 Good morning everyone and welcome to the press briefing for the launching of our 30th Independence Anniversary Celebrations. I will ask you to please rise for the playing of the National Anthem. Please, you may sign yourselves in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this new day. We thank you for the grace to be alive. We thank you that we have health and strength. And even as we are coming here today to launch our Independence 38 celebration activities, Father, we ask that you will bless us. Bless the proceedings here today. And I pray that everything will be done to your honor and your glory. That we will truly be able to celebrate our existence as a nation. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for keeping us throughout so many trials. Father, we thank you for victories. We thank you for everything, Lord. And we thank you for the peace that you have granted in our nation. Lord, we bless you and we ask that you continue to be with us and continue to guide us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much, Mr. Frederick. Everyone, please be seated. Once again, a pleasant good morning to everyone. My name is Nicole Magdal. I'm the Senior Communications Officer for the government. Thank you very much to the members of the media for being with us here this morning in such large numbers for this press briefing. I would like to take the opportunity to also thank the members of the Independence Committee who are here this morning. I know you guys have been working very hard over the last few weeks to ensure that we have a calendar of events that we can be proud of for our 30th Independence celebrations. I would now like to introduce our esteemed guests here this morning. We have the Honorable Fortuna Belrose, who's our Minister in the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture, and Local Government. Good morning. We also have with us the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Local Government, Mr. Donovan Williams. We would now like to head straight into our presentations this morning. We will start with some opening remarks from the Minister, Honorable Fortuna Belrose. Minister. Thank you very much, Nicole. And then, Secretary, within the Ministry of the Department of Local Government and Culture, ladies and gentlemen, sons and daughters of St. Lucia, it is the 30th anniversary of Independence. As I said, 38, my thoughts are racing through my mind, and I trust that you too will engage in your own reflection on what this significant occasion means. As citizens of Fair Helen, we must all be concerned about where our country is, where it is headed, and most importantly, the role that we each must play and can play in keeping it on track. For us St. Lucia's, the proud children of Jabhatis Bidow, Flo Gaya, George Charles, Sir Arthur Lewis, Sir Alan Louisie, George Odlam, Sir John Compton, Dame Cessen Descartes, Sir Dwight Venner, and oh yes, Roddy and Sir Derek Walcott. Independence is a time when we unite. When we put our differences aside and focus on the things that make us unique and hard-called Lucian, the things we share, the things we care about, the things we are passionate about, like striving against all odds to be the best that we can be, being leaders and not my followers, giving off our self to help others, providing for our families and sharing the little that we have with our neighbors. And above all, respecting each other and holding on to the old adage, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. It is these basic values of caring, loving, sharing, and giving that helps us define our solution-ness. And it is those very attributes we need to propel our country forward. As they keep us in constant, in a constant proactive state, ever conscious of our space and focus on achieving greatness. The reality is, some of us are not in that place where peace and tranquility reign supreme. For many, there is chaos and disharmony. For those who may feel that disconnect, this is the time for rethink on what being St. Lucian truly is. This year, under the chairmanship of Mr. Donovan Williams, we have created an abundance of opportunities for you to engage, to learn and to get the right orientation about us, Lucians, about our history and about our heritage as a people. So you can truly evaluate where you are and rethink how you can become even more meaningfully involved in the development of your country. Our programs cover events across the country, across the length and breadth of our country, catering to families, communities, and organizations. I therefore challenge every St. Lucian to let your passion for your country, that place that gave you both, reverberate across Fair Helen during the celebrations. Participate because it's your right. Participate because it's your business and it's your opportunity to make a statement as a St. Lucian who want to be counted. A proud St. Lucian. You see, to move St. Lucian, we all must act and there is no better time than now. Our celebrations this year will be underpinned by a focus on spirituality, recognizing the supremacy of God, the almighty creator, maker, and a friend. And that we can only celebrate 38 years because of his goodness and his mercy towards all of us. I also wish to note that this year's celebration coincides with two important milestones in our history. The 50th anniversary of our flag, which was designed by Honorable Dunstan Centoma on the attainment of