Constitutional Contemplation

Tonight saw the first in a series of lectures presented by the newly-formed Foundation For Bermuda Studies. About 40 people turned up at the Bermuda College to hear Bermuda's Governor, Sir John Vereker, and the former Attorney General of British Colombia, Brian Smith, talk on constitutional issues.

40 people seems like a reasonable turnout for an inaugural lecture, although I can't help but wonder if some people got lost trying to find the lecture hall (there were no signposts anywhere). The audience was about 75% white and seemed to consist mostly of those over fifty.

After an overlong introduction by Michael Markham, Sir John Vereker gave an interesting 30-minute speech in which he outlined the changing role of Bermuda's governors. "Some of you will be slightly disappointed by the subject of my talk; some of you will be deeply disappointed," he began. "Those of you who thought I would be talking about 'changing the role of the Governor' will be slightly disappointed," he joked, alluding to the misplaced preposition in some of the advertisements for the talk. "Those of you who thought the subject was to be 'changing the Governor' will be deeply disappointed."

Sir John came across as straightforward and articulate, with a wry sense of humour. He outlined how the Governor's role has evolved from one of Victorian certainty to a more complex mix of responsibilities, requiring him to function as head of state, head of government, commander-in-chief, bureaucrat, estate manager, hotelier, and occasionally, as a normal person. He reiterated a point he has made before, that the relationship between the UK and Bermuda is becoming more complex. This is due to an increase in the number of international laws that Britain must ensure Bermuda meets, despite lacking the direct power to ensure compliance. As he remarked, managing such a relationship requires mutual respect between Governor and Government if it's to work.

Unsurprisingly he was unapologetic for his need to intervene in Bermuda's decision-making from time to time. "There is more to governing than letting people do as they please," he observed. He was also emphatic that under the current constitutional arrangements there is no possibility of ever having a Bermudian Governor or reducing the Governor's role to a purely ceremonial level. You know what you need to do to change that, he said.

Audience member Walton Brown, chairman of the Committee for the Independence of Bermuda, challenged the Governor's assertion that there's been no rolling back of Bermuda's self-government, complaining about the recent imposition of financial regulations by the UK. Unfortunately the Governor had already left and so was unable to respond to Mr. Brown's challenge. But as others in the audience observed, these regulations are a result of globalisation, not colonisation. Even if Bermuda were an independent state, it would still have to conform to them, given its position as a leading international business jurisdiction.

The Governor was followed by a sunburned Brian Smith Q.C. ("I've been spending too much time in the sun since I arrived!"), who talked about the evolution of the Canadian constitution. His talk wasn't nearly as dry as I feared it might be, consisting of a historical overview of Canada's constitutional relations with its own provinces and the UK. He didn't seem to think there were many parallels with Bermuda's situation though. "You look pretty independent to me anyway. I don't know what all the debate is about sometimes."

Mr. Smith reiterated a point first reported on VSB radio news this morning, in which he warned about how divisive referenda had been when used in Canada. Does that mean you'd caution us against using them? an audience member asked. No, he replied, just that Canada "doesn't have a good track record with them", never having passed a constitutional referendum. He implied that was a bad thing, but it seems to me that depends what side of the question you're on.

Mr. Smith concluded his talk by encouraging Bermudians to engage with the UK over the Independence issue, perhaps seeking some half-way house between the status quo and full independence. Personally, I think Bermuda's already there, having the most advanced constitutional relationship with the UK of any overseas territory. He also cautioned against abolishing the right to appeal to the UK's Privy Council, suggesting that "a smaller country can't re-invent the judicial wheels [and set up a Supreme Court with comparable expertise]".

It's obviously still early days, but the Foundation will need to think hard about how it can make a real impact on the direction of public policy in Bermuda. I can't help but feel their lectures are only going to be attended by an intellectual hardcore and that influencing the debate in the rest of the community will be more difficult. The concerns raised by audience members tonight - one rather stroppy young woman complaining about the use of 'God' in the Foundation's Latin motto, another man suggesting their URL is too long - are trivial in comparison.

The Foundation's next lectures will be in two weeks' time, on Thursday 3rd June. Miss Esmerelda Brown, a UN expert on the protection of indigenous rights, will be giving one of the talks; the other will provide a comparative experience of Caribbean history.

Comments

[Stephen Cross on 21.05.04 at 09:21]

Phil, I have to say, your blog is now thoroughly entrenched in my daily reading schedule, now even out-ranking the BBC's site as my first website to call on each day.

My knowledge of Bermudian politics and issues is easily 10 times better now than when I lived there... who knows, one day I might even be knowledgable to post a comment that actually enters a debate...

.. but not this time! Have a great weekend.

[Somers on 21.05.04 at 09:48]

Yes - really great blog... nice variety of topics, and it is a top stop for me as well.

It would be interesting if you were able to somehow understand and evaluate the effect this blog actually is having on what people in power are doing each day and the decisions they are making...
But for now keep up the good work!
S

[Alastair Macdonald on 21.05.04 at 12:23]

Don't want to give you a swelled head but I agree with the above two comments. I have found your coverage of events far superior to anything in the local press.

Thanks,
Alastair

[Lizardfish on 21.05.04 at 15:56]

I was actually annoyed about the religious moto and if that came out on my tone, especially after A. Hodgson (who is a religious nut) tried to dodge the issue, well then, I make no apologies.

Having a religious motto, when the foundation is not supposed to be a religious one, is in my opinion an important point to make. I made it after questions relevant to the lectures given, had been made and hlaf the members of the public had left, and we were asked if we had any questions to put towards the foundation itself in addition to ones relevant to the lectures, which I felt were a complete and utter dissapointment and the Governot did not even stay to answer questions.

