section 26 of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Act 1956. I give notice that at a later point in this meeting I will move that the said draft Order be approved.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.

PETITIONS
The President: There are none.

STATEMENTS
The President: We have three Statements. The first is
in the name of Senator, the Honourable Minister Owen
Darrell, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport.
Minister Darrell, you have the floor.

BERMUDA GOMBEY FESTIVAL SHOWCASE 2023

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you.
Madam President, every October the Department of Culture shines a spotlight on Bermuda’s most iconic cultural art form at the Gombey Festival showcase . This festival is one of the Culture Department’s
signature events [and] provides an opportunity to enjoy
what we all love best about the Gombeys. The impressive footwork, the staccato of the snare, the steady
pulse of the bass drum, the flashing colours of the intricately designed costumes. And if you are Bermudian, hearing and seeing this spectacular performance, you
know that it is practically impossible to just sit quietly in
your seat and observe.
Madam President, Gomb eys are rhythm personified. And these Gombey troupes embody our con-nections with our African past, as well as our linkages with the future through the young boys who are apprenticed into this tradition. Each of Bermuda’s Gombey
troupes is deeply embedded in our community and performs an essential function related to the other department in my portfolio, the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation, namely, providing a haven for our
youth to participate in healthy activities that help them
to feel included in rather than disconnected from their
social environment.
Madam President, for this reason the Government of Bermuda recognises the Gombey troupes for their essential role in preserving our cultural heritage
and has awarded each of the troupes $5,000 from the
Department of Culture 2023[ -2024] Heritage Grant.
These grants are a confirmation of our commitment to
supporting this tradition and of our appreciation for the
important role that the troupes play in our society.
Madam President, this year’s festival features
Gombey Evolution, Gombey Warriors, H&H Gombeys,
Place’s Gombeys, Warwick Gombey Troupe, and for
the first time at our annual festival SMS Village Gom-beys. In addition to the electric performances that we
will see from these six Gombey troupes, Madam President, we will also have the opportunity to enjoy entertainment by Fire Wayne, the PHC [Pembroke Hamilton
Club] Majorettes, and the United Dance Productions.
This festival is a terrific family event. And in addition to food vendors such as J&B’s Wood Fired Pizza, Duch Pops Bermuda, Alkaline Triangle, there will also
be air -brushed tattoos featuring the names of various
Gombey troupes and a free Fun Castle for the children. Somewhere my son is elated to hear that.

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, each
year the Department of Culture also takes the opportunity at the festival to highlight a special honouree who
has, through dedication, talent and leadership, helped
to inspire the Gombey community. I am pleased to announce that this year’s honouree is Mr. Robert Wilson of the Gombey Evolution Troupe. We will be providing
more information in the upcoming days about Mr. Wil-son’s many contributions. But for now, I would like to
congratulate him and thank him for his service to our
community.
Madam President, I would also like to thank the
hardworking team of the Department of Culture led by our Director, Dr. Kim Dismont -Robinson, for organising
the Gombey Festival showcase; particularly the Project
Lead, Ms. Carlita Lodge; assisted by Mr. Jo nari Smith.
Madam President, I would like to encourage
everyone to bring their families to the Botanical Gar-dens on Saturday, October 21, to enjoy this amazing
festival. It will be free to the public. I would like to reit-erate that date: It is Saturday, October 21, Madam
President. It is a time to dance, celebrate and cheer
your favourite troupes with a response to the call of
Ayuo ! But it is also a time to learn more and appreciate
596 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate the hard work and deep cultural ties that make our Bermuda Gombey a collective national treasure.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell. I believe
you have a second Statement. You can proceed when
you are ready.

10th COMMONWEALTH YOUTH MINISTERS
MEETING SEPTEMBER 2023

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, the 10th Commonwealth
Youth Ministers Meeting was held in London from September 11 through September 15, 2023. I attended
along with Mr. Theo Wolffe , the Youth Policy Working
Group Chair; and Ms. Shanyce Morris, a young Bermudian working in London with a strong interest in youth;
as well as Mr. Brandon Sousa from the Bermuda Government’s London Office.
Madam President, the Commonwealth Youth
Ministers Meeting is held every four years and is a forum that addresses youth policy for Commonwealth
member states. This year 2023 is the official Year of
the Youth, and it marks 50 years since the establishment of the Commonwealth Youth Programme in 1973. Madam President, this meeting brought together youth
ministers, senior government officials, youth representatives, youth workers and other stakeholders from
across the Commonwealth to discuss this year’s
theme, which was Aim Higher: Delivering More for
Young People in the Commonwealth. Attendees also
examined the sub- themes of education, employment,
environment and youth engagement.
Madam President, this provided us with a great
opportunity to share the critical and foundational work
that the Bermuda Government is doing with our young
people in the areas of employment, training and development; education; scholarship support; as well as entrepreneurship. It also provided an opportunity to highlight our national youth policy for the first time with our global counterparts.
Madam President, a number of sessions resonated closely with the team, including meaningful youth
engagement, delivering youth entrepreneurship and
employment, climate change, promoting intergenerational equality and equity, and delivering more for
young people through the power of technology.
Madam President, the meeting provided countless opportunities for fruitful networking, active collaboration and mutual exchanges of ideas and practices as
they pertain to youth policies and broader youth matters. Theo Wolffe, the Chair of the Youth Policy Working Group, commented that the meeting was a salient
reminder that the youth deserve to be actively involved in decision -making processes and are well equipped to
tackle local, regional and global matters. He noted that
in his capacity as Chair of the N ational Youth Policy Working Group, he found these conversations incredibly productive and truly believes that we can continue
to foster relationships with international youth councils
across the Commonwealth to inform and inspire initiative on our Island.
Madam President, delegate Shanyce Morris
observed that the discussions on addressing youth unemployment through expansion and promotion of youth entrepreneurship were particularly useful, noting that
young people being job creators and not just having a
job is becoming a growing trend.
Madam President, in addition to the main
meetings, I also met with the Overseas Territory youth
ministers , including the Honourable Bernie Bush from
the Cayman Islands; the Honourable Dee- Ann KentishRogers from Anguilla; the Honourable Sharie B. de Castro from the British Virgin Islands; as well as the
Honourable Rachel Taylor from the Turks & Caicos as
we talked about the successes and challenges in our
respective islands and ministries.
Madam President, I also made myself available to meet with young people living in London, young
Bermudians living in London. And this provided an opportunity for me to chat with them about their concerns.
[I extend my] t hanks to the staff of the Bermuda Government London Office, including their Director, Ms.
Kimberly Durant, as well as staff Brandon Sousa, Mr.
Frankco Harris and Mr. Sergio Griffin, who assisted in
making arrangements prior to and throughout my time
in London.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
The third Statement is in the name of Dr. Emily
Dill.
Reverend Dill, you have the floor. You are the
[Junior] Minister for National Security.

UPDATE ON BERMUDA INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT FIREFIGHTERS

Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, since my last Statement on
this matter, I am pleased to report that our 23 local recruit firefighters who travelled to Newcastle, UK, on the
5
th of August 2023 for six weeks to receive specialist
training have successfully completed their foundational
training course qualifying them as aircraft rescue firefighters.
Madam President, you may recall in my previous Statement I shared that the Newcastle International Fire Training Academy is a world- class aircraft
rescue firefighting training facility with highly qualified
instructors. The Minister of National Security had the
opportunity to visit the facility recently and learned how
this training academy prepares trainee firefighters and was very impressed with the training products they offered. He also spent time on a first -hand tour of the life -


Bermuda Senate size mock- up simulator of a commercial aircraft, and after learning more about the specific requirements of the
aviation industry it was evident that our recruits were
trained to the highest standards and are on par with any jurisdiction.
The Minister met and spoke with the recruits ,
asking them about their experiences, and they expressed that they had received excellent training and
were keen to return to Bermuda to put that training to
good use. They had clearly enjoyed their training, and
the morale was exceedingly high amongst them .
Madam President , our new firefighters worked extremely hard to qualify as aircraft rescue firefighters .
Each one of them was taught how to work as a member of a cohesive team under hostile conditions. Additionally, they were individually assessed for evidence of assimilation of core aerodrome knowledge, specifically those relevant areas of the Civil Aviati on Authority’s
(CAA) Publications such as CAP 168, CAP 1168, CAP
699 and the Air Navigation Order ANO 2016. In addition, they were required to demonstrate competence in
the following core skills, namely,
1. chemistry of c ombustion (including h ydraulics);
2. aircraft engines;
3. aircraft undercarriages;
4. aircraft construction;
5. aviation fuels;
6. freight (including d angerous goods);
7. military aircraft;
8. helicopters;
9. fire appliances;
10. complex rescue equipment;
11. firefighting equipment and media; and
12. tactics and t echniques of firefighting.
Each firefighter was required to undergo a specialised driving course enabling them to drive and operate the sophisticated fire vehicles used for aircraft
crash fire and rescue. This includes how to drive, position and deploy the relevant resources depending on
the incident type, of which there are many. They would
later undertake a one- week self -contained breathing
apparatus course where they would learn about the operation of the equipment, using it in smoke- filled environments. This would also be carrie d out in confined
space and under extreme heat and humidity with inter-nal fires being present. At the end of these specialist
weeks, further assessments were conducted including
a written exam, an oral exam and a practical assessment.
Madam President, each recruit received a certificate of competence in accordance with C AP 699
(Standards for the Competence of Rescue and Firefighting Service Personnel, developed by the UK Civil
Authority). Additionally, each of them received a certificate of completion of their foundational recruits’ course
from the Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service. Madam President, this milestone is significant as it represents
the end phase of the Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service’s
emergency plan to rapidly expand and build the extra workforce capacity required to meet the new minimum staffing levels mandated by the Aerodrome Regulators.
The amount of resource energy and time expended by
the Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service to reach this stage
was nothing short of extraordinary because of the timings of similar recruitment drives taking place in the
wider Ministry.
Madam President, I am pleased to inform Senators that our newly trained fire officers replace d the
overseas consultant firefighters on the 1
st of October
2023. Madam President, I would be remiss if I did not
acknowledge the role our consultant firefighters fulfilled
during the most challenging period of this project. Last
year when the Aerodrome Audit Report featured prominently in the public sphere, the Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service, with the support of the Government, de-veloped a plan in coordination wit h the Canadian -
based fire protection service provider which resulted in
a surge of overseas consultant firefighters who answered the call to serve in Bermuda for the past 18
months.
Madam President, last week the Minister of
National Security met with the consultant firefighters
and expressed this Government’s deepest appreciation
for their willingness to leave the comfort of familiar sur-roundings and very quickly acclimate to living and
working in Bermuda. Our consultants provided excel-lent service on behalf of the Bermuda Fire & Rescue
Service, and I wish for the record to reflect our deepest
gratitude for that.
Madam President, we are committed to ensuring that there are sufficient resources at the airport to
maintain operations. We are also committed to recruiting and retaining Bermudians in the service in general. This essential service provides a challenging and rewarding career, and I encourage people to apply to join.
Madam President, in closing I wish to point out
that this is another example of a promise made and
promise kept. Madam President, I hasten to thank the
women and men throughout the Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service for their continued outstanding service to
this country without which our lifeline at the airport
would not be able to function and operate.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill, Junior Minister for National Security.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

DISTILLERIES LICENSING ACT 2023

TRADE MARKS ACT 2023

598 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate TRADE MARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
AMENDMENT REGULATIONS AND
VALIDATION ACT 2023

HEALTH INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2023

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2023

NATIONAL TRAINING BOARD
AMENDMENT ACT 2023

EMPLOYMENT (PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE
TIPS AND OTHER GRATUITIES)
AMENDMENT ACT 2023

MOTOR CAR (CLASSIC CARS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2023

The President: The following public Bills have been received from the Honourable House of Assembly and
are now read for the first time. Their titles are, respec-tively: the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023; the Trade
Marks Act 2023; the Trade Marks and Service Marks
Amendment Regulations and Validation Act 2023; the Health Insurance Amendment Act 2023; the Financial
Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023; the National
Traini ng Board Amendment Act 2023; the Employment
(Protection of Employee Tips and Other Grat uities)
Amendment Act 2023; and the Motor Car (Classic Cars) Amendment Act 2023.
And, Senators, these will be taken up later in
our Orders of the Day.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS
The President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD
The President: Senators, just as a reminder, Senator
Robinson was asked to provide oral responses to Parliamentary Questions that were presented by Senator
Dr. De Couto. And she has the responses. So I call on
her to respond.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
In relation to question 1, the response is as follows: The contract for the Bermudiana project is be-tween Bermudiana Development Company Limited (BDCL) and BCM Construction Company Limited
(BCM). As such, there have been no delayed or late
payments between Bermuda Housing Corporation
(BHC) to the main contractor and any subcontractor.
There is no contract between BDCL and any subcontractor or supplier.
Regarding the contract between BDCL and
BCM, there have been four occasions where the pay-ments have been delayed. Once payment application is received from BCM, it is reviewed and approved by
Brunel Engineering [Consultants ]. Once approved, it is
reviewed by BDCL, then reviewed and approved by the board for payment.
1. Application 4—$99,000 issued December 23,
2021. Approved December 29, 2021, and paid
February 10, 2022, forty -three days past due,
(29 days );
2. Application 17— $1,829,576 issued March 15,
2023, approved March 19, 2023, paid April 24,
2023, thirty -six days and past due 2022 days
[sic];
3. Application 20 —$2,122,072 issued June 9,
2023, approved June 20, 2023. There were
four payments made for this application:
June 30 for $1,061,036; July 28, 2023, for
$300,000; August 28, 2023, and $150,000 August 28 . . .
Sorry. Let me just repeat that again. June 30
for $1,061,036; July 28, 2023—
The President: Senator Robinson, I am sorry. If I can
interrupt. I am not sure the rest of the Senators understand what you are responding to. And I just wondered
whether or not the question could be —
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Could be read?

The President: Could be read for us. Yes.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Sure, sure.
[Inaudible interjection]

The President: The public does not know.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: That is fine.

The President: Sorry about that.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: No, that is fine. Yes. I was
mainly responding as a result of the questions being—

[Crosstalk]

The President: For the listening audience.

QUESTION 1 : BERMUDIANA HOTEL PROJECT

Sen. Leslie Robinson: So the first question was,
Would the Junior Minister please provide the Senate
with the dates, dollar amounts (values) and length of
delay (lateness) on any payments that have been late
or delayed in relation to the Bermudiana hotel project,
whether from Government to the Bermuda Housing
Corporation (BHC) or from BHC to the main contractor and any subcontractors or suppliers on the project over
the past 24 months?


Bermuda Senate And so the start of the response was just to
clarify the contracts, the contractual natures, who the
parties are in the contract. And now I was actually getting into the actual payments and delinquencies,
et cetera. So, Madam President, if the Senate and you
are okay, I can take it again from the amounts and the
actual payment dates and the delinquencies.

The President: Mm-hmm.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: So the first one, Application 4,
was $99,000. That was the first application received. It
was issued December 23, 2021, [was] approved December 29, 2021, and [was] paid February 10, 2022,
forty-three days. Past due was 29 days.
Application 17 in the amount of $1,829,576, issued March 15, 2023, [was] approved March 19, 2023,
[was] paid April 24, 2023, thirty -six days; past due 2022
days [sic].
Application 20 was in the amount of
$2,122,072 issued June 9, 2023. It was approved June 20, 2023. There were four payments made for this
application: June 30, for $1,061,036; on July 28, 2023,
for $300,000; August 28, 2023, for $150,000; and August 28, $611,036.
And Application 21, $1,180,831 issued July 11,
2023, [was] approved July 26, 2023, [was] paid August 29, 2023, thirty -four days, past due 20 days.

QUESTION 2 : BERMUDIANA HOTEL PROJECT
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Question number 2 is, For
each delayed or late payment referred to in question 1, would the Junior Minister please inform the Senate as to the reason for the delay or lateness?
Application 4, questions were raised on items,
and once answered, payment was made.
Application 17, we received approved application after the monthly board meeting so had to call a special board meeting for the approval. Once approved, it was paid.
Application 20, most of this payment was paid
on time, but due to the length of the loan process, full
payment could not be made at that time. A further pay-ment of $300,000 was made prior to Cup Match. On
August 28, 2023, the final payment of $761,036 was
made.
And then for Application 2022, this was delayed slightly as we waited for the funds from the new
financing arrangement.

QUESTION 3 : BERMUDIANA HOTEL PROJECT
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Then the final question: Would
the Junior Minister please provide the Senate with a list and description of any breaches of contract between the Government, BH C and the Bermudiana project
contractors and suppliers over the past 24 months? And the answer to question number 3: BDCL
works closely with BCM, the construction managers, meeting a minimum of twice a week. At times when
payments were delayed, open discussions were held
and agreement was made on these delays. As such, no breaches to the contract between BDCL and BCM
were made. BDCL and BCM have a healthy working
relationship that has evolved over the course of this
project which results in close collaboration and open
communication to resolve any issues.
And that is it, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Senator De Couto.

Oh, no. Then my second
question would be with respect to the financing, which
is, Why was the financing delayed or not put in place
with ample time to make the payments? Which in a
way, you know, I understand most projects like this, we
would have a prett y good sense of what activity would
happen in what time frame, and therefore which
amounts of funds would be needed to be applied
throughout the time of the project. Thank you.
The President: That is your second question. Do you
have a third or a follow -up?

No. Those are my two
questions, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Okay. I am going to just reiterate the first part of my answer to question 1, which will hopefully answer Senator De Couto’s first question.
The contract for the Bermudiana project is between Bermudiana Development Company Ltd.
(BDCL) and BCM Construction Company Ltd. (BCM).
As such, there have been no delayed or late payments
with the Housing Corporation; we talked about that.
600 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate There was no contract between BDCL and any subcontractor or supplier. Regarding the contract between
BDCL and BCM, there have been four occasions. And
then we mentioned about BDCL then reviewed and approved by the board.
I will in this instance provide the answer [from]
the actual board itself, and also why the financing . . .
about being late, I will provide that in due course.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
We now move on to the Ministerial Statements.
And the first one on the Gombey Festival that was given
by Minister Darrell, does any Senator want to offer any
questions to this Statement?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Madam President, I will.

The President: Senator Robinson, Dwayne Robinson,
you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA GOMBEY FESTIVAL
SHOWCASE 2023

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
First of all, I think this is a fantastic initiative and
has been since its inception. I just had one question for
clarity for myself and for those who may be listening.
It said that [there] was a grant awarded to each
of the troupes of $5,000. So for my clarity, I just wanted
to know if these are the troupes that are listed below as
in Gombey Evolution, Gombey Warriors, H&H? Or is this every Gombey troupe that currently exists in Bermuda? And can we get a total for that? Otherwise, I
think it is a great initiative. Thank you.

The President: Would any Senator care to—
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA GOMBEY FESTIVAL
SHOWCASE 2023
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I also join with my Senate colleague. I think it
is a great initiative. Gombeys are part of our culture.
And certainly we are all very proud of our Gombey
troupes.
So to tag on to my Senate colleague’s question, I would like to know if the Minister can tell us whether the grants that were provided are anticipated
to be annual grants. That is the first question.

The President: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION 2: BERMUDA GOMBEY FESTIVAL
SHOWCASE 2023

Sen. Robin Tucker: And then the second question is
whether the grants that were provided have already
been budgeted for or if this is a new expense. QUESTION 3: BERMUDA GOMBEY FESTIVAL
SHOWCASE 2023

Sen. Robin Tucker: And then the third question is
whether there are any future endeavours to teach the
history of the Gombeys, whether more so publicly,
maybe on CITV, more exposure and the history of
Gombeys and what they represent in Bermuda. or if
there was going to be any further collaboration in the
schools.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Senator De Couto, you have indicated that you
have a question.

Thank you, Madam President.
It is just a comment. I really enjoyed this event
last year with my family and would encourage everyone to make it out. And I think it might be useful to reiterate
that it has been rescheduled. The Minister did take care
to emphasise the new date. But for those who have already put it in their calendar, you might need to “X” it out and put it back in on the new date. So just for everyone listening in to that. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Darrell, I believe those are the questions that have been posed to you. So when you are ready, you can respond. Minister Darrell.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
For the first question, the Senator asked, How
many groups are there in Bermuda? There are six
Gombey troupes total in Bermuda. And I named them
in my Statement. All six Gombey troupes will be performing at the Gombey Festival, and all six Gombey
troupes get $5,000. So the total, six times five, is
$30,000.

The President: Mm-hmm.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
The second question from Senator Tucker
was, Is this money budgeted for? Yes. It was budgeted for in the budget debates and the Budget Statement that was given in March.
The final question from Senator Tucker was
around history of the Gombeys and where is it being
shared? Ironically, flipping through the TV channels last
night, Behind the Mask: Gombeys Past, Present, and
Future, which is a documentary that was done quite
some time ago, featured the late Ms. Louise Jackson —
everybody knows her connection to dance and her love for the Gombeys —as well as Mr. [Gary] Phillips. They
are the two main narrators on there. That was showing


Bermuda Senate on CITV last evening. And I am not sure if it was a coincidence with the lead up to the Gombey Festival, but
often, that film shows.
There was another one that was done, a
shorter film [ Not a Generic Gombey: Art, Consumption,
and Intellectual Property ] that was done last year, and
I spoke on it. That was sponsored by the Department
of Culture, and it was done by Qian Dickinson, basically
speaking of the intellectual rights that the Gombeys
have and how people should be cognisant of how they
use the Gombey images.
And I am pleased to announce that there are
more documentaries that are in current production.
One is a short documentary that is currently in production, and it is looking to be released shortly. And the title
of that is Gombey Unity. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: And to speak on Senator
De Couto’s question, yes. The reason was not stated
in my Statement, but I did say the date is now October 21st. He is correct that it was due to be this Saturday. It has been moved as we are monitoring some inclement weather for the weekend. And although it may
or may not rain on that day, you would be aware that
putting on an expo of this magnitude takes many day s
of preparation. And when you start talking about potential tropical storm winds, that is not a risk that we wish
to take with individuals’ property. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Madam President, excuse me.
There was one other question I asked that the Minister
may have forgotten to answer. And that was whether
the $5,000 awarded to each of the Gombey troupes
would be an annual award?
Thank you, Madam President.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Yes. The answer is yes.
There is an annual Heritage Grant and a contribution
specifically for the Gombey Festival. And that is where this funding has come from.
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell, and thank
you, Senators.
We will now move on to the second Statement,
by Minister Darrell, and that is his report on the Com-monwealth Youth Ministers meeting.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
that Statement?
Senator Robinson.

QUESTION 1: THE 10th COMMONWEALTH YOUTH
MINISTERS MEETING SEPTEMBER 2023

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you, Madam President. So for me, I believe that this initiative is a good
one, and I believe the national youth policy was mentioned in this Statement. As someone who was recently
considered youth until they went 29, you know, I am
very concerned and intrigued about the eight policy goals that were set out by this national youth policy.
And I am just wondering if this meeting with the chairman of the working group, will we also be able to get a
bit of an update from the Minister on the status of those policy goals and how this meeting or this trip aided in
that endeavour? Thank you.

The President: Would any other Senator care to ask
questions on this Statement?
Senator Robin Tucker.

QUESTION 1: THE 10th COMMONWEALTH YOUTH
MINISTERS MEETING SEPTEMBER 2023

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I wondered if the Minister might be able to give
just a little bit more insight into the sessions that was mentioned that resonated closely and had to do with
intergenerational equality and equity and delivering
more for young people through the power of technology? Obviously, we are living in a technological age.
So, it would be good to know if he could share maybe
even a key highlight or so that is related to that particular part of his Statement. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions
on this Statement?
No.
Then it is over to you, Minister Darrell.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you.
Thank you. For the first question, the Senator
may or may not be aware that there was an annual report that was produced earlier this year (I think it was
also mentioned in this place) regarding the report of the
working group. And it was produced by the t hen-outgoing chair, Ms. Ariana Caines. So I would invite the Senator to have a look at that annual report. And many of the questions regarding the implementation of the
eight policy goals would be clearly laid out in that. And
I am very happy to also repor t that there have been
some additions, some changes to the working group in
our second year. Mr. Theo Wolffe is now the new chair,
as I have mentioned in the Statement. And we are now in the process of linking with many different organisations and departments throughout government and
throughout the community.
I would also welcome the Senator to schedule
a meeting with the chair of the working group. And I
would love to sit in on that with him so he can be brought up to speed about the amazing work that this
group is doing to put these policy goals in place and in
action for the young people of Bermuda.
602 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate As far as the question for Senator Tucker, there
was quite a large . . . I mean, I had two huge binders.
And it is all electronic. So, Madam President, rather
than sit here and go through the details that I think she
is looking for, if it is okay with you, Madam President, and the Senate Leader of the OBA, I will most definitely
forward those documents to her. I mean, it will make for
great reading. But there were many sessions. Many of
the sessions were going on at the same time, which
was the beauty of our going to this meeting with myself
and a few others, that we could split ourselves up. And all of those sessions came back with a full brief and
[the] kind of objectives that were discussed and laid out.
So I will share all of that information, which is
electronic, to the One Bermuda Alliance Senator.

The President: Thank you.

SUPPLEMENTARY
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
Can the Minister kind of give us one or two
highlights that specifically relate to the aspect of delivering more for young people through the power of technology? I just wanted to know if there was anything in particular that stood out to him about that p articular . . .
about the technological aspect.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: On that one, no, I cannot.
But I will forward all of the information and you will be able to see it.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
We will now move on then to the third Statement. That was given by Senator Emilygail Dill, the Jun-ior Minister for Security and Transport. And she spoke
to the international airport firefighters.
Would any Senator care to ask any questions
on this Statement?
Senator Tucker, you have the floor, Opposition
Leader [in the Senate].

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON BERMUDA
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FIREFIGHTERS

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
The last Statement that the Junior Minister
gave before we broke for the summer, so on July 26,
that Statement indicated that 24 new firefighters had
been recruited. And today’s Statement mentions 23. So
I just wanted to know, did one fall away? Did somebody
withdraw or what have you?

QUESTION 2: UPDATE ON BERMUDA
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FIREFIGHTERS
Sen. Robin Tucker: There is a second question that I
have. And it is, the Junior Minister mentioned that people would be encouraged to continue to apply to become firefighters. So I would like to know, what is the
target number that would bring the fire service up to full complement? Are they still short? And if so, by how
many?

QUESTION 3: UPDATE ON BERMUDA
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FIREFIGHTERS
Sen. Robin Tucker: Then the third question I have is,
Is there a recertification aspect required for all of the
recruits, the newest recruits? Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions
on this Statement?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Senator
Emily Dill, for a response.

Thank you, Madam
President.
In light of the fact that there are no technical
officers currently present, I will get the answers to those questions to Senator Tucker as soon as possible.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill, Emily Dill.
With that said, then this ends our Question Period.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

The President: The first order of the day is the second
reading of the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023, and that
is in the name of the Honourable O. K. Darrell, spokesperson for the Cabinet Office and Minister in the Sen-ate.
You have the floor, Senator Darrell, when you
are ready.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the provisions of Standing Order 25 be
granted so that the Senate can now proceed with the
second reading of the public Bill entitled the Distilleries
Licensing Act 2023.
The President: You can read them all.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Also the Trade Marks Act
2023, the Trade Marks and Services Marks Regula-tions Amendment and Validation Act 2023, the Health
Insurance Amendment Act 2023, the Financial Assis-tance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023, the National Training Board Amendment Act 2023, t he Employment (ProB ermuda Senate tection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023, and the Motor Car (Classic Cars) Amendment Act 2023.
The President: Thank you.
Is there any objection to doing all of the Bills?
[None].
[
Motion carried: Leave granted for the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023; Trade Marks Act 2023; Trade Marks
and Services Marks Regulations Amendment and Val-idation Act 2023; Health Insurance Amendment Act
2023 ; Financial Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act
2023 ; National Training Board Amendment Act 2023;
Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023; and the Motor Car
(Classic Cars) Amendment Act 2023 to be read a sec-ond time on the same day as their first reading.]
The President: So we will start with the first one, which
is the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023.
And, Minister Darrell, it is over to you.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: One second, Madam
President.
[
Pause]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I now
move that the Bill be read a second time, the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
DISTILLERIES L ICENSING A CT 2 023
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, today
I present the Bill entitled the Distilleries Licensing Act
2023. The purpose of the Bill is to
1.es
tablish an industry for the distillation of spirits
in Bermuda;
2.create a licensing regime for the operation of adistillery; and
3.create a framework to enable the sale and sup-ply of locally distilled spirits.
Madam President, on July 21, 2023, this Bill
was first introduced to the Honourable Members in the House of Assembly. The creation of local distilling fur-thers Government’s aim to provide opportunities for lo-cal entrepreneurs to participate in a new industry sec-tor. Currently, Madam President, the Spirits Act 1890
prohibits distillation and the purchase and sale of low
wines and spirits and requires that the production of al-cohol by local businesses take place outside of Ber-muda. The Bill seeks to repeal the Spirits Act 1890 and the Immature Spirits Restriction Act 1921. And while doing so, a legislative framework is being proposed by the Bill which will provide for a new industry in Ber-muda.
Madam President, alcoholic beverages are divided into three categories: wine, beer and spirits. Wines are produced through the process of fermenta-tion. Beers are brewed and then fermented. Spirits are
first fermented and then distilled. It should be noted that this Bill does not apply to breweries.
As a matter of interest, distilled liquor is an alcoholic liquor such as brandy, whiskey, gin and rum ob-tained by distillation from wine or other fermented fruit juices or plant juice. Further, Madam President, distilla-tion is a widely used method of separating and purifying liquid mixtures based on differences in their boiling
points. It is an essential process in various industries
such as chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining and the production of alcoholic beverages. The princi-ple behind distillation is that different substances have different boiling points. In a mixture of liquids, each
component will evaporate and condense back into a liquid at its specific boiling point. By carefully controlling the temperature and pressure, it is possible to s eparate
different components of a mixture and collect them in-dividually.
It is important to note, Madam President, that
distillation is not always a perfect separation process. Some components may have similar boiling points, making complete separation difficult. In such cases, ad-ditional purification techniques may be necessary such as multiple distillations or the use of additives. The component with the lowest boiling point will vaporise
first and condense at the highest point in an apparatus.
This fraction, known as the heads , contains the most
volatile substances and is typically separated and dis-carded. The main component, also called the heart, or
distillate, condenses at a lower, more controlled temperature and is collected as the desired product. Fi-nally, the components with higher boiling points, known as the tails, remain in the still and are typically discharged or recycled. Additionally, Madam President, it is known that if the head and the tail are not properly separated from the heart, then this can cause people to
fall ill.
The process of distilling spirits involves a tremendous amount of heat to produce ethanol alcohol.
This exercise is dangerous and a fire hazard, not to mention it also creates an unpleasant smell. Distilling is unfriendly to the environment, and [the unwanted byproducts of this process] must be disposed of in a manner that will eliminate or reduce the risk of harm to the environment and residents. This is not an industry that can be set up in any part of a house or a neighbour-hood. Only individuals who are experienced in distillation will be granted a licence.
604 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate There are two types of licences [granted under
this Bill] —a distillery licence for the small- scale production of distilled spirits that includes the sale and supply
of such distilled spirits, and a commercial distillery licence for the large- scale product ion of distilled spirits,
including the sale and supply of such distilled spirits. A
distiller may also apply for an export licence, which includes an application fee.
This may appear to be a huge amount of information. It is being offered to inform the public, Madam
President, of the requirements and considerations [necessary] to participate in this new industry. Madam
President, this new Act will provide for the creat ion of a
new industry sector in Bermuda that will undoubtedly
create employment opportunities and promote business expansion. The new legislation will permit oversight of local distilleries and include rules and regula-tions governing the criteria for the physical plant, health
and safety, operations, sale of products and fees associated with a going concern.
Madam President, research has shown that
the distilling industry in the United States is a multibil-lion dollar industry. Total sales and revenue, market
share, investment options and employment in this sector are rapidly on the rise and forecasted to cont inue to
trend upward. Additionally, Barbados boasts about an
increasing benefit and job creation from the implementation of the distillery industry. Finally, Madam Presi-dent, it is important to note that there are no clauses
included in this Bill that woul d prohibit Bermudians from
continuing to make the ever -popular Rum Swizzle.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you, Madam President, and thank you to the Minister for bringing this Bill to the Senate.
I would just like to share with the Senate and
the listening public. I am currently the Chairman of the
National Museum of Bermuda. And we have the potential of having discussions with potential operators who might take advantage of this. There are quite a few contingencies in there, but I want to put that out there.
We in the One Bermuda Alliance do support
this Bill. It is a very interesting idea of how to take ad-vantage of Bermuda’s brand and history, and to allow
Bermudians to innovate in marketing and producing boutique products. You know, we have quite a seafaring heritage. Obviously, we know about rum. And it is
both a curse [and a blessing], but it is also something
that we are able to market internationally. And there are
many well -known Bermuda brands. So something like
this might provide them room to be creat ive and innovative and create some value there. And we certainly welcome this effort by the Government to provide another opportunity for innovation and creativity. I do believe that the Minister laid out quite well
many of the things here that we need to be cautious of.
And that is interesting because of course he mentioned
the 1890s Bill. And there are probably a lot of reasons
why that Bill came into being. But he laid out some reasons that you could easily imagine that people do not
want distilleries setting up in their neighbourhood. And
I know that we will need careful monitoring and stewardship of this so that the public is not made to bear the
costs of this in respect to the environment, whether it
be the air or the disposal of the byproducts. And I know
that the Government will also carefully take care when
considering where our facilities are located, both for the
people in the vicinity of the facilities and both for the
health and safety of the workers in those facilities. So
[there is] a lot of upside and quite a few things we need
to watch for.
You know, one thing that we talked about
within the OBA that I would like the Government to perhaps consider. Products [or ingredients to operate]
need to be input into this process. And I wonder if there
is a way for people innovating and marketing in thi s
area to perhaps build off of our local agricultural industry and provide them a way to provide materials to input
into distilleries. Perhaps there is a way that the Government could encourage that in some way. I know that
our local agricultural industry would certainly benefit from as much encouragement and opportunity as it can
get. You know, there is sugar cane, and there are also
other inputs. So I think there is some interesting opportunity there.
So those are our comments, Madam President. Thank you very much.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Minister.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
And I thank Senator De Couto for his comments. He also mentioned a few suggestions in there and I am sure the team of Cabinet officers are listening,
and they will look into some of the suggestions and points that he made. So, I thank you for the support.
And, Madam President, I now ask that the Bill
entitled the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023 be read a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. The Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect
of this Bill.

