The Saint Lucia National Reparations Committee (NRC) will today finalize its position on the upcoming Royal Visit to Saint Lucia by the Earl of Wessex and his wife, but until that position is agreed upon, the NRC’s Chair, Earl Bousquet, says he’s pleased with the responses thus far.
“We heard calls for peaceful demonstrations and for the Queen to be removed as Saint Lucia’s Head of State and all these positions reflect how Saint Lucians have different views,” Bousquet told The VOICE yesterday.
He explained that NRC members have since Sunday been exchanging proposals and recommendations “in a search for consensus on what the NRC’s position should be as a national organization.”
But, he added, “while we will definitely agree on a NRC position, individual member-entities and members of the Executive are also free to take their own positions, as has been adumbrated by the Caribbean Rastafari Organization (CRO), which is also a NRC member.”
He reiterated, however, that “whatever position we take, it will be one we feel can best get the Reparations Message to the Royals while here on assignment for Queen Elizabeth II, who is still Saint Lucia’s Head of State.”
Bousquet also noted the call by Mary Francis, Coordinator of the National Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights, for the Queen to be removed as Saint Lucia’s Head of State, saying “That’s a position held by more people now than ever.”
But, he also noted, there are also those who contemplate the implications of withdrawing from the British Commonwealth, “as many people are also concerned about how we’ll remove the queen’s head from our coins and dollars or how we will replace the air currently coming from Britain or The Commonwealth.”
According to Bousquet, “We have to take all views into consideration, but the NRC’s main focus will be on ensuring this Royal Visit, like all others to the Caribbean so far, afford the Royals a chance to hear the Reparations Message – and take it back to London.”
The Saint Lucia NRC was appointed by the Government of Saint Lucia in 2013 and is also a member of the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC).