Black Immigrant Daily News

A group of Caribbean litigators and a partner at the Toronto-based law firm WeireFoulds have successfully challenged anti-LGTBQ laws in Antigua and Barbuda, where they have now been declared unconstitutional.

Early this month, Justice Marissa Robertson of the High Court of Justice issued a decision that makes Antigua and Barbuda the first of nine Eastern Caribbean nations to declare unconstitutional laws that criminalize consensual, private, same-sex intimacy between adults.

The Antigua ruling is also the first in a co-ordinated five-country legal challenge to similar, colonial-era anti-sodomy laws in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada—all members of the Commonwealth.

 Andrew O’kola

“It’s a fundamental judgment of monumental proportion, and it’s an excellent authority and precedent that the other jurisdictions will no doubt look at,” said Andew O’kola, who steered the Antigua case and is one of a group of lawyers brought together by the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), which launched the challenge in 2020.

Saint Lucia-based human rights lawyer Veronica Cenac is the “technical lead” on the five-country strategy. She tapped the Caribono network, a group of lawyers who do pro bono work in the region, to build a legal team. That’s how Nadia Chiesa, chair of the commercial litigation practice and a partner in the Caribbean practice group at Canada’s Weirfoulds, got involved.

Chiesa is based in Toronto and most of her practice in the Caribbean is business-related. But she is a member of Caribono and has been involved in pro bono constitutional human rights litigation in the region since 2012.

“Veronica had known me for quite a while—my name was known in this network, and they approached me to see if I and WeirFoulds would support the litigation” in St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda, where the firm actively practices, she said.

Now, Chiesa and Trinidadian human rights lawyer Douglas Mendes lead the pro bono group, which includes members of the University of the West Indies’ Faculty of Law Rights Advocacy Project. In addition, Westin James, now a judge in Barbados but who was an attorney in private practice and a lecturer in constitutional law, also played a key role in the case until he was elevated to the bench.

Chiesa said her role in the Antigua case involved working with the counsel and witnesses to gather evidence, draft pleadings, and research, and as the case went on, “to provide litigation support and management for the team.” WeirFoulds library group and articling students played a huge role, she said.

In the St. Kitts litigation, however, she is lead counsel along with Anthony Ross, who used to live in Canada and now practices in both Canada and the Caribbean. Their case was argued entirely virtually in May and the decision is currently under reserve, as is the Barbados one.

Both Cenac and Okola praised Chiesa’s “amazing” contributions.

“[She] rolled up her sleeves and has come into the trenches to stand shoulder to shoulder with us,” said Okola. “She’s in a different class as it were, in terms of what she has brought to the table.”

O’kola said the support of the Canadian law firm was incredibly important, as most of the counsel on the cases are from smaller local firms and were working pro bono.

“The various territories may not have the kind of legal aid system that allows for one to litigate these matters, and therefore it’s massively important to get resources elsewhere and [from] larger firms,” he said.

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The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) stated on Monday that Member States should continue to remain on high alert for the importation of viral or other infections and monitor in country syndromic surveillance systems for increases in fever and rash illnesses.

 “At CARPHA we coordinate public health policy and work closely with our Member States and other public health partners to respond to public health issues. As part of our regional public health management, we provide assistance to Member States through the development of tools for investigation and epidemiological monitoring, and personnel are prepared to respond in country to assist in the investigation and control of outbreak, should the need arise,” stated Dr. Joy St. John, Executive Director at the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

 Dr. St. John further stated “We know that diseases do not recognize borders, and international travel makes us aware that no borders are secure from the threat of diseases, especially infectious ones.  At this time, Member States are in various stages of easing of restrictions for COVID-19 which severely impacted the Region.”

 CARPHA is monitoring the spread of the monkeypox virus – looking at prevention and control. We have also commenced testing for the monkeypox virus.

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At this time, CARPHA does not recommend restrictions on entry of persons from any country. Working alongside our Member States, we will support activities and educate the public to protect the health of all within their borders.

 Source: Caribbean Public Health Agency. Headline photo: Stock image

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The Cayman Islands Development Bank (CIDB) has CI$15 million to lend Caymanian mortgage seekers and is offering qualifying borrowers interest rates as low as 3.75 per cent for two years, which is significantly below the current prime rate.

The funds are available to buy or build a home, and for mortgage refinancing. The CIDB can lend each borrower up to CI$600,000 for up to a 30-year term. This offer was announced in the last meeting of Parliament and recently launched with an advertising campaign that has gained significant interest among prospective borrowers

Explaining the reasons behind CIDB’s new offering, Deputy Premier and Minister for Finance & Economic Development, Hon. Chris Saunders said:

In an environment of rising interest rates and increasing property costs, we are seeking ways to make borrowing more affordable for Caymanians. The two-year fixed rate is significantly better than current offerings at the local commercial banks, especially as we have seen the U.S. Federal Reserve raise the prime rate last month, with more hikes likely to come over the course of the year. We have found that rising interest rates have provided another barrier to local home ownership.