B ermuda Senate The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[
Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I now
move that the Bill entitled the Distilleries Licensing Act
2023 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third reading?
No objection.
BILL
THIRD READING
DISTILLERIES LICENSING ACT 2023
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill entitled
the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion? No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[
Motion carried: the Distilleries Licensing Act 2023 was
read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell, and thank
you, Senators, for your support.
We move on. The next order on the paper is
the second reading of the Trade Marks Act 2023. And it is also in the name of the Honourable Minister O. K.
Darrell, spokesperson for the Cabinet Office.
When you are ready, Minister, you can proceed.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I now move that the Bill entitled the Trade Marks Act 2023 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
TRADE M ARKS ACT 2 023
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, today
I am presenting to the Senate the Trade Mark s Act 2023. This Bill will repeal and replace the Trade Marks
Act 1974 and, together with the Government Fees
(Trade Marks) Regulations 2023, will provide necessary updates for our trade marks framework.
Madam President, Senators will recall that
modernising the legislation governing intellectual property rights was featured in the 2022 Throne Speech.
The Government is working toward this effort which includes updating the laws governing trade marks, patents, registered designs and copyrights. Replacing the
current outdated trade marks law is the first part of this
comprehensive initiative.
Madam President, this Bill will reposition Bermuda’s trade mark legislation to be more consistent
with global industry standards and practises and more
competitive in the global market. Trade mark protection
is an important part of any intellectual proper ty regime
since trade marks are used to designate an owner’s
goods or services.
Madam President, by its nature a trade mark is
considered an intangible asset that can become a valuable part of a business by helping to establish brand
recognition. A trade mark is essentially a recognisable
sign that may consist of words, colours, numbers, a
logo, a symbol or another design that is used to distinguish the goods or services of one party from those of
another. Trade marks can be used to tell people the
origin or expected quality of goods or services or to indicate membership in a particular association. Trade
marks may be registered or unregistered. However,
registration of a trade mark results in the conveyance
and protection by law of specified property rights in the
registered mark. This includes the right to exclusive use
of the registered trade mark and the right to prevent
others from using the same trade mark without permission.
Madam President, trade mark registrations are
usually categorised under the primary international system for classification known as the Nice Classification
(NCL) system. This system is currently in effect in Bermuda pursuant to the Trade Marks and Service Marks
Regulations 1993. Trade mark registrations are effective for specified periods of time and unlike some other
intellectual property protections can be renewed in perpetuity through established procedures.
Madam President, the owner of a registered
trade mark has access to certain remedies that are prescribed by law in cases where the owner’s rights have
been infringed by other persons. Infringement typically
occurs when a registered trade mark or a sign th at is
quite similar to the registered trade mark is used in a
trade or business in a way that is unauthorised. Given
the significance of trade marks to the reputation and
prosperity of businesses, whether local or international,
it is extremely important for Bermuda to modernise its
framework for trade mark protection. As I stated earlier,
this Bill will replace our existing trade marks law which
was first enacted nearly half a century ago.
606 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Madam President, this Bill contains new and
revised features and processes that will align Bermuda’s legislative approach with contemporary standards and practises. Key changes included in this Bill are
as follows:
1. The definition of the term “trade mark” is being updated to provide more clarity as to what qualifies as
a trade mark under the Act and to incorporate
marks used to distinguish services. By contrast, the
definition in the 1974 Act focuses on the use of a
trade mark in respect of goods only and includes a
Schedule to the Act that modified various provisions of the law in respect of service marks.
2. The registration and renewal periods for trade
marks registered in Bermuda are being changed to
10 years each to be consistent with global practises. This is a departure from the 7- and 14- year
registration and renewal periods contained in the
1974 Act and will result in more frequent renewals
and realisation of revenue fees for renewal every
10 years as opposed to every 14 years.
3. New categories of trade marks are being introduced in the legislation that were not previously included in the 1974 Act. This includes collective
marks and certification marks. Collective marks are used to distinguish the goods or services of members of an association which is the owner of the
mark from the goods or services of other undertak-ings. Certification marks indicate that particular
goods or services are certified by the owner of the
mark in respect to things like place of origin, mate-rials used or mode of manufacture of goods, performance of services, quality, accuracy or other characteristics.
4. Licensing rights are included which will give the
owner of a trade mark additional flexibility to convey licences to others to use a registered trade mark. A licence may be general or limited and may
include exclusive rights of use that are granted to
an exclusive licensee. While the 1974 Act provides
for registered users, which are in effect licensees,
there is no mention of a licensee in the Act which
is a more globally recognised concept in today’s trade mark practises.
5. There will be a single undivided Register for local
trade marks as opposed to the two- tiered approach
taken under the current legislation which divides
the Register into parts A and B. The 1974 Act also
includes different requirements for registration in
those respective parts.
6. This Bill also includes additional rights, processes
and flexibility along with provisions that create
greater legal certainty and clarity for users of the
legislation. This includes:
a. clarifying the authority of the Registrar to make changes to the Register as needed following changes to the international classification list for trade marks; b. additional flexibility for the parties to disputes regarding the trade mark to mutually
agree to refer the matter to a referee; and
c. the removal of the requirement for trade mark owners to associate multiple register
marks or pending applications in cases
where the owner seeks to register an identical or similar mark in an identical or similar class of good or services. This is an outdated and costly practise which has been
shown to be a deterrent to registration of trade marks in Bermuda.
Madam President, the new Act will provide
more detail regarding the actions that constitute in-fringement of a registered trade mark and the rights and
remedies following any infringement. This Bill establishes new offences and statutory penalties for an i nfringement as well as additional authority for the Registrar and the Collector of Customs to take steps to guard
against the importation and sale of counterfeit goods in
Bermuda.
Madam President, this Bill will also help ensure
that Bermuda can meet certain requirements set out by
the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property and the protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning international registration of marks.
These international treaties (more commonly referred to as the Paris Convention and the Madrid Protocol) are
used to facilitate the registration and protection of trade
marks across various jurisdictions to which the treaties
extend.
While the Paris Convention outlines requirements for the protection of various types of intellectual property, the Madrid Protocol pertains only to trade
marks and is the legal scheme under which trade marks
can be registered internationally and protected in multiple countries via a streamlined application process.
The Madrid Protocol is regarded as an effective and efficient system for maximising trade mark protection in
today’s global market. However, to gain access to the
Madrid Protocol, a country must first accede to the
Paris Convention.
So, Madam President, this Trade Marks Bill addresses only one category of the intellectual property
protections outlined by the Paris Convention. Other re-quirements of the Paris Convention deal with patents,
registered designs and trade secrets. Therefore, the
Government will continue its efforts to modernise Bermuda’s intellectual property laws to reach full compli-ance with the Paris Convention following the enactment
of the Bill. Work is currently in progress on updating the
Patents and Designs Act 1930.
Once we have completed our legislative process, the Government will make a request to the UK
Government for extension of the Paris Convention and
Madrid Protocol treaties to Bermuda. Such extension
will ensure that the Bermuda Government can facilitate


Bermuda Senate international registrations of trade marks and other intellectual property rights via applications filed in Bermuda or in respect of Bermuda.
Madam President, it is clear that the Government must ensure that internal staff members have the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities to implement
this new trade marks legislation. We also want to ensure that there is sufficient legal clarity and cas e law
that can be used by the courts and any other authorised parties to determine disputes regarding trade marks.
To that end, Madam President, the Government is continuing its practise of using intellectual property laws enacted in the United Kingdom as a model for
Bermuda’s legislation, including the Bill we are currently debating. This approach is supplemented by the
ongoing collaboration and partnership between the department of the Registry General and the UK’s Intellec-tual Property Office. Members of the staff at the Registry General are currently attending training sessions facilitated by the UK IP Office and have access to the use
of practise manuals and other guidance materials pub-lished by that office. Likewise, the Registrar and the
courts of Bermuda will benefit from legal precedent established in the United Kingdom when considering
trade mark disputes in Bermuda.
Madam President, I would like to thank the representatives of the UK IP Office for their assistance thus far and for their ongoing efforts as we continue with the implementation of this legislation and other
modernisation projects. This Bill is also the culmination
of efforts amongst various people and departments in Bermuda including the Ministry for Tourism and the
Cabinet Office, Department of Registry General, Economic Development Department, Attorney General’s Chambers and various members of the privat e sector.
So I would like to thank all those responsible
for their efforts in completing this legislation and helping to make Bermuda’s intellectual property regime more
competitive. We are certainly grateful for all of your
hard work. Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you, Madam President. And thank you to the Minister for bringing this Bill
forward.
It is very important that we are up to date with
various international standards and that we are able to offer people the same kind of facilities and capabilities
that they might find in other jurisdictions. So I want to
thank the Government for doing thi s. And we certainly
will support that.
I want to highlight just a couple of issues to
keep in mind here. And the Minister did highlight them.
He highlighted the need for the training, knowledge and
skills. This Bill is, if I count it right, 97 pages and is a
complete replacement of the existin g Act. So when you work in an organisation and then they change all of the
rules . . . people are people. Organisations are organisations. And it takes time and energy to adjust to the new thing. So we are also glad to hear that the Government is taking advantage of our links to the UK to speed up that process of training.
I wonder if also the Government will take advantage of this change to perhaps digitise this process. My understanding is that in many jurisdictions this is a
completely online process. And you can understand the
advantage to the cost and efficiency of doi ng [that] and
user experience of doing business if we are able to do
that. Perhaps once the hack is over, this is something
we can look at.
I looked in the budget just to try and understand
how important this is. This is one of those things we just
sort of have to do as a jurisdiction. If I add it up right, I think we have about three- quarters of a million dollars
in revenue. And I kind of lo oked at the staff and did a
ballpark, and we probably have about half a million dol-lars in staff costs related to this. So it is not exactly going to fix our debt problem, but maybe at around a quarter million dollars net and perhaps with fees going up
and getting fees more frequently, that will be a nice little
income kicker for the country. Of course, if we were to
digitise it, then that would also have to have some costs
up front, but perhaps it would be a nice way to streamline and reduce the costs associated with supplying the
service, which would also be a nice kicker.
So to summarise, [I am] glad to see this happening. I want to make sure that people recognise that it might be a little rocky as the new system comes into
play; this is normal with such complex things. And I wish the Government success in providing a streamlined and international standard service to people who
would like to use Bermuda as a jurisdiction.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Hearing none . . . Oh, Senator Emilygail Dill.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would just like to take the opportunity to thank
the Government for presenting this Bill and for the changes that are being made to the trade mark [legislation]. And certainly to say that it is extremely important that we continue to advance as we operate in this
global climate. And I would like to thank the technical
officers and all those who put the many, many hours of
hard work into the redevelopment of this legislation.
[We] certainly look forward to the changes and
the ways in which it continues to open up Bermuda to
other entities who will see us as a destination in which
they wish to operate.
Thank you.

608 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Hearing no other voice, Minister Darrell, it is
back to you. You have full support.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Just in communication with the technical officers, and I think they are coming with a response to
some of the stuff that Senator De Couto said, but with that said, as I am waiting for that, I just want to thank the Opposition as well as the Senator who spoke from my team for their support of this Bill.
And in response to the first question/comment
made by Senator De Couto, the answer is that the Gov-ernment is looking at options for enhancing the ser-vices provided by the Registry General, including digital submission. This is something that we are aware of and is in line with Government’s overall goal of making and
moving toward a more digital workplace.
[
Pause]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Just checking to see if
there was another response coming.
Were you waiting for another response, Senator De Couto?

No. They were just general comments. Thank you, Senator.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Okay.
Thank you very much, Madam President.
With that said, I move that the Bill entitled the
Trade Marks Act 2023 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, 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. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Bill entitled the Trade Marks Act 2023 be
now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third reading?
No objection. BILL
THIRD READING
TRADE MARKS ACT 2023
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: Is there any objection to the passage
of the Bill?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[
Motion carried: the Trade Marks Act 2023 was read a
third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell and Senators who responded.
We will now move on to the third item on our
Orders of the Day, and this is the second reading of the Trade Marks and Service Marks Regulations Amendment and Validation Act 2023. And this is also in the
name of Minister Darrell, spokesperson for the Cabinet Office.
Minister Darrell, when you are ready you can
proceed.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Trade Marks and Service Marks Regulations Amendment and Validation Act 2023 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
TRADE MARKS AND S ERVICE M ARKS
REGULATIONS AM ENDMENT AND
VALIDATIO N ACT 2 023
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
now introduce the Bill entitled the Trade Marks and
Service Marks Regulations Amendment and
Validation Act 2023.
This Bill seeks to amend the [Government
Fees] (Trade Marks and Service Marks) Regulations
1993, the Principal Regulations, to insert new 7th and
8th Schedules to provide for the 11th and 12th editions of
the Nice Classification of good and services. It is intended that the 7th Schedule will take retroactive effect
as of January 1, 2017, and the 8th Schedule will take
retroactive effect from the 1st of January 2023. This Bill


Bermuda Senate will also validate the actions taken by the department of
the Registry General with respect to trade mark applications and registrations referencing classifications
and will be included in those Schedules.
Madam President, the international Nice Classification of goods and services for the purposes of the
registration of marks was established by an agreement,
the Nice Agreement, concluded at the Nice Diplomatic
Conference in June 1957 with two revisions.
Madam President, the purpose of the Nice
Classification is to provide a proper system for the reg-istration of marks. Such registration is an internationally
accepted method of protecting intellectual property
rights. The use of the Nice Classification by national
trade mark offices allows the filing of applications with reference to an internationally recognised classification
system. The preparation of applications is thereby greatly simplified since the goods and services that apply to a given mark will be classified in the same way in
all countries that have adopted the classification system. The Nice Classification details an alphabetical list of goods in 34 classes (i.e., class 12, vehicles, apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water) and services
in 11 classes (i.e., class 36, insurance, financial affairs,
monetary affairs, real estate affairs).
Madam President, in order to keep the Nice
Classification up to date, it is continuously revised by the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] and a new edition is published every five years. The
[Government Fees] (Trade Marks and Service Marks)
Regulations 1993 currently operates under the 6
th
Schedule which references the 10th edition which has
been in force since January 1, 2012.
Madam President, modifications to bring the
Nice Classification in line with changes in marketing
and manufacturing trends are the responsibility of
WIPO, [the] Nice Classification committee of experts
(the “Committee”) in Geneva, Switzerland. The 11th edition of the Nice Classification initially came into effect on the 1
st of January 2017. However, it has not yet been
enacted into law in Bermuda due to what appears to be
an oversight [and what we are looking to correct with]
this Bill.
Madam President, to this end it is necessary to
adopt new Schedules 7 and 8 which will contain the 11th
and 12th editions of the Nice Classification to ensure
that there is no gap in coverage for trade marks currently registered in Bermuda. New goods and services
were introduced under the 11th edition, and trade marks
proprietors filed applications and had their trade marks
registered under the impression that the 11th edition
was operational in Bermuda and that any goods or services applied for in their a pplication would be rightfully
protected in Bermuda for the period that the 11th edition
was in effect.
Also, the 12th edition came into effect in January 1, 2023, and any trade mark applications filed and
trade marks registered since that date will need to be
validated. Thus, both the 7th and 8th Schedules will need to be approved retroactively. This will ensure that
the actions taken by the department of Registry General in reliance on the 11th and 12th editions can be validated without interruption to the rights and benefits of
trade mark owners.
In closing, Madam President, the introduction
of the Nice Classification 12th edition of trade marks and
service marks will ensure that Bermuda continues to
maintain its competitive position in the local and inter-national trade and service arenas. Meanwhile, retroactive enactment of the 11
th edition will en sure that current registrations remain unaffected and legally valid
from the effective date of the registration.
Thank you, Madam President.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Before I go to the floor, I would just like to
acknowledge the presence of Minister the Honourable Wayne Furbert, Minister of Transport and the Cabinet
Office.
Welcome to you, sir.
He is in the Gallery.

[Trade Marks and Service Marks Regulations Amendment and Validation Act 2023, second reading debate,
continuing]
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President.
We support this and recognise the importance
of it for carrying out the modernisation and ensuring the good order in our trade mark regime here in Bermuda.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Hearing none, then it is back to you, Minister.
You have got full support.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President. And I thank the Opposition for their support of this
Bill.
Madam President, I now move that the Bill entitled the Trade Marks and Service Marks Regulations Amendment and Validation Act 2023 be now read a
second time.

The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.
610 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of this Bill.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I now
move ask that the Bill entitled Trade Marks and Service
Marks Regulations Amendment and Validation Act
2023 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third reading?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

TRADE MARKS AND SERVICE MARKS
REGULATIONS AMENDMENT AND
VALIDATION ACT 2023

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I do
move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill do now
pass.
Is there any objection to that?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Trade Marks and Service Marks
Regulations Amendment and Validation Act 2023 was
read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell. And thank you, all Senators, for your support.
We now move on to the [Order No.] 4 on our
Orders of the Day. And this is consideration of the draft
Regulations entitled the Government Fees (Trade
Marks) Regulations 2023. And this is also in the name
of Minister Darrell, spokesperson for the Cabinet Office.
You have a busy morning this morning, sir. You
can start when you are ready.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I move that Standing Order
[71(2) ] be suspended so that Senate may now take under consideration the draft Regulations entitled the Government Fees (Trade Marks) Regulations 2023.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Senate do now take under consideration
the draft Regulations entitled the Government Fees
(Trade Marks) Regulations 2023.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Minister.

DRAFT REGULATIONS

GOVERNMENT FEES (TRADE MARKS)
REGULATIONS 2023

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, in
conjunction with the Trade Marks Act 2023, I now present the Government Fees (Trade Marks) Regulations 2023. These regulations will revoke and replace the
Government Fees (Trade Marks and Service Marks)
Regulations 1993. Madam President, modernisation of the legislative framework governing intellectual property rights is in progress. In addition to enacting a new Trade Marks Act, we must also enact updated fee regulations
that correspond with the new law. These regulations
will achieve that objective. The new fee regulations
maintain the same overall content of the 1993 regulations and provide for matters of interpretation, a schedule of fees that will apply, the method by which the fees may be paid, and payment of fees col lected into the
Consolidated Fund.
Madam President, despite some of the major
differences between the Trade Marks Act 2023 and the existing trade marks law, many of the services currently
provided by the department of Registry General to the
public will continue to be provided under the updated
framework. This includes services such as examining
and publishing applications for registration, providing
access for searches of the Register, performing various administrative tasks, hearing Opposition matters and
resolving certain issues related to applications filed with
the Registrar. Honourable Members will recall that the
trade mark fees were one of the few sets of fees that
were increased by the Legislature during the most recent budget session.
Accordingly, Madam President, many of the
fees currently in effect will continue to apply in respect
of the same services and functions of the Registrar in
the updated framework.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, the proposed fee regulations also include fees for new or updated features,
rights and services. In particular, the fees related to international registrations, applications for registration
that relate to more than one classification, pr oceedings
for the declaration of invalidity and late renewals of registrations are all examples of fees that are being introduced for the first time in Bermuda. To ensure consistency in the new fee regulations, the existing fees
were used as a baseline for the new fees that relate to
similar or enhanced functionality. For example, the new
fee for the Registrar to examine an international trade
mark application is equivalent to the fee for applying to
register a domestic trade mark in Bermuda. The fees
for filing or amending certain documents related to collective and certification marks are equivalent to fees for filing certain other documents or performance by the Registrar of various administrative functions.
Madam President, we know that we cannot introduce new legislation and new services related to trade marks without ensuring that the government is properly compensated. Trade mark registrations and
related services are revenue- producing activities for
the government, and the updates we are making to our
trade marks legislation present opportunities for increased registrations and related services and thereby
increase government revenues.
We are not yet sure of the amount of revenue
increase to expect, but the department of Registry General has been advised by the UK IP Office that UK trade
mark registrations increased when new legislation was introduced there. The Registry General will continue to
report annually on revenues collected for trade marks
and other intellectual property. So we will certainly look to monitor the difference in revenues collected as we
move forward with updating our intellectual property laws.
In closing, Madam President, I would like to
thank the team that worked on these proposed fee reg-ulations for their effort on this project .
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Would any Senator care to speak on these
Regulations?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. And thank you to the Minister for the presenta-tion.
I want to make sure I am understanding something that he said, and it is around the financial impact
of the changes for our budget. I will say my understanding, and perhaps the Minister can correct me if I have
misstated.
What I think I heard was that any increases of
existing fees that are included in these Regulations were already included in the budget. So we would not necessarily know an amount that would change be-cause we have already budgeted for that. There is
some possibility of extra income from new services that
will be enabled by the new Regulations, but we do not
know what that is.
And then my third question, I think he also said
that the UK’s experience with the new laws was that it
increased registrations. And I imagine that this might
look like a one- time bump. Or is that something that we
would continue to see growth in in the l evel of revenue
from our trade marks?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
No.
Then it is back to you, Minister.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President. Thank you to the Senator for his questions. I am checking with the technical officers. Although it may
sound like it, I am not the expert of this stuff. So give
me one second.

