MINISTER PICKERSGILL ADDRESSES CANADIAN COMMUNITY GROUP

Minister Robert Pickersgill addressed the Jamaica Ottowa Community Association Heroes’ Day Banquet on Saturday, October 21, 2006 at the Minto Place Hotel in Canada. Minister Pickersgill was representing Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller who was unavoidably absent.

Minister Pickersgill told the gathering of mostly Jamaicans in the Canadian diaspora that he was pleased to have been with them for the ceremony and thanked them for the contribution that they made to the development of Jamaica, noting that, ‘we need each other to take Jamaica to the next level of development.’

The Minister used the opportunity to speak on the topic of ‘Leadership and Belief’, situating it in the context of the contributions of one of Jamaica’s National Hero, Sir Alexander Bustamante. In speaking directly to the question of ‘leadership’, Minister Pickersgill asserted that, “Despite the seeming lack of consensus on the concept, there is little room for argument that great leaders are grounded on a belief system – call it vision if you may – that propels them to push the envelope and disrupt the settled pattern of societal assumptions, common thinking or just traditional notions of behaviour, conduct or attitudes whether in the community, nationally or universally.”

The Minister noted that it was that same belief in something – the dignity of the human race – that pushed …Sir Alexander Bustamante to lead a constituency of the poor and powerless in Jamaica against the might of the ruling colonial power.

Chronicling the exploits of Sir Alexander Bustamante, the Minister explained that as a young man, Bustamante travelled the jungles of the world and returned to Jamaica in the 1930’s. This was a period of disaffection and upheaval not just in Jamaica but also across the wider Caribbean. Continuing Minister Pickersgill said that in Jamaica, Bustamante took the opportunity to bring public attention to the condition of the majority of Jamaicans. At the time only 18% of the population was earning an income and 92% of those who worked earned less than 25 shillings per week.

“It was his organised islandwide workers’ protests that shook the nation, demonstrated the strength of people power, undermined the colonial authorities and set the stage for a new era in the social and political history of Jamaica,”the Minister said. Minister Pickersgill argued that Bustamante was a leader whose belief in the fundamental principle of the right to human dignity prepared him to challenge the colonial authority and to start a revolutionary change in Jamaica. He noted that ‘Busta’s’ remarkable courage in the face of personal danger, his persistent challenge to the plantocracy and his skilful transformation of seething unrest into organised protest, served to shift political attention from the Legislative Council to the Union platform.

It has been said that the main planks of modern Jamaica came out of this period of change and that Bustamante, like many other leaders risked the hatred of colonial masters, the censure of the middle class and the ridicule of his peers to give practical expression to his belief in the economic and social freedom of Jamaicans.

In placing ‘Busta’s contribution in the wider context of Jamaica’s development, the Minister said that in 1944 with a population of just over 1.2 million persons, Jamaica had a secondary school enrolment of 4,026 and life expectancy of 52.9 years. Today, on the other hand, Jamaica is ranked 21st out of 103 developing countries on the Human Poverty Index published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Life expectancy is now at 70.8 which is comparable to that of developed countries, while secondary school enrolment is over 80% and the country has achieved universal primary school enrolment.

Strides have also been made in areas such as education, health, information and communication technologies as well as the country’s physical and social infrastructure including roads, ports and in the provision of water and housing.

In examining Bustamante’s impact on the country’s ports, the Minister had this to say: “It has been a long, long journey since Bustamante stood on the waterfront to lead the striking dock workers in their demand for better wages. His cry for ‘a little more bread and a little more butter’ may not have relevance in today’s Jamaica, but his steadfast belief that everyone has a right to dignity and a decent standard of living continues to reverberate in every corner of this world. Now, this very port is ranked 55 out of the top 100 ports in the world and its assets have moved from 11 million dollars in 1974 to 28 billion dollars today.”

The Minister summed up Sir Alexander’s contribution to the Jamaican society by quoting from another Jamaican hero, the Rt. Excellent Norman Manley who said, “ Jamaica was fortunate in throwing up among its leaders, one man, Sir Alexander, who gave confidence to the masses of this country, who won their affection and love to the most extraordinary degree and their loyalty and who proved afterwards by the whole course of his life that he had accepted the responsibilities of that time, and grown in stature with them as the years passed. And in considering Sir Alexander’s rightful claims to the growth of democracy in Jamaica, I think that is the first thing to be said.”