Come clear de air Mr Prime Minister

St. Vincent was in de news big-time in de ‘Toronto Star’ weekend newspaper and again on Tuesday 15th in the Metro News, a free newspaper available for transit commuters in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. Ah very damning story was published of our beautiful country wid ah headline: “St. Vincent a woman’s nightmare”, wid ah subhead: “island nation, one of the worst places to be a woman.”{{more}}

De story is laden wid bad publicity as SVG is highlighted as No. 8 in de world foh ‘Refugee claims to Canada’, quoting ah Canadian Federal Court Judge as saying de following of SVG: “There is something very wrong in the relationship between men and women in SVG, year after year, woman after woman washes up on our (Canadian) shores seeking protection from abusive, violent husbands or boyfriends”.

De Article that is written by one Jennifer Young, ah staff reporter says dat over the last ten years, more women have been murdered in SVG dan any other country in de OECS, de nine nation states dat mek up de lesser Antilles. Thirdly, is dat ole heart-burner, Rape is resurrected again, and SVG is stated as having the third highest rate of reported Rapes in de world, and dis is according to ah UN report. De most damning part ah dis section ah de story is when de writer mentions dat: “Even Prime Minister Gonsalves has been accused of sex-shall-assault, once by a police-woman and once by a Toronto lawyer.” (In de PM’s case both charges have been withdrawn by de Public Prosecutor). All dis is not new to us at home, de figures were made public, but It’s now big and bold all over. Canada is really and truly de great place foh any young and ambitious person to be. Ah could therefore overs why an immigrant (employed or not) from ah third world country, visiting Canada would not want to return to his/her homeland, and would try any stroke to stay on, even if it means applying as ah Refugee.

Dis is ah peaceful country wid lots ah food, clothes, wuk, shelter, and cold up hey. Canadians boast of a fifth season, Construction, in addition to de regular Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. Is like construction taking place every way yuh tun in Toronto and dis seems widespread in Ontario.

Canada has one of de world’s best Health Care Service; Education is high on de agenda, strangely ah ain’t hear nobody boasting bout Eddy-care-shun Rev-all-yuh-shun. De temptation to stay is worse dan Eve and de fruit, and it seems like de lawyers making ah mint off Refugees, stating every and any reason, true or false dat will gain dey clients landed status into Canada. Jenifer Young’s article stinks wid embarrassment foh Vincentians, especially those of us up hey, in Toronto in particular; Vincy-men are being heckled by dey Caribbean brothers at de wuk-places.

My phone has been going non-stop wid calls from Vincentians in and around Toronto, inundation is an understatement. Dey all asking de same question: “What’s going on at home? Is it true what de paper is saying about SVG?” My situation is even as humiliating, on Independence Day when ah went foh treatment ah decided to be pear-tree-ah-tick so ah ah sported my “Proud to be Vincy” T-shirt wid de national flag, and all dem young members ah staff at de Hospital in Toronto asked me to get dem one. Ah have de T-shirts to deliver but ah shame, ah want de PM to deliver dem when he comes up.

Seriously, some kind ah damage control is highly urgent, and my humble suggestion is dat ah minister of Guv-ah-mint should come up hey, and do ah TV interview to clear de country’s good name. Remember de Fletchers, an American couple who were tried foh de murder of de Bequia youth-man, Jolly Joseph, ah water-taxi operator, PM Gonsalves was de Fletcher’s lawyer back den. Dat story was given lots TV coverage in de US, very negative comments about our Justice System, dat was literally put on trial; ask Gonsalves, he should remember one ah his biggest cases.

De den PM, Sir James, in an effort to restore our country’s good image, was forced to go to de USA and do an interview with Greta Vah-whatever her name is, to restore some confidence in Justice System. He stumbled his way thru. So ah calling on Prime Minister Gonsalves to come to Canada and do some damage control, something foh which he has become quite famous.

Come-up! Come-red! dis whole episode could cause Vincies to lose our one-dah-full privilege of being able to enter Canada wid-out having to apply foh ah visa. We need yuh up hey, like yes-today. It ain’t mek cents staying in SVG, appealing to Vincentians not to seek refugee status; come to Canada and defend our De-mock-we-see dat is second to nun, come praise our Justice System and yuh Carry-beyon Say-vile-lies-say shun. Come-red is only yuh could restore some creditability up hey.

TRI TRI

Juliette Nanton now married to Vannie Alexander has been appointed to act on my behalf in de “Tri Tri Prediction”; her daughter Sandra called to let me know her Mom noticed de prediction ah Tri Tri is ab-cent from my column, and she is predicting Tri Tri on Monday November 22.

My records say she’s correct, but Tri Tri is like Vincentian Pull-ah-trick-hans, it never fails to deceive.

And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.