[Pause]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: But the understanding
that I have for his first two questions is yes.
The third one, one more time? Sorry, Senator.
The third question was?

Would that be a one- time
bump or would that be a continued increase? Thank
you.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: All right. I believe I have
an understanding on what that may be. However, I do
not want to speak out of turn. So I just am awaiting the technical officers as they are producing that response
for me. Madam President, if you will just indulge me for
just a moment as we get the correct and accurate response from the hardworking technical officers who are working on this.
The President: I will give you a couple of minutes. You
have been busy with all of the Bills so far.

[Pause]
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: All right. So, the first one
is that there is a possibility of additional fees based on
our expanded market access since we are moving to
612 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate international registrations. Also there may be just a
one-time bump because the registrations, remember,
will last for 10 years. So I hope that answers the ques-tions.

Yes. Thank you very
much. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator.
And those were the only questions.
So you can proceed.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that the said draft Regulations be approved and that the following message be sent to Her Excellency the Governor:
May it please Your Excellency:
The Senate, having under consideration the
draft Regulations entitled the Government Fees (Trade Marks) Regulations 2023 made by the Minister respon-sible for Finance in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2 of the Government Fees Act 1965, has the
honour to inform Your Excellency that the Senate has approved the said draft Regulations.
The President: Thank you, Minister, and certainly all
Senators support that.
[
Motion carried: The Government Fees (Trade Marks)
Regulations 2023 were approved.]
The President: We now move on to [Order No.] 5,
which is the second reading of the Health Insurance Amendment Act. And I believe Senator Lindsay Simmons will be acting for the Junior Minister.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: You have the floor to present this Bill.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
Health Insurance Amendment Act 2023 be now read a
second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
HEALTH INSURANCE AM ENDMENT A CT 2 023
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, the Bill
presented today before the Senate is the Health Ins urance Amendment Act 2023. The purpose of this Bill is to ensure adequate access to maternal services for all women regardless of income, insurance or social sta-tus.
Mada
m President, this Bill seeks to amend the
Health Insurance Act 1970 (the Act) to include an addi-tional category of underinsured women in the programme for maternity care and critical maternity health
education under the Mutual Reinsurance Fund (MRF).
Madam President, as you are aware, the
Health Insurance Amendment Act 2021 introduced amendments to the standard premium rate and the en-hanced benefits under the health insurance plan HIP
and FutureCare and a maternal benefit for our vulnerable women. The Act contained the foundation of our
current national insurance system, and in conjunction with the associated regulations, the minimum man-dated health insurance package is prescribed. The mandated package consists mainly of the Standard
Health Benefit (SHB) and the Mutual Reinsurance
Fund (MRF). Both components formed a fundamental base of an insurance package that all employers must provide and all insurance must include in any policy.
The premium for the mandated package is
called the standard premium rate (SPR). It comprises an SHB component and an MRF component.
Madam President, the 2021 amendment of the
Act provided for a portion of the monthly MRF premium to fund comprehensive maternity care and critical ma-ternal health education for the estimated 130 uninsured
women who currently have barriers to accessing per inatal care when going through the process of pregnancy and childbirth.
Section 3A(2H) of the Act was amended in
2021 to state that “There shall be paid, out of the Mutual Re-insurance Fund, such sum as is sufficient to fund a
programme for comprehensive maternity care and crit-ical maternal health education in respect of women that are uninsured.” The intent was to ensure equitable ac-cess to maternal health services to all uninsured and underinsured women regardless of income, insurance
or social status so that all children have an equal and
healthy start to life.
Closing this coverage gap and ensuring that
uninsured women have access to critical health and
care services at such a vulnerable point in their lives
and the lives of their unborn and newborn children reduces health risks to both mother and child and gives every child the best possible start for healthy develop-ment and to achieve a fruitful life.
Madam President, you will recall and Parliamentary records [and the Hansard] show that con-sistent and repeated reference to extending this benefit
to all uninsured and underinsured women was made by
the Minister of Health in the 2021 debate. Notwithstanding our best intentions, the Bill entitled the Health Insurance Amendment Act 2023 being tabled today is now needed to provide further clarification of the eligibility criteria and explicitly includes women who are underinsured.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, underinsured women are
those who are insured but their health insurance coverage does not include maternity care benefits or does
not include a maternity care [back] benefit that is equivalent to that available to women enrolled in the MR F
programme for maternity care and critical maternal
health education instituted two years ago.
Madam President, the definition of “insured” in
the Act is based on an individual’s having SHB coverage, and therefore it implies that “uninsured” means an
individual who does not have SHB coverage. Currently, SHB coverage does not include maternity benef its, so
women who do not have this coverage are underinsured for comprehensive maternity care. They are excluded from the MRF maternity benefit, which was not
the intention. The proposed amendment of section 3A
of the Act will ensure alignment with what was originally designed and modelled. That is, a benefit that is meant
to provide coverage for women who are specifically underinsured and comprehensive maternity care and critical maternity health education, notwithstanding that they might not otherwise hav e health insurance. Without this clarification, the maternity benefit will continue
to be limited only to those who have no insurance at all.
It should be noted the original estimate of 130 women included both uninsured women and the underinsured
women.
Madam President, to safeguard effective management of the MRF funds allocated for the benefit, a
Schedule of Services for comprehensive maternity care
and critical maternal health education is provided to the health professionals involved in the provisions of the
benefit services, and reimbursement is in accordance
with this schedule. For insured women, the scheduled services will be confirmed as included or not included
in the client’s policy before enrolling them under this benefit. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President : Thank you, Senator Lindsay Simmons.
Thank you for acting for the Junior Minister for Health
in presenting this Bill.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President,
and thank you to the Junior Minister for bringing the Bill
to us today.
My comments will be brief. I think that providing
support for this Bill is a no -brainer. We all know that
having healthy moms and babies contributes positively
to ensuring a healthy population. So while this Bill fills
an important gap, it also ensures that our underinsured
and uninsured expectant mothers have access to vital
maternity care benefits. So this is a good piece of legislation, and we are pleased to support it.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker. Would any other Senator care to . . . Yes. Senator Kiernan Bell, Vice President, you have the floor.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
I too support this Bill. I think ensuring access to
maternal health education and care is an investment in
public health and the well -being of future generations. I
hope that this Bill results in every woman in Bermuda
having the opportunity to experience a healthy and safe
pregnancy regardless of their insurance status.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Bell.
And speaking as a former midwife, I certainly
do want to support this Bill as well.
So it is over to you, Senator.
Oh, Senator Dill, were you indicating that you
wanted to speak? I am sorry.

Yes. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam President.
I just wanted to . . . I would like to also extend
my congratulations to the Ministry for bringing this Bill
to the table. And certainly it is amazing that even in
2023 there are still dangers associated with childbirth.
So to be able to ensure that every woman in Bermuda
is able to have full access to maternal care is indeed a
win for all of us. So tha nk you very much for bringing
this Bill forward. And congratulations.
The President: Thank you.
Senator Robinson.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
And I too would concur my full support of the
Bill. And as a female, I think it is just a wonderful, won-derful piece of legislation that we are now going to be
having here in Bermuda. There are so many countries
in the world, even first -class countries, w here there are
still issues with childbirth and where women cannot get
access to the proper care. And I am just so happy that
we are able to make sure that all women in Bermuda,
regardless of status, class, et cetera, will be able to
have the care that they need for childbirth. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Leslie Robinson.
You have full support, Senator Lindsay Simmons. So it is back to you.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President. Madam President, I also want to thank the Minis-ter of Health and her team. This is an amazing Bill that
was passed today in the Senate. So, congratulations to
them for thinking about the women in Bermuda.
So with that said, Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled the Health Insurance Amendment
Act 2023 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
614 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move that
[Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect to 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 the Health Insurance Amendment
Act 2023 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third reading?
No objection.
BILL

THIRD READING

HEALTH INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2023
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill do now
pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill do now
pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Health Insurance Amendment Act 2023 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Simmons,
for presenting the Bill.
We now move on to the next item on our Orders of the Day. And it is consideration of the draft Order entitled the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
(Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Order 2023. And it is in the
name of Senator Leslie Robinson, the Junior Mi nister
for Economy and Labour.
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that Standing Order
71(2) be suspended so that the Senate may now take under consideration the draft Order entitled the Ber-muda Immigration and Protection (Prohibition of Entry)
(No. 2) Order 2023.
Madam President, I move that the Senate do
now take under consideration the draft Order entitled the Bermuda Immigration and Protection (Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Order 2023.

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

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

DRAFT ORDER

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
(PROHIBITION OF ENTRY) (NO. 2) ORDER 2023

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, today I lay
before the Honourable Chamber the Bermuda Immi-gration and Protection (Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Or-der 2023 (the Order) in accordance with section 26 of
the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 (the
Act). The purpose of this Order is to effect the power of
the Minister to declare the landing of nationals from 115
countries to be subject to controls in order to protect
Bermuda’s borders and our national security.
Madam President, in presenting the Order it is
important to first understand the historical context and recent events. During the period 2011 to 2013, the Department of Immigration issued Bermuda entry visas. All tourist visitors listed on Bermuda’s visa controlled
nationals (VCN) list required a Bermuda entry visa or
could apply for a visa waiver, except for visitors from
Brazil, Russia, India and China. The visa waiver was
not automatic and a fee of $200 was charged.
Persons on a standard work permit who were
visa controlled nationals required a Bermuda entry visa and were not allowed to apply for a visa waiver. Notwithstanding [that] Bermuda’s entry visas and visa
waivers were being processed by the department, there was still the requirement for several visa- controlled nationals to also apply for a multi re- entry visa
(the MRV) to transit to the UK, US or Canada. Applications for re- entry visas were made through the various
missions and embassies worldwide where chec ks and
balances were thorough and reliable.
Madam President, on the 1
st of March 2014,
Bermuda replaced this entry visa and visa waivers with the requirement for travellers to have a multi re- entry
visa for the US, UK or Canada in order to be landed in
Bermuda. This policy was adopted in light of the high
standard of vetting afforded by these gateway countries’ embassies. The policy has ensured that a rigorous vetting is conducted prior to granting authorisation
to travel to Bermuda. The policy has served well to protect Bermuda’s borders and national security.
Madam President, protecting Bermuda’s borders and its people is of utmost importance to the Government. Bermuda must have a rigorous system in
place to regulate the movement of people into the coun-try. Having a robust system is vital to our shared prosperity and national security.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, while this policy has been in
place since [2014], the Ministry recently became aware
that there were instances in which persons from visacontrolled countries were being landed without the required multi re- entry visas for the US, UK or C anada.
The issue was investigated as soon as it was discovered, and it was determined that it was happening due
to a loophole created approximately two years ago
when British Airways moved its flight to Bermuda from
London’s Gatwick to Heathrow Airport. The change of
airport permitted visa- controlled nationals to transit
through the UK airside without a multi re- entry visa. The
result is that persons were being landed without any
visa controls by local or international authorities. This
loophole was only id entified by Bermudian authorities
this summer.
Madam President, it should be noted that the
change in commercial air service from London to Bermuda which created the loophole (that is, service from
Gatwick Airport being replaced by service from
Heathrow Airport) could not have been anticipated when Bermuda changed this policy back in March
2014. Although the change opened a wide and diverse
range of flight connections for persons travelling to and
from Bermuda, it reduced the vetting and security checks that Bermuda relied upon by allowing visa- controlled nationals to transit to Bermuda without visa restrictions.
Madam President, this loophole created a material border control and security risk for Bermuda. Ef-fectively, the loophole resulted in some persons who might not be eligible to enter any gateway countries to
enter Bermuda without any security vetting, visa controls, and without travel authorisation to return home via
the US, Canada or the UK in the event that they needed
to be repatriated for any reason.
Madam President, to address the matter urgently, the Minister utilised section 26(3) of the Act
which provides that an Order may be made without the
need for the affirmative resolution procedure provided
the Order is certified by the Governor as urgently required in the public interest. Such an Order is effective
for 30 days. The Order was made on the 11
th of August
2023 and prior to its expiration a new Order No. 2 was
certified and gazetted on the 8th of September 2023.
Madam President, in accordance with section
26(3) of the Act, I now lay the Bermuda Immigration and
Protection (Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Order 2023 before the Honourable Chamber. Madam President, to be
clear, this Order does not alter the 2014 policy in any
way. It merely regularises and reinforces the clarity
needed for travellers and the public with respect to Bermuda’s border control requirements. The Order is a
means to reinforce the intent of the 2014 policy by ensuring that security vetting takes place before an individual arrives in Bermuda and by ensuring that tourist
visitors and residents of Bermuda have ready access
to the US, UK and Canada in case of any eventuality
requiring repatriation. Madam President, it is important to note that
the Order requires that the said multi re- entry visa be
valid for 45 days after the expiration of a visitor’s stay
and/or a work permit. Equally, multi re- entry visa holders have to possess a passport valid for 45 days past
the expiration of travel and/or the work permit. Additionally, officers on duty at the L. F. Wade International Airport proactively vetted travellers’ multi re- entry visas
and passports and if either or both were not in compliance with the policy, travellers are not granted entry
into Bermuda.
With respect to work permit holders, first, persons who are already resident in Bermuda and possess
a valid standard work permit which does not contain a
visa condition but who travelled outside of Bermuda prior to the Order being in effect will not be aff ected by
the Order. They are permitted to re- enter Bermuda
without a multi re- entry visa from Canada, the US or the
UK.
Second, persons who will be first -time residents in Bermuda and who possess a valid standard work permit which does not contain a visa condition are
also permitted to enter Bermuda. They do not need to
provide proof of travel authorisation to enter and re- enter Canada, the UK or the US. Sponsored dependents
as defined in the Immigration Department’s current
work permit policies who possess valid permission to
reside in Bermuda and who are attached to one of the foregoing scenarios will be permitted to re- enter or enter Bermuda as applicable.
Third, persons on a short -term work permit,
emergency included, must comply with the multi re- entry visa requirements. They must provide proof of travel authorisation to enter and re- enter Canada, the UK or
the US upon arrival in Bermuda, and the travel authorisation must be valid for 45 days from the date of intended departure from Bermuda. If they do not comply, they will be refused entry.
Madam President, with respect to Permanent
Resident Certificate [PRC] and Residential Certificate
[RC] holders from listed countries, they are not affected
by the Order. PRCs and RCs who travel overseas can
re-enter Bermuda and do not need a multi re- entry visa
for Canada, the US or the UK.
Madam President, these changes align with
the Bermuda immigration reform strategic priority to
strengthen the enforcement of laws and policies. The
discovery of a loophole in our policy revealed that there
was insufficient clarity for the public regarding which
nationalities were subject to visa controls to enter Ber-muda. The O rder now clarifies that concern. Visas are
not a perfect solution to the problem of border security,
but they are an essential tool that governments can use
to protect their borders and their citizens.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: And thank you, Senator Lindsay Robinson, the Junior Minister for Economy and Labour.

616 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And before I open the floor for Senators to speak to this [Order], I would just like to
acknowledge in the Gallery the Minister of Economy
and Labour, the Honourable Jason Hayward. And also
I would like to recognise the Permanent Secretary, Jennifer Attrid e-Stirling, from the Ministry of Economy and
Labour who are in the Chamber.
Welcome to you both.
[Bermuda Immigration and Protection (Prohibition of
Entry) (No. 2) Order , second reading debate, continuing]

The President: And now, Would any Senator care to
speak on this [Order]?
Senator Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President,
and thank you to the Junior Minister for bringing us this
Order today.
We certainly understand the reason for it and
have no issues supporting it. I do have a bit of a comment, though. Well, actually maybe it is more of a question, because [the Junior Minister] did mention that
there was a little bit of a gap between when the loophole was first discovered and when it was addressed. I wondered if she could give sort of the timeframe around
that. I mean, I think it is a bit of a scary thought that we
are depending on other countries to verify entry for visa-controlled nationals to Bermuda, especially when
we have the US stationed at our airports. You know, when you go to Canada, Canada will scrutinise you, the Canadian officials will scrutinise you quite closely.
I do recognise that the Junior Minister did mention that Immigration officials in our Bermuda airport have been doing it. But I would be very interested to
know what that gap was, as well as if there were any
persons who even currently remain on the Island who
would fall into that category of not being able to transit through any of those countries.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak to this
[Order]?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Senator
Robinson.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I can say that the loophole was discovered in
late spring/early summer of this year.

The President: Mm-hmm.
No other questions then?
Sorry. Senator Tucker. Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Madam President. And to the Junior Minister, thank you for her response.
If she can tell us . . . I know she said it was addressed sort of in summer after it was discovered. But if she can also let us know if there are persons remaining on the Island who are unable to transit?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, we need to
investigate any numbers on Island.
The President: Thank you and with that —
Sen. Robin Tucker: Sorry, Madam President. I did not
quite understand the answer.