While we do not have the funds that the commercial banks have, we must do what we can with what we have. The situation for first time Caymanian buyers was becoming increasingly difficult, and we had to find ways to encourage and facilitate Caymanian home ownership.

The Deputy Premier noted that the Government’s Strategic Policy Statement pledges to “provide solutions to improve the well-being of our people so they can achieve their full potential” as part of Broad Outcome Number 3 out of a list of ten such aims. Part of this broad outcome, he explained, is to “provide adequate and affordable housing in our communities”.

Deputy Premier Saunders outlined several initiatives aimed at achieving this goal, including offering Government guaranteed home-assisted mortgages; the provision of quality affordable housing; lowering the cost of borrowing through CIDB programmes; and reducing stamp duty on land for Caymanians.

Minister with responsibility for Housing, Hon. Jay Ebanks welcomed the initiative by the CIDB and said:

These are undoubtedly challenging times, but it is in such times that we, as a Government, must rise to the challenge and empower our people to do the same. Home ownership is an integral aspect of a society’s stability and affluence, and of building personal and family wealth. Owning a piece of the Cayman rock is the foundation of the Caymanian dream. Too many of our people have felt locked out of that dream. This must, and will, change. I am looking forward to the smiles on the faces of our people – parents, grandparents, children – when instead of being locked out, they can turn the keys in the lock of their own front door.

CIDB Board Chairman Mark Scotland offered some more detail on the CIDB’s lending programmes.

The current focus is providing two-year term, fixed rates to assist Caymanian families that are contending with inflation and the possible threat of foreclosure. This fixed rate product provides a level of certainty and security in these inflationary times with rising interest rates affecting mortgage payments. Customers can sleep easy knowing they won’t have to worry about rising interest rates over the next two years as their payments would be fixed.

Scotland said.

Of the fixed-rate mortgage offer he explained that “within two weeks of launch, the bank already had $3 million in its pipeline under consideration and this figure is expected to double over the coming weeks.”

The bank has utilised a tiered interest rate system to address risk and avoid a potential increase to its provisioning for bad debt. Financing is offered up to 30 years to assist with lowering monthly payments. Unlike a commercial bank, the CIDB has the flexibility to extend these rates after the two-year fixed term as the bank’s debt to its bondholders will be extinguished in three years.

The programme is not only appealing to middle income earners but higher income earners that see an opportunity to switch to free up cash for other investment opportunities. This has also had the effect of encouraging the commercial banks to offer some lower rates to retain customers so the migration to CIDB may slow down but new mortgage growth will continue to increase for the bank.

Scotland continued.

In addition to the fixed rate mortgage offer, Mr. Scotland noted that the CIDB also has a lending programme in place for affordable homes to be constructed by the National Housing Development Trust (NHDT) with 100 percent financing available, as well as a land loan scheme with interest rates offered based on the same tiered system as with the current mortgage programme.

In keeping with the Government’s intention to remove barriers to Caymanian home ownership, Mr. Scotland said the mortgage sector would remain of key importance to the CIDB in the next year.

The role of the CIDB is to support the economic growth and development of the country by making available financing primarily for housing, education, and business purposes. The CIDB has been doing this since its inception and from the overall perspective we will continue. With the various factors that are contributing to increasing housing costs for young Caymanian families, I see the role of the bank becoming much more important in facilitating access to housing in an affordable way. Adequate housing is a basic human right and the CIDB sees it role in working with the Government to ensure this as an important one.

Scotland explained.

(Source: Cayman Islands Government)

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Zorisha Hackett –

The Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is aiming to provide a “more sustained” remedial programme for the island’s vacation revision programme, says Assistant Secretary at the Division of Education, Research and Technology Orlando Kerr.

In Trinidad, more than 2,700 out of a targeted 9,000 students have registered for remedial classes at 26 secondary schools for remedial classes during the July-August vacation period. The programme, by the Ministry of Education, started on Monday and will end on August 12. It caters for students who scored below 50 per cent in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam.

Kerr told Newsday on Monday, plans for such classes in Tobago are yet to be finalised.

“We are looking at a more sustained programme. We’re not just looking at the vacation period, because we are of the view that that would not be enough.”

While he couldn’t give an exact start date or additional details, he was confident the programme would begin during the vacation period and continue into the start of the new school year in September.

“We’re going to look at the numbers and look at how best we can have that done in terms of having the tutors in the schools to help those students who are having challenges.”

After the release of the SEA results on July 7, Secretary Zorisha Hackett said there has been a significant decline in the performance of Tobago students. She said 278 students passed for their first choice, and 128 students are required to re-sit the exam.

Giving a breakdown of the mean scores, Hackett said the average was 33.8 per cent in maths and for English language and creative writing, 39.4 per cent and 39.9 per cent respectively.

She said 296 students (29.6 per cent) scored above the national mean in maths, 390 students (39.6 per cent) scored above the national mean in English language and 391 students (39.7 per cent) in creative writing.

She said the results suggest there is much work to be done, not just at SEA level but in all classes leading up to standard five.

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