I feel the foundation has the potential to be something really great and involve a lot of people, but some people may get put off by the fact that "God appears to be leading it"!

It was a shockingly poor turn out given that the Governor was speaking.

I wonder why not many people were interested in turning up and I did not see anyone looking lost on the way in.

Yours Sincerely
Ms Stroppy!

[Lizardfish on 21.05.04 at 16:01]

And what relevant questions did you ask Phil?

[Tiger Bay on 21.05.04 at 16:21]

Oh my, this is a small island isn't it?
:)

[The Limey on 21.05.04 at 19:21]

Lisa,

Ha! So, that was you, eh? I had no idea.

You're perfectly entitled to your opinion on the motto. I'd also be upset if the Foundation turned out to be an especially religious organisation - I'm as agnostic as you can get without actually being an atheist. But I'd be extremely surprised if the motto put anyone off. As far as I know this is the only group in Bermuda which hosts intellectual debate on contemporary issues; until they start holding lectures on 'God and Independence' and 'Jesus and Racism' they'll have my support.

I agree it was disappointing that the Governor didn't stay to answer questions. It would have been better had Mr. Hodgson taken a couple of questions for him as soon as he finished his talk. But hey, he's the Governor. It's completely understandable that he had other appointments to keep.

As for the turnout, I think you have to give them a chance. This was the Foundation's first event, and the titles of the talks even seemed a little dry to me. This kind of rarified intellectuallism is only ever going to be interesting to a minority of the population. Hopefully there'll be more people there next time.

[Calvin on 21.05.04 at 20:45]

The Limey is a Canadian, eh?

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Lizardfish on 22.05.04 at 00:08]

Bah! The website leaves much to be desired. They did not even advertise this event on there!! Aoart from in the original PDF press release document, I think you originally linked to. It does worry me that A. Hodgson, being the religious nut that he is, decided to take the Bermuda motto and modify it. I wanted to find out why he did this, as it kinda got to me a little. Taking the islands original motto and twisting it around for your own dubious purpose seemed a little fishy to me, especially since I knew this foundation was not supposed to be religious. So, I had to ask.

And it put me off desptie the fact that I support their objectives and am very interested in the lectures they plan to hold. However, having God shuved in yer face on the website, with the Bermuda Crest just made me feel a bit like, perhaps this organisation is not going to be as open minded and secular like I thought? I just felt it was important to point out, call me picky, but I'm not intentionally getting in a strop here for the sake of it. I hate seeing religion being tossed around where it doesn't belong.

The reason why I got stroppy in the end was because the lady behind me said rather patronisingly "but that's the Bermuda moto" and lots of people were all "yeah it is yeah" and scowling at me like I was an idiot(including you!!)" and I thought "did anyone listen to what I just said?". It's been changed and God has been inserted into it, and I just find that a little disturbing. That's like getting the Bermuda Flag and scribbling out the Sea Venture and drawing a picture of Jesus in the middle, to me. Eventually I think people got the message and agreed that it was inappropriate to have that as motto, yet I doubt anyone will have it changed, as apparently A. Hodgson created it and I bet you any money he wont want to scrap it.

I asked Graeme Outerbridge about the moto but he totally dodged the question and never gave me a proper answer to "why the odd Latin moto?" so I thought, well if he is not going to explain it to me and I will ask the others.

blah blah blah - sorry to go on!!! But you got me all defensive with your "stroppy, irrelevant" comment now!! :-(

Back to the lectures though. I was impressed with the Governor for his astounding resume which we heard for 10 mins before he actually spoke (but not the job at the World Bank - the axis of evil) and I was impressed with his down to earthness and humourous comments. However, he did not speak, as he pointed out, about the changing role of the Governor as we had hoped. I had hoped to hear about his personal perspective on where and how Bermuda could go from here, if we did not want Independance but wanted to discuss middle groud and Sir JV seems to think that a simple ramble about technological advancements within Gov't House, and how hard is job is (bring out the violins!!!!) would satisfy us. His speech ended with a "us Brits are nice guys and if you'll have us, we'll continue to be wonderful" type comment. For the most part, I am against Independance but this was a sorry excuse for a lecture about the "changing roles of the Governor"
He told us how he changes his clothes seveal times a day. Whooopdeeeee doooo! I want to know what the future might possibly have in store, not how great the tea is at Government house! Cleary Sir JV is a great bloke, and a great Governor, I am not dissing any of that but my opinion of the lecture comparerd to what I was expecting (along with a few others who I spoke to at the end) was that it was pretty lame.

The Canadian guy was awsome though and although I tried to stay focussed, my mind did wander during the history lesson he gave us but I liked his honest comments about the U.S and referendums.

I am really glad I went although I feel like I learnt more about Canada than I did about Bermuda, and isn't this supposed to be the Foundation for BERMUDA studies??? Well, it's clear that given the Governors unexpected take on the title of his lecture, the poor turnout, the foreign history lesson and the religious moto.... this Foundation is not what I was expecting. However, given the fact it's the best we've got right now, I'm still interested in attenting the lectures and supporting their objectives. I don't have to agree with everything they do, but I will sure as hell take whatever I can get from them with regards to knowledge about our island and ideas for the future.

L.

[jon on 03.02.05 at 16:07]

love the page, mate.
So they changed the motto, did they?
Interestingly enough, its rather quaint,
and as a Buddhist, I see no hidden agenda in the change of leadership from the Fates to higher Power.