The President: She said she would need to investigate
to determine. At the moment she cannot respond to your question.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: She will investigate.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Okay. Thank you.

The President: With that said then, Senator Robinson,
you may move your [Order].
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
the said draft Order be approved and that the following
message be sent to Her Excellency the Governor:
May it please Your Excellency:
The Senate, having had under consideration
the draft Order entitled Bermuda Immigration and Pro-tection (Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Order 2023 made
by the Minister responsible for Immigration in exercise
of the powers conferred by section 26 of the Berm uda
Immigration and Protection Act 1956, has the honour to
inform Your Excellency that the Senate has approved
the said draft Order.
The President: A suitable message will be sent.
[Motion carried: The Bermuda Immigration and Protection (Prohibition of Entry) (No. 2) Order 2023 was approved.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson, and
thank you, all Senators, for your support.
We will now move on with our Orders of the
Day. And Senators, I would like to inform you that [Order No.] 7 on our Orders of the Day will be taken up after lunch. So we will move now to [Order No.] 8, the
second reading of the National Training Board Amendment Act 2023. And that is also in the name of Senator

B ermuda Senate Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister for Economy and
Labour.
Senator Robinson, you can proceed when you
are ready.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that the Bill entitled the National Training Board Amendment Act 2023 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING
NATIONAL T RAINING BO ARD AMENDMENT
ACT 202 3
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, the purpose
of this Bill is to rename the National Training Board as
the National Certification and Apprenticeship Board
and to coordinate apprenticeship programmes and national certification.
Madam President, in February 2018 the Government introduced the Bermuda National Workforce
Development Plan which recommended the division of
the National Training Board into two distinct entities:
(1)the National Workforce Development Board; and
(2)the Occupational Advisory Committee [O AC].
Mada
m President, this recommendation aimed
to enhance strategic collaboration between Workforce
Development entities and the business community,
creating opportunities for businesses to engage in education and training. Regrettably, Madam President, this recommendation was never put into practice. The
National Training Board continued to operate without the desired clarity and [was] unable to provide advice
to the Minister of Economy and Labour on Bermuda’s
Workforce Development Strategy and to administer national certifications or promote apprenticeship pro-grammes. In light of these challenges and the im-portance of aligning our Workforce Development sys-tem with the needs of our industries, the legislative
amendments proposed in this Bill create the Nationa l
Certification and Apprenticeship Board, alongside
which will operate a non- statutory National Workforce
Advisory Board (NWAB). These two bodies will operate independently with neither reporting to the other.
Madam President, the Bill renames the National Training Board as the National Certification and Apprenticeship Board. This Board will now function as a central hub for coordination, collaboration and devel-opment of apprenticeship programmes and national certification. This certification and apprenticeship board
will be responsible for the streamlining of the national certification process and maintain the national register of tradespersons in designated and non- designated
trades.
Madam President, the work of the newly established National Certification and Apprenticeship Board is critical to enhancing apprenticeship programmes and national certification in order to improve employment
opportunities within our workforce. It is impera tive that
the Government works in harmony with workforce
stakeholders and the new approach will be instrumen-tal in achieving this goal.
Madam President, renaming the National
Training Board as the National Certification and Apprenticeship Board impacts a number of related statutes such as the Bermuda College Act 1974, the Na-tional Occupational Certification Act 2004, and several associated regulations, [such as] the Government Fees
Regulations 1976, et cetera. To effect the proposed changes, consequential amendments are detailed in
the Bill’s Schedule.
To conclude, Madam President, as we navigate the challenges and opportunities of the 21
st century, it has become increasingly evident that the
strength of any nation lies in the skills and capabilities
of its workforce. In an era defined by technological advancements, automation and rapidly evolving indus-tries, it is imperative that we take proactive steps to ensure that our workforce is equipped with the knowledge and skills required to thrive and innovate. The legisla-tive changes proposed in the National Training Board
Amendment Bill 2023 will mark a significant step forward in our ongoing commitment to foster a highly skilled and adaptable workforce in Bermuda. We be-lieve that this approach will not only benefit our local industries but will also provide our people with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed in an ever -
evolving job market.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Tucker, you have the floor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
The Opposition has no objections to this particular Bill. I will just make a couple of comments, though. It is hoped that the creation of the two separate boards
operating independently will get the desired outcome
that will result in Bermuda’s being able to grow more of
our own resources and obviously create an over -abundance of skilled and certified Bermudian workers who are prepared and well positioned to take their place both in the short term and in the future.
I do have (kind of, as usual) a question, though.
And that question is in connection with a 2019 similar initiative regarding certification. So in 2019 in accord-ance with the National Occupational Certification Act 2004, the Minister at the time had granted national oc-cupational certificates, as it was a requirement for national certification. So again, electricians, welders,
618 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate landscape gardeners and maybe one or two other
trades, businesses had to ensure that those people in
those categories were certified.
So what I am wondering is that part of that certification at that time, 2019, people were entitled to use the title “ nationally certified ” for a period of five years.
So my question is, Does this scheme now supersede
that initiative? And also, people who were certified in
2019, obviously that certification will expire in 2024. Will
they have to go through the whole process again for an
extens ion? So I just want to know if there is, because
the schemes seem to have a little bit of an overlap. So
I just wondered if this is something that the Ministry is
doing that is absolutely new and that old 2019 scheme
is now done away with? Will people have to go through
the process again?
I know that process because I was working in
hospitality at the time and had to go through that process. So I just want to know sort of how that works.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Senator
Robinson.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, just for clarification because Senator Tucker did start off as saying
comments, and now it is moving into questions. So can
you just again repeat your two questions, please?

Sen. Robin Tucker: Certainly.
So my question is, What part of this Bill is going
[towards] creation of the boards? And under one of the
boards will be a certification aspect, right? They will be
responsible for certifying certain trades. So I am won-dering whether what this new board is going to do will
impact anything that was already established in terms
of certification back in 2019. So that probably simplifies
the question. Is there an overlap, or is this a replacement of?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you.
The certificate process is ongoing and does not
supersede. And recertification is an ongoing process.
So there will be continuity. The old certifications will be valid in the new regime. The Bill creates only one board
that certifies trades.

The President: That seems to answer the question. So
will you move your Bill then, please?
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
[Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect of the Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
[Crosstalk]
The President: Oh, second reading. I am sorry. You
need to move the second reading.
Do you have the wording for that, Senator Robinson?

[Pause]

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move the
Bill entitled the National Training Board Amendment
Act 2023 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Leslie Robinson: 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. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled National Training Board Amendment
Act 2023 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

NATIONAL TRAINING BOARD AMENDMENT
ACT 2023
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.

The President: Is there any objection to the passage
of the Bill?
No objection.

[Motion carried: the National Training Board Amendment Act 2023 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
And, Senators, it is that time now. What I would
like to do is we break for lunch and we come back at
two o’clock.


B ermuda Senate ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
SENATE VISITOR
The President: But before we actually break, I would
just like to thank Mr. Audley Quallo who was here this
morning from the Parliamentary Drafting Department. And I just want to acknowledge that he was here this morning. I am not sure if he will be coming back this afternoon. But I do want to, on behalf of the Senate, thank him for his presence this morning.
With that said, Senators, we will break for
lunch. And we will return at 2:00 pm. The Senate
stands adjourned. Thank you.
Proceedings suspended at 12:26 pm
Proceedings resumed at 2:02 pm
[
Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright, President, presiding]
The President: Good afternoon, Senators and the listening audience. The Senate is now resuming its after-noon session.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
SENATE VISITOR
The President: I would just like to acknowledge that
the Permanent Secretary, Ms. Jennifer Attride- Stirling,
is with us this afternoon.
[Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other
Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023, second reading]
The President: Senators, we are going to proceed with
[Order No.] 9 on our agenda. And that is the second
reading of Employment (Protection of Employee Tips
and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023.
We will leave [Order No.] 7 for the last. So with
that said, I call on Senator Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister of Economy and Labour, to present the Bill.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
BILL
SECOND READING EMPLOYMENT ( PROTECTION O F EM PLOYEE
TIPS AND OTHER GRATUITIES) A MENDMENT
ACT 202 3
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, the purpose
of this Bill is to amend the Employment Act 2000, the
principal Act, to provide for the protection of employee
tips and other gratuities. This amendment Act follows
the Ministry’s commitment to ensuring that employees
receive the tips and gratuities intended for them for the
services they provide, and that employers and others
who do not perform the same work are prohibited from
sharing in the tip pool or the redistribution of other gratuities.
Madam President, the commitment to regularise the fair distribution of employee tips and other gratuities for those whose income is heavily reliant on the
same has been on the agenda of the Labour Advisory
Council (LAC) for some time. Madam President, as
Senators will be aware, the Labour Advisory Council is
a tripartite committee consisting of workers, employers
and government representatives, and chaired by the
Minister of Economy and Labour
Madam President, the principal Act sets the
minimum requirements for employment relationships
within Bermuda. However, there remain areas within
the principal Act that are out of step when compared to
examples in other jurisdictions, such as Ontario and th e
United Kingdom, and are not in keeping with the International Labour Organization’s [ILO’s] standard for best
practice.
Madam President, currently the principal Act
does not provide for the protection and fair distribution
of tips and other gratuities in the workplace. As a result,
there is no recourse for employees who do not receive
their share of tips and other gratuities reflective of the
services they provide.
Madam President, members have brought to
the LAC examples of employers who take from the tip
pool and other gratuities and put this money, which
should be going to their employees, back into the employers’ business. Additionally, the Ministry has been
made aware of establishments that permit employers
and employees who do not perform, to a substantial
degree, the same work performed by other employees
to share in the tip pool and redistribution of other gratuities.
Madam President, this Bill provides that no employer (or in the case of a body corporate, no director
or shareholder of an employer) may share in the tips or
any tip pool or in the redistribution of other gratuities
unless he regularly performs to a substantial degree
the same work performed by some or all of the employer’s employees or employees of other employers
within the same industry who commonly receive or who
share in the tip pool or other [gratuities].
Madam President, this Bill provides for the Minster to issue guidance for determining whether work is
performed to a substantial degree. Additionally, Madam
620 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate President, this Bill provides for the Minster to issue
guidance for the purpose of promoting fairness and
transparency in relation to the management, protection
and distribution of tips and other gratuities.
Employers and their representative employees
and unions are encouraged to address any concerns
with regard to the guidance to be issued with the Department of Labour prior to the [commencement] date
of 1 March 2024. This is to ensure that any guidance
so issued is robust and takes into consideration the
views of those who will be impacted by this Bill.
Madam President, this Bill provides for a definition of “tips and other gratuities,” clarifying the distinc-tion between the two. This will aid adherence to the Employment (Minimum Hourly Wage) Order 2023.
Madam President, this Bill provides that an employer is prohibited from withholding tips or other gra-tuities from an employee, from making a deduction
from an employee’s tips or other [gratuities] or causing
an employee to give his tips or other [gratuities] to the
employer unless authorised to do so by statue or an
order of any court or tribunal. Additionally, the Bill provides that an employer may not cause an employee to
give up their tips, withhold or make deductions from any
tips or make any arrangements for the collection or re-distribution of tips.
Madam President, this Bill provides for the retention of records by an employer for a period [up to] three years to show that the employer has [complied]
or is complying with their obligation to receive and redistribute other gratuities to its employees. A dditionally,
this Bill provides for an employee to request access to
the records that show the amount of other gratuities
paid to the employer, as well as the amount of other gratuities that the employer redistributed to the employee, other employees and s uch other persons that
may be permitted to share in the redistribution of other gratuities.
Madam President, an integral part of the regulatory framework of this Bill is the requirement for employers whose employees commonly [receive] tips and
other gratuities, or whose business is in an industry or
sector within which employees commonly receive tips
or other gratuities, to have a clearly written policy statement outlining how tips and other gratuities are to be
managed, protected and distributed fairly.
Madam President, the business’s policy statement will also set out the following in clear and unambiguous terms:
1. whether the employer encourages or requires
customers to pay tips or other gratuities;
2. whether a tip pool is permitted at th at workplace;
3. how the gratuities are collected and redistributed, including the period of redistribution, the
employees or other persons included in the re-distribution, how other gratuities are redistributed when an employee is on leave and
whether any payment arrangeme nt exists; 4. where a payment arrangement exists, (1) how
gratuities are received and the identity of the
persons responsible for their receipt, and
(2) how other gratuities received under a payment arrangement are allocated.
Madam President, the policy statement shall
be presented to each employee on the commencement of their employment , and there shall be procedures in
place to assist every employee in understanding the policy statement. Any employer who contravenes this
shall be liable to a civil penalty as may be imposed by the Department of Labour manager or the Tribunal.
Madam President, to aid employers, the Ministry will issue a template policy statement in relation to employee tips and other gratuities for employers to implement. While employers are free to create their own
policy statement in accordance with this Bill , the template policy statement provided by the Ministry will be
suitable for immediate use by any employer.
Madam President, this Bill will have a positive
impact on those employees who commonly receive tips
and other gratuities by protecting the same from unfair
practices and by providing a clear understanding of
how other gratuities are collected and redistributed.
Madam President, it is envisioned that these
enhanced protections will also increase productivity
within the workplace a nd enhance social protections for
Bermuda’s workforce.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Leslie Robinson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
And again, thank you to the Junior Minister for bringing
this Bill to us today.
Madam President, we support this Bill. It obviously is designed to keep pace with ILO practices. It helps protect people working in the service industry
who earn tips and gratuities, as it ensures that they receive the funds that they have earned.
I have mentioned previously in this Chamber
that I come from a family of hospitality workers and taxi
drivers. The tips and gratuities earned by families like mine when [I was] growing up went toward feeding us,
clothing us, educating us, and many homes w ere purchased as a result of families largely relying on the
amounts received over and beyond their wages. Work-ers are entitled to receive funds that they earn.
So, Madam President, I am particularly glad to
see that there are transparencies and accountability
measures in place that include extending rights to employees to see records of gratuities received and paid
out, timeframes that monthly and weekly paid st aff can
expect to receive their gratuities; payment voluntarily made by customers . . . (Sorry. I was just going to say
the definition, but that is fine; it has already been said.)


Bermuda Senate So I just want to say that, again, this Bill goes
a long way to ensuring that people and their funds that
are earned over and above their wages are actually received in a timely and a fair way. So we absolutely support this Bill, and thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam President.
Like my colleague, I certainly appreciate seeing this Bill. If you recall when we had the minimum
wage discussions, the debates, one of the Opposition
points was that we felt that it should come along with something to protect the workers’ tips and gratui ties. So
we are glad to see this make its appearance.
I did have a clarifying question, two clarifying
questions, and then a little more of a general question. My general question, Madam President, is that I would
like to understand which industry stakeholders may
have had a chance to see these specific prop osals and
provide feedback on the specific proposals outlined in
this Bill.
And then my clarifying questions would be, if
you had a manager who was an employee, would they be entitled to partake of the tips? Would that be allowable in the policy, as opposed to an owner/manager?
And then I guess my third, because sometimes
I get a little confused, and this might help the public.
Sometimes you go to a restaurant and then you get the
credit card slip. And it has a lot of places to put tips. I would be grateful if the Junior Minister could perhaps
explain this to me. So sometimes you will see there will be a line called a “ service charge. ” And then there might
be a “ gratuity charge. ” And then sometimes they put
another line at the bottom that says “ extra tips. ” I would
like to unders tand which of those would go into which
categories of this Bill. Those are my inquiries, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions
or speak on the Bill?
No. Hearing none, then—
Oh. Senator Dill, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would just like to take the opportunity to commend the Senator for presenting this Bill this afternoon. I believe that it shows a true demonstration of sensitivity to the employees ensuring that they get all they deserve in terms of the work that they p ut in and certainly
being celebrated for all that they do as individuals in the
service industry. So I would like to thank the Government for ensuring that these protections have been put in place, especially as we face a rising cost of living so
that thes e individuals are ensured that they will get all
of the funds that were designated to go to them and that we have put the appropriate provisions in place. Thank
you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Minister Darrell, you have the floor.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I would like to also put my
support, obviously, behind the Bill that has been brought forth by the Ministry of Economic Development
and Labour. It is shocking, as much as Bermudians like
to go out and eat at many of our fancy establishments
across the Island, how many people I run across who actually are unaware that portions of these gratuities
are actually going to administrative fees or elsewhere
and not directly into the pockets of the hardworking employees. And to Senator De Couto’s point, that is probably why employers felt that they can get away with doing this and then kind of try to make amends by putting
other line items at the bottom to add extra tips or the
like.
Once you see something that says “gratuity included,” you run your credit card and you say, Well, the person who has been serving me has been taken care
of. And if I wanted to give something additional, it
should be extra. And a lot of people are shocked to find
out that the 17 [per cent] or the 18 per cent is not a full
17 [per cent] or 18 per cent to the person who was actually serving you.
So this should come as no surprise that this
Government —one that works and looks out for the people first —is finally making this right.
I do take exception, and I have to say it,
Madam President, that I am fully aware that Senator De
Couto, unless he was busy on Friday night (because
he tends to be the master of all things and tends to like
to make his points on everything) . . . I am sure he was
listening to the debate in another place on Friday where
it was clarified who was consulted on this, and then
subsequent reports as to a particular organisation having to retract their initial statement that they were not consulted. So I am not sur e why in this debate on a Bill
that the One Bermuda Alliance supports he would try to
throw any shade on the process by which this Government has finally done something, as we always do, for the people of Bermuda.
So once again, Madam President, to end my
remarks on a positive note, I would say thank you to the
Minister —

The Minister is imputing
improper motives, Madam President. I am not attempting to throw shade. I am attempting to elicit information
for the general public.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: And as I stated before
clearly, the Senator knew exactly what he was doing.
So I would like to commend the Minister and
his team of technical officers —
Sen. Robin Tucker: Madam President, excuse me.
Point of order.

