 The Monsignor Patrick Anthony Folk Research Center on Friday concluded a two-day symposium convened in commemoration of International Creole Day. The 28th of October is celebrated annually as International Creole Day as proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO. Every year since 1983, the day has been utilized as an opportunity to celebrate the Creole language and culture across countries and communities, sharing Creole amounting to more than 10 million people the world over. The Monsignor Patrick Anthony Folk Research Center, as part of its thrust to ensure that the Creole language is recognized, accepted and valued, this year held a two-day International Creole Day conference. The conference this year examined the COVID-19 environment, another theme, Kilté, say Jouison, meaning Culture Heals. Marilyn Hyacinth is the coordinator of the language committee at the Monsignor Patrick Anthony Folk Research Center. When we speak about the language and culture, it's not just speaking the Creole. It is much more than that because when we speak about culture, culture is the way of life of the people and today at the conference, there were various presentations on different areas of culture, for example, that of kudme, which is a self-help thing, that of poetry and literature in terms of how we live out our literature, that of understanding of healing, medicinal herbs and so on, how we use it and so on, and the various aspects of culture that brings healing to people, the dance, the mode of dressing, the way we eat, the things we do, and all of these aspects of life in St. Lucia. St. Lucia, after decades since its first celebration of Juni Cuiol, continues to celebrate its French Creole heritage, now a month-long activity with music, dance, cuisine, art and other cultural expressions. Our member of the Monsignor Patrick Anthony Folk Research Center, Raiisa Joseph, explained that the Creole language is not just a language, but from its part of who we are as a people. Well, the Folk Research Center has been a vanguard for decades in St. Lucia promoting the Creole language and also Creole culture. Creole is a language where it also represents who we are as a people in terms of our influences, colonially, our experiences in terms of development, how African culture has come to existence because of Creoleization through European influences as well as indigenous ones as well. And at the Folk Research Center, what we've advocated is the recognition of Creole as a language, just as we would with English and French, that our people, through their own intelligence and creativity, created themselves and therefore we have a responsibility to teach our children. We've developed a Creole writing system, a Creole dictionary that now has to go into our various spaces, into the formalized spaces because we speak Creole all the time. The board member explained that while the Creole language is widely spoken in St. Lucia, it has yet to be formalized. It is a prominent feature, but what we have failed to do is elevate it to the standard where it is recognized as a formal language, a language of power and influence in terms of decision making, where our officials now see it necessary to teach our children about who they are and how we can formalize it to the point where we do not have individuals who treat Creole as if it is a bastardized language in the year 2021, where, take for example, an advertisement is done and persons don't even bother to check how do you spell a word in Creole when there are resources available. But to model that behavior, we have to see Creole represented everywhere on our news stations, in our advertising, in the ministerial addresses of our leaders in business places. And we have seen some progress made in different sectors in the credit unions, in the banking sector, but we want that movement to be beyond the month of October, my way to ask Creole. We want to see it done in a more holistic way throughout the year where persons can embrace Creole in a holistic way because it is who they are. The Monsignor Patrick Anthony Folk Research Center continues to spearhead initiatives, get towards the preservation of St. Lucian culture and the formalization of the Creole language, some of which include the International Creole Day Conference, youth engagement activities and the provision of support for Creole writing and literature. From the Government Information Service, I am General Norville.