POINT OF ORDER
[Imputing improper motives]

Sen. Robin Tucker: I think that it is out of order for the
Minister to say that the Senator “knew exactly what he
was doing.” He has explained what his motive was. And I think it is a bit unfair to make that statement about him
when the Senator has said what he was attempti ng to
do.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator.
Minister.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell : Thank you, Madam President.
And I will once again get to my final point that I
commend the Minister and his team of technical offic-ers for going through this line by line, piece by piece, to
make sure that an individual who works hard for his wages gets every single dime that they are worth.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Mm -hmm.
With that then, Senator —
[Crosstalk ]

The President: No, I was asking if anyone else wanted
to speak.
Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have the floor.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
First of all, I would like to state that I do run two
restaurants in Bermuda, and I declare my interest. But
I honestly want to thank the Minister for bringing this forward because, not in my establishments, but we
have seen people come to our establishments who
have received less than what they are worth, insofar their tips and gratuities are taken from them to pay for
spillages and broken glasses, to pay for the manager’s
rate. So this is an important Bill that was brought to the
House and now the Senate . And I am extremely happy
that people are now going to be able to get their due
worth when it comes to the tips and gratuities.
So again, thank you to the Minister and the
technical team for bringing this forward. It was long overdue, and for him seeing that every cent that is due
to the worker is given to the worker.
So thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senators.
Anybody else have a comment?
Senator Robinson, you will respond.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Yes. Thank you, Madam President.
With regard to the first question about the matter, I guess with the proposals in the Bill, et cetera, and whom did we with consult with, the matter was discussed with the Labour Advisory Council, which is comprised of multiple stakeholders including empl oyer
groups. And those stakeholders include the Chamber of Commerce, Bermuda Employers Council, unions,
police, prison and fire associations. Members of the Labour Advisory Council were to discuss the proposals with their members and provide feedback, whic h they
did.
Regarding the manager participating, it will still
be subject to the employer’s policy statement. But there
is nothing in the legislation to prohibit a manager who
is an employee from partaking in tips and other gratui-ties.
Regarding where the tips can be placed on the
bill, this will be at the discretion of the business. The Bill
does not describe where it is to be done.
I think that answers the questions.

The President: Senator De Couto, you have a further
question?

Excuse me.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Point of order.
The President: Minister, what is your point of order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Standing Order 26 –Debating the principle of a Bill ]

B ermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Do the Standing Orders
allow Senator De Couto to speak again after he has
spoken? Because it sounds like he is about to give an-other speech.
The President: I have allowed him to clarify a question.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Okay. Because it
seemed like he was going down a sticky road giving a speech.
The President: Senator De Couto, you have questions? State your question.

It was following up on the
question about the placement of the tips. It would be great if the Government would perhaps provide some quite explicit guidance to establishments so patrons of
establishments could be quite certain as to where their
tip money was going. For example, would you like to tip really specifically a person who served you versus a tip pool? You know, some people like to know where their tip money is going so they can direct it. That would be
something that I as a consumer would certainly value,
to see that guidance from the Government.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Robinson, it is back to you.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Yes. Thank you, Madam President.
Just to clarify, that was not a question; that was
just a statement or comment.
The President: He was seeking a clarification.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Clarification? Right. Okay.
Thank you, Madam President.
I now move that the Bill entitled Employment
(Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities)
Amendment Act 2023 now be read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading?
No objection.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Leslie Robinson: 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. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023 now
be passed.
The President: Do the third reading.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Oh! Sorry. Sorry.
I move that the Bill entitled Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amend-ment Act 2023 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third reading?
No objection.
BILL
THIRD READING
EMPLOYMENT (PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE
TIPS AND OTHER GRATUITIES) AMENDMENT
ACT 2023
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Now I move that the Bill do now
pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill entitled
Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act 2023 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion? No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[
Motion carried: The Employment (Protection of Employee Tips and Other Gratuities) Amendment Act
2023 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson, and
thank you, Senators.
We now move on to [Order No.] 10, which is
the second reading of the Motor Car (Classic Cars)
Amendment Act 2023. And that is in the name of Sen-ator Rev. Dr. Emily Dill, the Junior Minister for Transport.
Senator Dill, you have the floor.
BILL
SECOND READING
MOTOR CAR (CLASSIC CARS) AM ENDMENT
ACT 202 3
Sen. R ev. Dr. E milygail A. Dill: Thank y ou, Madam
President.
Madam President, the Bill presented today before the Senate is the Motor Car (Classic Cars) Amendment Act 2023. And the purpos e of the Bill is to permit
the importation of classic cars to Bermuda, prescribe
624 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate the licence fee and import duty payable on classic cars
and provide the specific days classic cars may be used
on Bermuda’s roads.
Madam President, a Transport Control Department policy dated May 21, 1998, allowed residents who
owned private motor cars that had been registered for
a minimum of 25 years to convert them to (quote– unquote) “classic cars.” These vehicles also must have
been licensed for a minimum of 15 years.
Madam President, although this policy permitted the registration, licensing and use of qualified vehi-cles on Sundays and public holidays, the necessary
work to amend the legislation is required. Madam President, there are 17 private motor cars registered and
licensed as classic cars in Bermuda without the supporting legislation. This set of circumstances, coupled
with the inability to import classic cars, led to a policy review. This Bill addresses current practice and a void.
A “classic car” will now be defined as “a private
motor car that is 25 years or older from the date of man-ufacture, where it has already been registered in Ber-muda or is being imported to Bermuda.”
It is important to note, Madam President, that
only one vehicle can be driven at a time. Madam Pres-ident, the original policy allowed classic cars to be driven on Sundays and public holidays only. As such,
the annual licence fee was set at 25 per cent of the respective category in which the vehicle belonged. The
new policy extends usage to include Saturdays. Therefore, the licence fee has been increased to 40 per cent
to reflect the additional day.
Madam President, introducing this proposal
will not create an impact on any supporting legislation.
For example, approved classic cars sourced from over-seas will be subjected to the current rate of duty, which
is 75 per cent on $10,000, and 150 per cent o n the remainder. There are no infrastructure modifications or upgrades or other known implementation costs required for the Government to enable these proposals.
Madam President, this proposal has the potential to provide economic benefits that will impact the
wider community. It is acknowledged that quantifying
the benefits is challenging. However, it should be noted
that the scale of benefits is directly related to the
amount of duty, application, registration and licence
fees collected for the classic cars eventually imported.
A potential social benefit of this proposal, Madam President, may be the emergence of service garages offering employment to local apprentices and specialised
mechanics to maintain and repair classic cars.
Madam President, it can be expected that the
presence of prized vehicles in pristine condition driven
on Bermuda’s roads will be nostalgic and entertaining.
Research indicates that this is an attractive market with
worldwide appeal. This proposal could lead to Bermuda
again hosting events like the ETA Motorcycle rides, and the recent vintage car rallying that attracted many visitors to the Island and participated in the Bermuda Day
Parade. In conclusion, Madam President, accommodating this proposal will require only a few amendments
to the legislative framework that regulates the importation, examination, licensing and registration of private
motor cars. It will also signal that Bermuda is open for business and is accepting of new experiences and encouraging diversifying the products on offer.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Robinson, Dwayne Robinson, you
have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you. And I am trying
to wrap my head around this particular legislation,
given the state of Bermuda’s now economy. I had heard in the brief and also had read through and listened to
the subsequent debate in the other place (which I will
not rehash) . . . [but] I still am having a sticking point
with how it is an economic bene fit with only paying 40
per cent of the licensing fees. So to me, I guess one of
my first questions would be, What is the potential loss
of revenue there? Is it balanced out by the Government’s hope that more people will import these cars?
Right now, with the state of the roads, I do not
think it would be very wise for folks to import very im-portant and expensive cars. So I am wondering where
the rationale has come from that this will be an economic benefit to Bermuda, especially in the fac e of
those who are struggling to license their own personal
cars with now with the cost of living and rising bills and
all manner of things that are plaguing Bermudians cur-rently.
We also have a Government that seems to be
leaving a bit of the money on the table here when we
have a huge amount of debt. So not to veer too much
off of the Bill, I think it has wide implications as to where
this particular Bill coincides with the Gover nment’s
agenda to execute these economic benefits and things
that are helping Bermudians.
Also, to me it is still allowing for a person to
drive their private car while the owner is driving the
classic. Do we have any way of determining how that
translates into a two- car household for certain people?
And we know that the limit is 200. So we are really talking about fewer than 200 cars on the road, 200 households that have a benefit now of potentially being somewhat of a two- car household on two days a week. So it
is just something to think about when it comes to this
legislation.
I will not go too far into it as we did have that
debate in other place. But I just wanted to bring up
these points and concerns of mine that this particular
legislation is probably not best to be prioritised in the
state of things that we have now. And I hope to see
some tangible benefits come from it and maybe a plan
to grow this industry and make this kind of worth it in
the end. Right now it looks like it is giving a break to


Bermuda Senate people who can afford it and funding an amenity or an
expensive hobby. And I know that many Bermudians
who do have expensive hobbies will probably be like,
Why is this particular one taking precedence over many
others? There are many other industries that are suf-fering from red tape.
So with that, Madam President, I yield. But just
very concerned. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator [Dwayne] Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
Sorry. I did not see you hand. Senator Leslie
Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I think just to respond to Senator Robinson, first
of all, the enforcement of the legislation is that if you
have got two cars, you will only be able to drive one of
them on a given day. So if you are driving a classic car, you are not going to be able to drive your other private
car.
But certainly and more important —

POINT OF ORDER
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Point of order. Sorry.
What I was saying is that the owner of the classic car, a member of their household, could potentially drive the other private, regular car while that owner is
driving the classic car.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Hmm.
I will go on to my next point, Madam President,
which is that I think the bigger idea is that if you look around the world there are a number of (I guess) tour-ism opportunities with this. There are a number of
groups around the world that have enjoyed bei ng part
of riding in classic cars, classic bikes, et cetera. So this
is another tourism product. Also, there are others who
are interested in nostalgia and history. And so they too,
groups like that too would be attracted to this. So as far
as the bigger p icture with this, it is another product for
tourism to be able to attract groups that would be interested in classic cars, nostalgia, et cetera.
Thank you.
The President: Yes. You have finished?
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?

[Pause]

The President: Senator Dill, then you can answer the
queries that have come up so far.

Thank you, Madam
President. First of all, I would like to thank my Senate colleague for her support of this Bill. And I would certainly
like to thank our new Senator for weighing in regarding
his perspective on this particular matter.
You will have noticed this morning that there
was an amendment that was passed on Friday where
it ensured . . . the legislation ensured that any owner of
a classic car . . . that at no time can an individual in their
household be driving the other car at the same time that
the classic car is being used. And I am sure you probably have asked the question, Well, how? You know,
good luck with that! Well, certainly surety has been put
in place that there is a penalty that is attached to it of
$5,000 if they ar e found doing that.
Also, with regard to your questions regarding
the cost for licensing of the car, that decision was made
based upon the fact that the classic car is only allowed to be used two days of the week. And so as a result,
that is why the licensing rate is differe nt [from] basically
a regular private car, where you are allowed to use it
seven days, 24/7. So I thank you for the questions.
And with that being said, Madam President.

The President: Yes, Senator Dill.

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.]
626 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report
Ber muda Senate Sen. Rev. Dr. Emilygail A. Dill: Madam President, I
move that the Bill entitled Motor Car (Classic Cars)
Amendment Act 2023 be now read a third time.
Th
e President: Is there any objection to the third reading?
No objection.
BILL
THIRD READING
MOTOR CAR (CLASSIC CARS) AMENDMENT
ACT 2023
Se
n. Rev. Dr. Emilygail A. Dill: Madam President, I
move that the Bill do now pass.
Th
e President: It has been moved that the Motor Car
(Classic Cars) Amendment Act 2023 be now passed.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[Mot
ion carried: the Motor Car (Classic Cars) Amendment Act 2023 was read a third time and passed.]
Th
e President: Thank you, Senator Dill, and all Senators who supported the Bill.
We will now go back to [Order No.] 7, which is
the second reading of the Financial Assistance Amend-ment (No. 2) Act 2023. And that is in the name of Sen-ator Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister for Economy and Labour.
And, Senators, I need to advise you that after
the second [reading] we will be going into Committee for an amendment that has been recommended. But we will have the discussion after the second reading.
So, Senator Robinson, when you are ready
you can present the Bill.
Se
n. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled Financial Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023 be read a second time.
Th
e President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
BILL
SEC OND READ ING
FINANCIAL A SSISTANCE AM ENDMENT ( NO. 2 )
ACT 202 3
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I am
pleas ed to introduce the Bill entitled the Financial Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023. The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Financial Assistance Act 2001
(the principal Act), the Financial Assistance Regula-tions 2004 and the Financial Assistance Amendment Act 2021.
Madam President, Senators will be aware that
this Government is committed to improving the Financial Assistance system that currently helps those in the
community who require financial support to meet their basic needs. In 2020 we pledged to undertake compre-hensive Financial Assistance reform. And the Bill be-fore you today achieves this goal. The aim of the re-forms enabled by this Bill is to make the Financial Assistance system more streamlined and efficient and to
give participants greater opportunity to f ully participate
in the local economy and realise their potential.
In particular, the Government has set out to ensure that the Financial Assistance system is aligned to motivate and empower individuals to improve their financial situation. The reformed system will not only
meet individuals’ basic needs better, but also allow them to achieve a greater sense of personal and finan-cial success. To achieve this, the Bill proposes a num-ber of changes.
Madam President, as the structure of households has changed considerably over the years and comprises many different individuals, it has become ev-ident that the definition of “households” as it currently exists in the Financial Assistance Regulations 2004 is
too narrow and could lead to constitutional issues. To
address this matter, the definition has been expanded
and included in the principal Act. The definition has been revoked from the Regulations.
Madam President, to reduce fraud and other
noncompliant methods, the principal Act has been amended to provide the Director with powers to retrieve
overpaid funds from third parties. The amendment also
authorises the Director to require any third party to repay certain sums of money due to nondisclosure of facts, misrepresentation and fraud. In cases when the Department of Financial Assistance erroneously makes
overpayments to vendors for various reasons, it is expected that parties exercise honesty and repay amounts not owed to them. Madam President, to en-sure natural justice, a third party aggrieved by the Di-rector’s decisions will have the right to appeal to the Financial Assistance Review Board.
Madam President, safety of the staff within the
Department of Financial Assistance is of utmost im-portance to this Government. As a result, provisions have been included in the Act to ensure the dedicated and hardworking employees have a level of safety while carrying out their duties. The amendments provide that a person who assaults or obstructs any officer authorised by the Director in the performance of his function or uses indecent, abusive or insulting lan-guage to any officer authorised by the Direct or in the
performance of his functions and/or fails to comply with any requirements made by an authorised officer will be


Bermuda Senate deemed to have committed an offence and will be liable
on summary conviction of a fine or to imprisonment.
Current economic stresses continue to make it
difficult for persons on financial assistance to plan their
way forward on the pathway to independently sustain their finances. To assist families to be financially independent while allowing the means test to remain, the
amendment to the Financial Assistance Regulations
2004 includes provisions for families to
a) retain up to 50 per cent of child support payments not to exceed a maximum total of
$5,000 in any given period whilst receiving any type of f inancial assistance award or subsequent award; and
b) retain 50 per cent of earnings not to exceed
$5,000 while receiving a f inancial assistance
award or subsequent award.
The eligibility requirements have been revised
to provide that a person is eligible for an award if the
value of their investment and assets owned by the
household does not exceed $5,000. This value of in-vestment and assets has increased from $500 to
$5,000.
Madam President, the reason for now allowing
families to retain up to 50 per cent of child support payments is to lessen the burden to families who are al-ready finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations. By allowing parents to have access to some of
their personal finances, it is anticipated that the additional income would be used to improve their current
situation. In this case, the child support should be used to maintain the child’s or children’s standard of living
and ensure that all of their basic needs are addressed.
This extra income is not intended for use of parents to settle their own non- child-related expenses.
Madam President, life sometimes throws curve
balls. You never see them coming. The Government realises that families are sometimes impacted by occurrences that they could not have predicted. In that regard, provisions are being made to allow families to r eceive in -kind and specific monetary gifts to assist with
emergency circumstances.
Madam President, to effect this change, the
definition of “excluded income” has been amended to ensure that a donation or financial gift approved by the
Director for other expenses which are not included for
the purposes of an award or subsequent award is not
factored into the means test. The Director’s approval
will be based on evidence to corroborate this situation.
Madam President, these changes will be enabled by amendments to the Financial Assistance Regulations 2004 as detailed in the Schedule of the
Amendment Bill before this Chamber, which also includes (a) a requirement for disabled persons to include a medical option as part of the application pro-cess as provided in section 7A(1) of the Financial Assistance Amendment Act 2021; (b) a new paragraph
under section 8, Cancellation or suspension of award, to cover instances when a recipient fails to comply with
the conditions of the award or subsequent award.
Finally, Madam President, this Bill shall come
into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint
by notice published in the Gazette. It is intended for the
amendments to be operational on the 1
st of April 2024
to ensure internal processes such as updating the new rates in the Financial Assistance Support System
(FASS) are completed for effective implementation.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.

[Crosstalk]

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS
The President: The Permanent Secretary, Ms. Jen-nifer Attride- Stirling, has been joined by technical officers, whom I would like to acknowledge.

[Financial Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023,
second reading debate, continuing]

The President: However, the floor is open for Senators
to ask any questions.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
First, let me preface my comments by saying
that I support much of what is in this Bill and can see the need for it. However, I do have concerns with one
section in particular. And before I go specifically to
those comments, let me also say that the publi c officers
in the Department of Financial Assistance do difficult
and very important work for our most vulnerable population. And our whole community is the better for it.
Nonetheless, my comments do concern
[clause] 3 of the amending Bill, which is the proposed
amendments to section 4 of the principal Act, which
amendments, I think, may be an unintended consequence and which go far further than the stated pur-pose of ensuri ng the safety of public officers working
for the Department of Financial Assistance. So the amendments, in particular to sections 4(a) and (c),
each of them have the potential to subject a person who
applies for financial assistance to the risk of criminal
prosecution and fine, and or imprisonment, for simply
engaging in the process and failing to follow through.
Madam President, is this what was intended?
I will address section 4(c) first. Madam President, I do not understand why it is necessary or in the public interest to make it a statutory offence, which is a
criminal offence, for someone to fail to comply with a requirement by an authorised officer under this section.
This amendment gives the Director and the authorised
officers significant —and again I think unintended—
628 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate powers of punishment over individuals seeking financial assistance.
Taking a step back and looking at what section
4 of the Financial Assistance Act does (this is the section which is being amended), this section provides Di-rectors or authorised officers with the power to require
information from applicants. The statutory power to obtain this information is in the form of requiring an applicant to provide information and produce documents
which might be specified by that public officer. It also
includes a requirement to require the applicant to at-tend at a place and time to be examined (i.e., questioned) as to his or her means or circumstances. And
finally, the section provides that the officer may attend
and enter the premises occupied by the applicant for
financial aid for an award to make inquiry as to their
circumstances .
So you can see, Madam President, that the
purpose of section [4] is to give the power to the Director and to the officers, the ability to gather the requisite
information to enable them to consider an application for financial assistance. The purpose of this section is
not to make it a criminal offence to fail to provide that
information or to fail to attend at an examination or even
to refuse entry to your home. The purpose of section 4
is to give the power to the Director to require this information in fu lfilling the Director’s statutory function of
considering whether or not to award financial assistance to the applicant.
Today, currently, if an applicant does not provide the information or the documents or attend for an examination or allow entry to their accommodation, the
consequence is pretty straightforward: they do not get
an award for financial assistance. I see no r eason for
someone to also be subject to prosecution for a statutory offence if they fail to provide information or docu-ments or show up to an examination. And that is what is contemplated by this amendment. This is tantamount
to subjecting a person who app lies for financial assistance to the risk of criminal prosecution for simply engaging in the process and then failing to follow through.
That is the amendment to section 4(b).
Section 4(a) is a provision which was touched
upon by the Junior Minister in the context. Overall these sections are intended to enable the safety of the public
officers. This is the section which deals with a person
who assaults or obstructs a public offi cer in the Financial Assistance Department; they commit an offence.
And my question there is not around assault. Assault is
in fact already a criminal offence in Bermuda. But what is the word “obstruct”? What is that intended to cover?
What does it mean? A nd that is a word which, typically
when it is used in statutes, is subject to statutory definition because what it means depends very much on its
context. It can mean anything from providing false information to authorities, interfering with an investigati on
or physically obstructing someone. On this occasion, the word has been used in a
subsection referring to assault. And this suggests per-haps that obstruction in this context is intended to refer
to physical obstruction as in preventing a public officer
from entering their home. Is this what is intended? It is
simply not clear to me. And I have made this comment
before in the context of other legislation. When we, I
think as a Legislature, create new criminal offences, it
should not be vague what constitutes that criminal offence. People shou ld not be confused if they have committed a criminal offence. This is particularly the
case, Madam President, when the people whom we are
talking about today are the most vulnerable members
of our community.
And having read the annual report which was
tabled today, over 80 per cent of the people whom we
are talking about as currently receiving financial assistance are either senior citizens or disabled people. And
these are the people whom we are now talking a bout
being subject to having criminal proceedings taken out
against them if they have failed to submit a document
as requested, failed to allow someone to enter their
home as requested. And that is without any insult,
abuse or bad language.
I have thoughts about that section 4(b) as well,
but I shall yield, having taken a bit of time.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Vice President Kiernan
Bell.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And before I open it up to other Senators, I would just like to acknowledge that the Permanent Secretary is joined by Ms. Amani Lawrence, the
Acting Chief Parliamentary Counsel; as well as Gwen Johnson, Parliamentary Counsel; and also Alsha Wilson, Assist ant Parliamentary Counsel.
So we do have the Parliamentary Counsel here
to assist the Permanent Secretary in responding to
questions that have been put forward.
[Financial Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023,
second reading debate, continuing]

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

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I join my concern with my Senate colleague.
And I will actually focus a bit more on section 4(b), all right? So I think this Bill makes some positive strides
toward helping people who find themselves in circumstances where they need support for Financial Assistance. The Bill does such things as have already been


Bermuda Senate discussed as providing key definitions that identify eligibility and setting out requirements for repayment of
funds by parties who have been improperly or incorrectly paid. And it makes certain consequential amendments such as increasing the amount of ear nings that
assistance recipients can maintain so that they can
have access to personal finances to care for their children or certain emergencies.
Madam President, as has already been mentioned, this Bill also introduces penalties in the forms of
a fine or possibly imprisonment for what I am going to term “ bad behaviour, ” whether it is one time or multiple
times, so that is bad behaviour toward Financial Assistance workers. I believe that [by] introducing this in the
Bill, the Government is trying to fulfil its obligation to
ensure that staff have a safe working environment . And
absolutely they should have. They should have a safe
working environment .
This is likely even more necessary because Financial Assistance workers most closely and most of-ten, more often than some of us who deliver supporting services, deal with people who are in a really bad way
or a bad situation. Some will be angry, frustrated, fearful, possibly feeling at their wits’ end, overwhelmed by
current economic or other stresses. They may even have mental challenges or generally experiencing a
range of emotions and at times are unable to cope.
Madam President, if we allow people to be
fined or go to prison for emotional outbursts, will the
next step be to introduce fines or terms of imprisonment
for people who lose their cool with others who work in high-stress environments and are dealing with people
in difficult situations? Shall we fine and imprison the parent who goes off on the DCFS [Department of Child and Family Services] social worker? Prisoners who go
off on prison officers? How about people who go off on our traffic wardens and our teachers? Let us think about the frustrated people who will show up at the BELCO
customer service desk to pay their bill at the end of the
month and take their frustration out on the person behind the desk. I am not even making light of that. I am
just highli ghting the fact that people generally are dealing with a lot of frustration right now.
Am I saying, Madam President, that there
should be no consequence for clients who show up and
show bad verbally abusive behaviours toward Financial
Assistance staff? Absolutely there should be consequences! No one should have to put up with disrespectful behaviour. But is imprisonment an appropriate consequence? I would say no. Perhaps sterner warning
letters, putting them on notice that it will not be tolerated—and enforce it.
The Director of Financial Assistance could . . .
again, they already have the power to suspend awards. So therefore, in extreme cases give them the power to
revoke the award altogether for displaying these types of behaviours. Sending people to prison makes them
ineligible to receive the award during the incarceration period anyway. But by suspension, at least they will not have a criminal record, making bad matters worse.
Madam President, working in social services
environments and working with people, particularly
people who are in need, is tough. Hearing people’s sto-ries and trying to help them, especially when clients do
not get what they want when they want, understandably
it takes a toll on workers. We know that it has for the
Financial Assistance staff and that some training support has been provided for the workers. Hopefully, it
continues to be offered because, Madam President, on the 6
th of May 2022 in another plac e a Statement entitled Department of Financial Assistance Annual Report
2020/21 was read. And on page 2 it mentioned that “the
team is working on transforming the service delivery to
ensure the customer experiences professional and
demonstrates a high level of customer service delivery. During this reporting period, the team participated in
the International Leadership Management Customer
Services programme to improve their skills in this area.
This has led to a decrease in the number of complaints” (I am s till quoting from the annual report) “lodged with
the Ombudsman’s Office to reduce the number of appeals referred to the Advisory Board. The staff needed
support to improve their service delivery and owing to the nature of their role likely needed ongoing support in
a number of areas to help them manage the stresses
associated with their roles. Training and course correction were also needed. But so do the population that
they serve. They also need a level of support.”
But, Madam President, should the consequence for insulting be a hefty fine for somebody who
is already on financial assistance, or, as I mentioned
earlier, imprisonment? Again, I think not.
Should this Bill be passed in this Chamber
without amendment, who will be amongst the first to re-ceive the $1,500 fine, or worse, six months in prison? Will it be the single mother who is at her wits’ end and
lashes out at the Financial Assistance worker? We all
know that, as my Senate colleague mentioned a minute
ago, seniors and disabled are the two largest categories of persons served by Financial Assistance. So will
it be a pensioner who is exasperated? Or someone else
who is mentally challenged or dis abled and is acting
out?
Madam President, we propose an amendment
to section 4 that is in the particular Bill. So with those comments, Madam President, I will sit tight until we
move to the next stage.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill before we go into Committee? We will be going into Committee.
Senator Dill, Emily[gail] Dill, you have the floor.
[Inaudible interjection]

630 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: I am sorry. Senator Lindsay Simmons,
you have the floor.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, first I want to thank the Ministry and the technical officers for bringing this Bill for-ward. Madam President, we can make excuses for everything, right? When this Bill was created, rational steps
were taken. And it is consistent with other legislation.
Madam President, if you will give me a moment, I will just highlight a few of them for you. The Magistrates Act
1948 states the same wording [at Part V, section 36],
(a) “uses indecent, violent, insulting or threatening
words or gestures in a court or to a magistrate going to
or returning from a court or to any party or witness
within the precincts of a court . . . .”
The Senior Training School Rules 1951, [at
section 30](d) “if he uses any abusive, insolent, threatening or other improper language; (e) “if he uses any
indecent language, does any indecent act, or makes any indecent gesture . . . .”
And as you see, this started in 1948, Madam
President. Parliament Act 1957 [at section 40(b)](iii), “refuses to produce to the committee any document in his possession or under his control or otherwise available to him which he is required under the terms of the
summons to produce, and which having regard to the
foregoing provisions of this Part, he is bound to produce; or (iv) uses any insulting or threatening language
towards or in the hearing of the committee or any member thereof, or causes any disturbance or interruptions
on the proceedings of the committee . . . .”
The Liquor Licence Act 1974, Madam President, [at Part VI, section 52(1)], “ If any person at any
meeting of the licensing authority for the purpose of
hearing applications for the grant or transfer of licences
is guilty of any violent, offensive, disorderly or insulting
conduct towards the licensing authority or any member thereof, or any other person present, or so as to disturb
or impede the transaction of business, he commits an
offence . . . .”
Madam President, Prison Rules 1980 [at section 32(d)], “uses any abusive, insolent, threatening or other improper language; (e) uses any indecent language, does any indecent act, or makes any indecent
gesture . . . .”
Madam President, the Bermuda National
Parks Act 1986 [at Fourth Schedule, Offences and
Penalties, Bermuda National Parks Regulations 1988, Description of Offence], “Using threatening, abusive,
insulting or offensive words, gestures or behaviour
. . . .”
The National Training Board Act 1997 [at section 27(4)], “A person who — . . . (b) uses indecent, abusive or insulting language to the training officer in the
performance of his functions . . . .” Madam President, Consumer Protection Act
1999 [at Part III, section 11(1)(c)(i)], “engaging in abu-sive language, or verbal and physical threats directed
towards the consumer . . . .”
And the last one I am going to talk about,
Madam President, is the National Occupational Certification Act 2004 [at section 14(4)(b)], “uses indecent,
abusive or insulting language to an enforcement officer
in the performance of his functions . . . .”
So, Madam President, this language is not
something that was just created for this legislation. We need to have some deterrent to stop criminal behaviour. And we also have to remember that the Director
does not put people in prison. If it is determined that a
criminal act was made, it has to go to the DPP [Department of Public Prosecutions] office first and then to the
magistrate. So everybody is due their legal right. But we have to protect the workers as well.
In all legislation, it has not been abused since
the inception, that I can see. And I ask the Opposition or even the Independent Senator if they could give me
any records of this ever being abused, because there
are no records of it being abused.
So I want to continue to thank this Ministry for
bringing this forward and protecting the workers who
have to deal with people. Yes, they are high- strung over
situations that have come. But people do not deserve
to be abused. And even this Ministry brought through
the Harassment Act . . . we need to protect the workers
at all costs and also the people who are coming into the building as well.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Simmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Yes. Senator Dill, you have the floor.

Certainly is a very sad
day when we would have to put forth legislation in order
to address inappropriate behaviours toward our public
officers. Like so many of my colleagues here in the
Chamber today, we listen to this legislation and are ap-palled when we think of the fact that there are public
officers who are having to endure this type of behav-iour.
I certainly understand the need for this legislation, for it serves as a deterrent to individuals, that there
have been increased instances of verbal attacks
against our officers. And we have to ensure that we put
the proper safeguards in place in order t o protect them.
And certainly as my colleague has noted, this is not legBermuda Senate islation that gives officers the right to be able to arbitrarily enforce this legislation. But in actual fact, a determination will be made by the magistrate, a magistrate in terms of the act that has been committed.
So while it is very unfortunate that we would
have to put these measures in place, I mean, there was
a recent incident where a client sent pictures of a revolver with threatening language to an officer. And as a
result of that, the entire department was i n lockdown.
So we have to ensure, as we have seen the level of offences in Bermuda, the severity of them being greater than in recent years. And having seen an increase in
. . . certainly Senator Tucker spoke about the fact that
there are people under a lot of stress. But that does not
give them a licence to threaten individuals, to speak to
them inappropriately and to act in ways that up until
now were totally unbelievable.
So I support this legislation. And I trust that it
will serve as a disincentive to individuals when they
think about the fact that they will stop and think before
they act and that we can see improved relationships between our officers and our clients and teaching our
individuals appropriate ways of addressing each other
and effective coping strategies as we go forward.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Robinson, Dwayne Robinson, you
have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you.
And right off the bat, I want to clarify that I
agree with the protection of civil service workers and the protection of all people who are doing their jobs.
The folks who are the majority on Financial Assistance, Madam President, are people who I believe deserve more of a rehabilitative approach than punitive. And I understand the need to deter people from
disrespecting or addressing workers in a certain way,
and definitely, definitely agree with deterring any phys-ical or any threats such as was stated by the colleague
earlier of, you know, mailing [a picture of] a revolver.
That is unacceptable.
But these are, the majority are seniors, are elders. And I believe that most of the time we are all protected by a legal or a law -and-order system now where
a lot of the stuff that is being done is already illegal . It
is already subject to punishment.
Now, I have to lean toward my colleague, Senator Bell, when it comes to putting punitive measures
into legislation such as this. I do agree that there is a
precedent in other Bills and other legislation that has
this language. But I feel like the point of FA [Financial
Assistance] is different than those other places that have that legislation. Because you are coming there for assistance that is, for most, their lowest point. I mean,
if you have majority seniors on there, these are people who have worked t heir whole lives and now need supplemental income to sustain themselves. Or somebody
who is not mentally able to take care of themselves.
I believe that you have to measure these critical roles against punishment and conflict mitigation and de-escalation, which is what I would hope would be
used when dealing with our seniors and those who may
not be mentally able to care for themselves. So I support this amendment, and I support the Government’s endeavours to improve and increase the financial assistance to Bermudians during this time of [the rising] cost of living. But I cannot support this [amendment to]
section 4 here, because to me it is just a double layer
of criminality on some of our most vulnerable who have
come into that place for help. It is not the same as a
Parliament Act where you have unparliamentary language and different things like that that could lead to different deterrents . This is somebody who is coming in
who is trying to either feed themselves or feed their
families.
And I feel like if they are in a heightened state
of aggression and utilise certain language, they should
not be a threat [so as] to fine somebody whom you
know you are putting into a deeper state of debt, or removing their ability to find a job or employ ment or whatever else, to receive that benefit. And I think this is a
state here where we have to find other ways to deter those folks from doing this sort of behaviour without hitting them exactly with what . . . they came there for support. So I agree on the point of deterring people from
utilising this stuff and utilising this language. But I do not agree with deterrents that potentially put a person
in a much worse position than they arrived in at the lo-cation [where] they were supposed to receive help.
I am hoping that we can come to a consensus
that we all want to protect workers, we all want to protect the civil service. We all expect people who are
working to have a safe environment. But we also have
to understand the emotional state and the stresses that
. . . Many of us probably in this Chamber have either
had a constituent or have suffered themselves. So I
guess for me it is a compassionate approach I am hoping for when it comes to Financial Assistance.
And no disrespect to the colleagues on the
other side here. I spoke because I feel like it is a great thing to advocate for safety of workers. And I do not
disrespect that. But I feel like it has to be a measured
approach in the middle. And I think that i f we all really
were collaborative on it, I think we could find a way to
deter folks without potentially criminalising them and
making them ineligible for this award that they obviously require. Because if not, they would not have
come into Financial Assis tance.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Yes. Senator Kiernan Bell.

632 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Kiernan Bell: If I am able just to speak one more
time before we go into Committee?
Oh, you have not spoken. Sorry.

The President: Do you have a point of clarification?

Sen. Kiernan Bell: I did just in terms of [the amendments to] that section 4(c). But I defer to Minister Darrell, who I think has not spoken yet.
The President: Minister Darrell, you have the floor.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Senator.
Madam President, I would like to just refocus
our efforts here today as to what we are actually talking
about and what we are actually here to debate. And we
have gone far down a rabbit hole on an amendment that you have already told us that we will be going into
Committee about. And it is really unfortunate that . . .
(And I understand. I am not going to spend time arguing
with a lawyer.) But I must point out the absence of sub-stance of the One Bermuda Alliance debate here,
Madam President. They seem to b e hitching their
wagon to an amendment that we are going to be talking
about in a minute.
But for years, Madam President, Financial Assistance and the individuals who find themselves in this place have been left without any sort of decent dignity. There have been many quirks and nooks and crannies
that have not been right with Financial Assist ance for a
long time.
I want to take this opportunity to point out that
it is this Government, the Progressive Labour Party
Government, led by the Minister of Economy and La-bour who has actually taken time out to do a full -fledged
Financial Assistance reform, Madam President. And we find ourselves here today spending the last 50 minutes going down one particular rabbit hole about
whether or not this entire Financial Assistance reform
should be put on the back burner, put on hold and put
people back into a less -dignified situati on because we
want to argue whether we should put consequences in
place for somebody disrespecting the government
worker.
There has been no shortage . . . and I am not
going to go too far down this rabbit hole right now. But
there has been no shortage of times that I have spoken
to individuals who actually work in Financial Assistance. And they say that the level of disrespect and the
level of abuse is through the roof! And it is that way be-cause there were no real consequences. If you decide
that, I want my financial assistance reward, I am going
to go in. I am going to use some very expressive language and maybe throw a couple of things around and
walk out with a cheque, what the OBA Senators would
like you to believe is that these workers should stand there, take the abuse—

I do not believe that Senator Darrell has any idea what we would like or not like.
And I would appreciate his refraining from interpolating
for us. Thank you, Madam President.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I can
focus my debate and my speech on the things that they
did not say. And as a Member, the Minister of a Progressive Labour Party Government, Madam President,
I am absolutely delighted that we can sit here and go
through these amendment s to make the Financial Assistance process a lot more manageable for those who
use it and those who support those who use it. And
again, we are going to get into the proposed amendment in a minute.
But, I mean, there are some of us in this Chamber who, you know, may have a little bit of . . . ([I’ll] save
this one for later) a little of bit of experience on how you
put consequences in place, Madam President. And the
simple consequence of, Well, if you don’t act right we’re
not going to give you financial reward, does not seem
to have been working all of this time. So you have got
to put some teeth in there. And there are going to be
cooler heads that are going to prevail. Not everybody
that comes in there huffing and puffing is going to be
sent up to Magistrate’s Court, locked up and shipped
off to Westgate. That is what the One Bermuda Alliance
would like for you to believe.
I want to refocus us, as I said. And I would hate
that some of these heartbreaking stories that we hear,
especially in this time of individuals who are waiting patiently for us in this place to pass these Financial Assistance reforms, to be held up becaus e of a line or two
that I think some may be taking far out of context. As a Labour Government, we cannot and will not allow for
public officers to put up with abuse without any sort of
consequences behind it. And there are many nuances
to this Financial As sistance that . . . you know, I listened
to the Minister in another place talk about examples and examples of how people may have not been able to get a reward because they took five dollars from their
cousin for a snowball.
And, Madam President, I just want to applaud
the officers and the drafters of these amendments. Despite one or two lines that we are getting caught up on,
this is exactly what this Government said it was going
to do in our platform as far as making the pr ocess for
people who are almost down and out a lot easier and a lot smoother. So I know we will get to the proposed
amendments in Committee, Madam President. But I
just wanted to refocus this debate, say thank you to the
department and the Ministry for what we are actually
here to attempt to do today rather than going down on
a tangent.


Bermuda Senate Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
With that said . . . Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Madam President, and thank you for the opportunity to speak on this
Bill.
We want to be clear. We generally support this
Bill, the aims of this Bill. We also want to be clear
[about] our empathy and sensitivity for the people work-ing in Financial Assistance. It is a tough job, Madam
President. They are both there to help people, but
sometimes they have to be enforcers and they have to
deal, as has been mentioned by numerous people in
the Senate today, with people who are in a tough situation. And those people need some empathy.

And for anyone who has had to try to help facilitate discussions between people in need and Financial Assistance, we can appreciate it gets quite thorny with the particulars of any individual’s case. So when I
think about what that job must be like for that person, I
think it takes a particularly strong character, a very
unique individual who is able to come to that job every day and provide the assistance that people need. And
some days they are not going to have a good day. So
we empathise with that, and we can support supporting
them.
It is unfortunate that a progressive government
decides to criminalise someone getting upset in this Bill! And I apologise to the Minister that he is upset that
they brought this Bill with perhaps an issue in it that
may slightly derail their policy agend a. Because we do
not really want to derail the policy agenda, but there are
some things. There is a reason we exist here in the Senate, and it is to find things like this and perhaps gen-tly produce a better outcome.
You know, I heard the phrase, Oh, we don’t
want to derail this because of a line or two in the law. I
can tell you a lot of people whose lives have been de-railed, Madam President, because of a line or two in the
law. You do not get to pick and choose how and when
those can apply. We cannot predict, but what we can do is try to make sure it is a good law . And I am not a
lawyer. But Senator Bell, I think, outlined quite a few
things to keep in mind when we think about law and its
consequences.
We heard some examples of where we saw
some similar approaches in other laws. And I would probably put to you, Madam President and the other
Senators, that it is probably either not really comparable when we think about protection, say, for a police
officer or a magistrate or whatever carrying out their duties to provide the rule of law. Or we might look at some of the things and say, You know, hey, in retrospect, that probably wasn’t a good idea either. And we are not going to get into all of that. “Deterrents” is such a tough, tough word. And
I liked how my colleague, Senator Robinson, used the word “rehabilitation.” The thing about deterrence is
when someone comes in and they are all het up because they are having a bad day, a bad week, a bad
month, a bad year and something is going on inside
their mind . . . look, they are not thinking straight. They
are not going to see this clause and go, Whoa. Whoa.
Woops. Better stop. Because they already know they
should have stopped. So all we are going to c reate is a
trip wire for these people in a tough situation that is only
going to make it worse. And I just want to reiterate that
because we have heard some of that from the prior
speakers.
So those are my comments, Madam President.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak before
I ask Senator Robinson to reply?
Senator Kiernan Bell.
Sen. Kiernan Bell: I just wanted to clarify in particular
the area of concern that I have just in case if it assists Senator Robinson.
My concern involves in particular the language
around [proposed] section 4(c), which says, “fails to comply with any requirement made by an authorised
officer.” I have already gone through where I do not see
that affecting in any way the safety of any public officer—failing to provide a form, failing to appear for an
examination. To Senator Lindsay Simmons’s point, I do not know of any legislation which makes a criminal of-fence for a similar application for a government benefit
and failing to follow through with any of the requirements in order to obtain that benefit. I am happy to look
at those sections if they can be produced, but I do not
believe they exist.
So those are the concerns that I have. And if
we do go into Committee, I just wanted to—because I
do take on board Senator and Minister Darrell’s point. I
do support the vast majority of this Bill. But I have a
significant issue with that particular secti on.
The President: Thank you, Senator, Vice President Kiernan Bell.
Senator Robinson, you can respond. And after
you do, then we will go into Committee. But you can respond to the queries that have come up.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, and this is
just a question. We are going to go into Committee.

The President: Yes.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: So would it be all right to move
that the Bill now be read a second time? And then go into Committee to address the—

634 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report
Ber muda Senate The P resident: Certainly y ou can.
[Crosstalk ]
The P resident: Do the second reading.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: I move that the Bill entitled Financial Assistance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2023 now
be read a second time.
The P resident: Is there any obj ection t o that?
One, t wo, t hree . . . Then I will —yes, there . . .
[Crosstalk]
The Clerk: There ar e objections?
The P resident: There ar e objections, y es.
[Crosstalk ]
The P resident: Therefore, I w ill as k Vice President
Kiernan Bell t o take the chair.
[Crosstalk ]
The P resident: The second reading has b een agr eed,
Senators.
So, Senator Robinson, you c an move that we
go int o Committ ee to consider t he am endment.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I move that
the Senate do now resolve itself into Committee of the
whole for further consideration of the Bill.
The P resident: Is there any obj ection t o that?
No objection.
I therefor e call o n Vic e President, Senator
Kiernan Bell, t o take the Chair.
Senat e in C ommitt ee at 3: 36 pm
[Sen. K iernan Bell, Chairman]
COMMITTEE O N BILL
FINANCIAL A SSISTANCE AM ENDMENT ( NO. 2 )
ACT 202 3

Good afternoon. Senators, we are now
in Committee of the whole for the further consideration
of the Bill entitled the Financial Assistance Amendment
(No. 2) Act 2023.
I
call on the Junior Minister Robinson to proceed.
Senator, you have the floor.
Se
n. Leslie Robinson: Madam Chairman, I move that
clause 1 be approved. [Pause]
Th
e Chairman: So are you doing each one individually?
Se
n. Leslie Robinson: Each one. Yes, if I may. Yes.
Th
e Chairman: Okay. Thank you. Please proceed.
Se
n. Leslie Robinson: So yes. We are doing clause
by clause.
So, Madam Chairman, I move that clause 1
along with clause 2 be approved as written.
Th
e Chairman: So you are moving that clauses 1 and
2 be approved as written.
Would any Senator like to speak to that?
Hearing none, proceed.
Th
e Clerk: Is there any objection?
Th
e Chairman: Is there any objection to clauses 1 and
2?
Seeing none . . . agreed and approved.
[Mot
ion carried: Clauses 1 and 2 passed.]
Se
n. Leslie Robinson: Madam Chairman, I move that
clause 3 be approved as written.
Th
e Chairman: Is there any objection?
Yes, Senator Tucker.
Th
e Clerk: Senator Robinson, do you want to speak to
clause 3 first?
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
Senator Robinson, would you like to speak to
clause 3 first?
Se
n. Leslie Robinson: Madam Chairman, I want to
first speak about the protection of freedom of expression. The protection of freedom of expression is found in section 9 of [the Schedule to the Constitution of Ber-muda, Forms of Oaths and Affirmations, Chapter 1 of] the Bermuda Constitution Order of 1968. Section 9(2)
demonstrates the extent to which fundamental rights
can be restricted. In paragraph 9(2)(a)(i), it provides that the freedom can be restricted to the extent “that is reasonably required—(i) in t he interest of . . . public
safety, public order . . .,” as well as in other instances.
And in paragraph 9(2)(a)(ii) of the Constitution, it provides that the freedom can be restricted for the purpose
of protecting “the rights, reputations and freedom of other persons . . . ,” et cetera.
The interpretation of this section of the Constitution and the extent to which laws can limit freedom of expression have been recognised by the Supreme
Court of Bermuda in Richardson v. Raynor of 2011.

B ermuda Senate This Bill overall, and in particular speaking to
sanctions, the Bill being considered is therefore providing limitations in accordance with the Constitution and with court precedent. And as my colleagues have so eloquently stated, these provisions are similar to ones found in this Bill, which creates an offence for using indecent, abusive or insulting language. There is much
legislation which captures this, and we mentioned that. The National Training Board Act, for example, and that is in section 27(4); the Consumer Protection Act 1999, section 11(1)(c)(i); the Parliament Act 1957, section 40(b)(iv); the Magistrates Act 1948, [Part V,] section
36(a). So the intention is to not do anything different
from what has already been done.
Specifically, if we just look at . . . and I am going now to some of the questions. And I appreciate all of the comments that have been raised by both sides. But specifically, if we go through the sections, and this
is all again referring to the [proposed amendments to]
section 4(a), (b) and (c) of the actual [principal] Act. The term “obstruction” is not defined, as it is intended to be used in the provision in accordance with the ordinary English definition of the term as provided in an English
dictionary . In the Oxford English Dictionary , the term
“obstruct” is defined to mean “block.” In [the proposed]
section 4(b), this language when it talks about the be-haviours not defined, subjective, creates risk of criminal offence, the language is clearly understood as it has been referred to without definition in more than six
pieces of legislation, as I have mentioned and also
some of my colleagues have mentioned.
There is no evidence that provisions containing
such language have been used abusively or unneces-sarily against any person.
Then for [proposed] section 4, as far as its being a statutory offence to fail to produce documents, the offence created by the provision is similar to other such offences in Bermuda’s laws. For example, section 40(b)(iii) of the Parliament Act 1957 provides for a sim-ilar offence. And I will say that this here has been inserted, and as my colleagues have also mentioned, because of the propensity, the increase that we are see-ing in fraud, it is important . . . persons are either committing fraud themselves or part of a scheme of fraud. And it is not to go against the person, but it is the fact that we have seen the cases themselves where fraud
has been committed, intentional fraud. And in these circumstances as well, it would still be up to the courts to determine what the outcome would be.
So saying all of this is to say, Madam Chairman, that what is in here is not anything different from what has been and is in other pieces of legislation. Understanding that, yes, this is Financial Assistance and
we are talking about the most [deprived] persons in our community, we also have to understand that those car-rying out the work in the Financial Assistance Depart-ment need protections, as well as understanding that in these times there are other persons outside of the ac-tual person themselves who is the actual client of Fi-nancial Assistance. There are other family members, et cetera, who are also coercing and also trying to pull schemes and/or physically, verbally abusing, et cetera, . . . of . . . you know, directly (I should say) to the workers.
There are cases where, for example, we have
seniors who are the actual clients, but family members have moved in. And then when the social worker comes and needs to deal with situations with the client [they] find family members are there, family getting abusive, et cetera. So all we are doing is looking to put the necessary protections for our employees of government,
but also ensuring that what we are doing is still match-ing up the legislation that is already in place.
[
Pause]
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam Chairman, I move that
clause 3 be approved as written.

Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
It is interesting because if we think about the
law . . . again, I am not a lawyer. But think about even
policies and procedures. It is not enough to say, Hey,
this law might not be that great, but no one has ever
abused it. That is not how it operates. What we need to
do is put in place good law, good policies, good proce-dures that do not even create the opportunity for abuse.
Otherwise, we just would not need the laws. We would
operate on trust completely.
And so I do not think that is a particularly good
approach to say, Well, it’s not so bad. And I promise
you we’re not going to —
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Point of order, Madam
Chairman. Point of order.

What is your point of order?
POINT OF ORDER
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I am not sure which debate the Senator is sitting in on, but I have not heard anyone in this Chamber say that this Bill is not a great Bill. So maybe he is in a different place. I am not sure.
But I would like him to refine the language that he is
using to try to make his point.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Senator De Couto, please proceed.
636 4 October 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Dr. Douglas De Couto: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
And if I want to . . . an interesting thing I think
that has come out of this is that this Bill, this clause actually, would allow other people to be prosecuted, not just the potential recipients of FA. So it could be the
family of someone. So the whole family may be in a
tough situation. So now not just the recipient, who perhaps is acting out or is having a bad day or failed to fill
out some paperwork. Maybe they were incapable of filling out that paperwork. Maybe they did not understand it and did not know where to go for help. Maybe they
are incapacitated in some other way, or the other members of their family. So I think in fact it is a little bit worse
than when we discussed earlier in that the scope of
people who could be punitively affected by this c lause,
through [proposed] section 4(c) specifically, also section 4(b) is even broader than I really thought originally.
So in fact my reservations have deepened.
And personally I would like to see both of those, section 4(b) and (c), removed from the clause, Madam Chair-man.

Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Tucker, I saw that you had your hand
up, too.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I actually just wanted to just to chime in again
just to reinforce the fact that while there are similar sec-tions in other pieces of legislation, dealing with people in crisis in Financial Assistance and the like is a totally
different beast from someone who is working in Parks
or what have you. While there may be individual situations . . . but this is an isolated area. Social services is
an isolated area. And let us face it: the fact remains that if we have this in place, even though the intent is not to
criminalise people, the intent from what I am hearing
from the Government Senators is to ensure that there
is an adequate deterrent. But it still has the opportunity,
the potential for abuse.
So we do not want to even give that potential
to people to create an environment where people can
be imprisoned or fined. How are we fining people on Financial Assistance, Madam Chairman? If they already do not have any money, they are coming to Financial Assistance to get money! It beggars belief. Why
would we be doing that?
And on top of that, we are compounding already bad situations which I have talked about ad nauseum. But I did just want to again reinforce the fact that
when we give examples of other pieces of legislation,
they are not apples and apples. They are apples and
oranges because of the circumstances and the populations that we are dealing with.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
[Inaudible interjections ]
Sen. Robin Tucker: Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Som-ner.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO CLAUSE 3

Sen. Robin Tucker: So with that said, Madam Chairman, I would like to move my amendment. And the
amendment that we have circulated and presented to
everyone removes [proposed] section 4(b), which says
that “any person who uses indecent, abusive or insulting language to the authorised officer in the perfor-mance of his duties under this section.” So we would
like to remove the section that speaks to insulting language and abusive language.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

I see Senator Simmons . . .
Senator Darrell.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
I am trying to just, you know, get us down the
road as to what we are actually here to do today. And
unfortunately, what I am hearing is a lot of hypotheticals
coming from the opposite side here. And it is hypotheticals as to What if? What happens if? And this is the
worst -case scenario . But, Madam Chairman, we have
been sitting in the place of Financial Assistance where there are stories upon stories of individuals who have
walked into Financial Assistance and had absolutely
deplorable behaviour. And the workers of Financial Assistance seem t o be hand- tied as to what they can do.
Senator Tucker takes us down a road of, I call
them excuses. I had a group of students one time in
another place where I used to go to work for a long time. And part of my job was to put consequences in
place. And we used to talk about excuses are tools of
the incompetent used to build bridges to nowhere and
monuments of nothingness!
So we are making excuses for a provision that
is in place for people who walk into a place and use bad
behaviour. Absolutely not! I was 16 years old, Madam
Chairman, and I got caught speeding on my bike. And I had to go to court and pay a fine. I can guarantee you
I had no money because I did not have a job. So according to the hypotheticals that are coming from the
other side, the judge should have just said, Young man,
put your bike down for a few days. There’s no deterrent,
and tomorrow you can go speed again.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Madam Chairman, a point of clarification.



Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: That is what I am hearing, Madam Chairman.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Point of clarification.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Sen. Robin Tucker: Throughout this debate I have
said that consequences are necessary —just not these
consequences.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Wow.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Wow. I can tell you there
are situations upon situations where stories happen like
this, and events happen, and people come back after a
long inquiry and say, Well, there’s no provision in the
law where we can actually [impose a] consequence
and do anything. Let me give you some examples so
we do not have to go down the road of hypotheticals.
We have got an example of a client who threatened to
kidnap the officer’s child! Could you imagine the officer,
who happens to maybe be one of my friends? I do not
know, but I have friends who work over there.

The Senator is misrepresenting the amendment, which is not related to the as-sault and threats. It is just related to use of language, Madam Chairman. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Well, it is language if
someone is saying that this is what they are going to
do.
Let me give you another real -life example because we have heard a lot about hypotheticals. We have had a client state that they know where an officer
lives! As a Labour Government, are you telling me that
I am supposed to just scratch all of this stuff out of this
Bill and say that I do not have any —

Once again the Senator
is inferring that we do not support that, protecting that officer. Again, we are we taking . . . the amendment that
is proposed by my colleague is only about the clause
around the use of foul language, not obstruction or
threats and so forth.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam Chairman, I am
using these examples to make my point instead of hypotheticals.
We have also had officers manage clients who
get upset or frustrated. It is actions and threats to physically harm officers. And this is why these provisions are
in here, to put a real consequence in place should we
have to get to that point. Let us not b e naïve here to
think that the minute that one person walks into Financial Assistance and utters a bad word that we are going
to have them marching over to Magistrate’s Court. Let
us not be ridiculous here. This is a provision that we put in here to overal l assist with Financial Assistance reform while at the same time making the workers and
the officers who assist these most vulnerable feel protected and comfortable.
So unfortunately, Madam Chairman, this side
cannot and will not agree with these amendments put
forward from the Senator on the other side.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.