Statue in 1967, and the 50th anniversary of the elevation of the city of Castries as a city. This provides us with an opportunity to infuse these two within our overall celebrations and our learning. As you know, our government recently established an events company to oversee the organization and delivery of all major national events and festivals. It was too soon to include independence in its portfolio of events this year, but the organization of the independence activities from next year will certainly be the responsibility of that organization. In addition, the institution, of course, will have even more time to prepare and engage and ensure that we deliver a quality product and even better quality product next year for independence. But the key to the successful delivery of our independence programs this year, my friends, sons and daughters of Sinusia, is the extent to which you as citizens, as organizations, participate in the program of activities that is planned. So I urge you to become involved. I urge you to embrace the celebrations as it is ours. Let us participate, let us make it relevant, and let us enjoy it. I thank you. It is a very fitting positive message as we begin our 30th celebrations. We're already a little bit into February, so I'm sure there's a lot of people already celebrating. I think our diaspora has already begun their activities. I want to thank you also for the history lesson you just gave us in terms of our national flag and in terms of the City of Castries. This is definitely information that our young people should know and all solutions should know and I hope that there is some kind of trivia exercise in some of the activities. Speaking of the activities, we have now our permanent secretary in the Department of Culture and Local Government to give you an overview of the activities and of course to also launch the theme and the logo for independence. Mr. Don van Williams. Thank you very much. Minister of Culture and Local Government, Junabel Rose. Members of the Independence Committee. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Good morning. Our task as a committee was I think very, very simple and it was underpinned by one overriding philosophy. We really had to make independence truly engaging for all of our citizens. We wanted to ensure that independence was not business as usual. Something that happens and then quickly forgotten as we go through our daily routines, etc. We wanted our citizens to be and to feel part of the celebrations and so it meant for us looking very critically at what we did traditionally to see how we could do it better and also to introduce new, different, there I say exciting events that could capture the attention of persons who previously would not have wanted to have been part of this activity. And so starting with the theme, we had many a discussion, many a debate about what that theme should be. There were persons who felt that there was no need for a theme. There were others who thought that our theme should be so designed as to have people really thinking. I think generally we agreed on a couple of characteristics of how this theme should be manifested. First, it should be basic, not too long, not too unwieldy, not too difficult for people to take in and understand. Secondly, it certainly should be one that could and should engage people and engage people, engage different groups in our society but also at different levels. Also we felt that the theme for it to be truly relevant had to be a statement of intent, had to be an opportunity to reflect, had to be an avenue for discussion and discourse and had to allow our people to give different perspectives on it and to show it in different ways. And so we needed a theme that would take all of those boxes. That actually came down to two. And again, we had a lot of discussion and debate about those two. The first, again very simple, I am St. Lucian. If you think about it, it does take all of the boxes because it's an affirmation of who we are. It provides us with an opportunity to articulate and showcase our St. Lucianness as Minister highlighted. But it also provides us with a platform to question what it is to be a St. Lucian and what are the characteristics of a St. Lucian. But in the final analysis, in our discussions and deliberations, we made a slight variation to that theme. And so the theme that we have selected for the 30th anniversary is I am St. Lucia. I am St. Lucia. And again, if you reflect on that theme, it takes all of the previous characteristics that I described. But I think the one central difference is the point that it wants to make to all of us and the point that we should keep with us beyond this period of celebration but throughout the year and throughout the years. Ultimately, St. Lucia is what we individually and collectively make of it. And so when we say I am St. Lucia, if we contribute to the positives, we will have a positive St. Lucia. If we contribute to the negatives, we will have a negative St. Lucia. And the time is right for us to have a serious discussion and dialogue about what we want St. Lucia to be. And to use independence to broaden that dialogue, to use independence to get the views of the diverse sections of our population to tell us what it is that St. Lucia should be and how we get there and where the examples of persons who have contributed to St. Lucia in a positive way and how can we emulate them. That is the nature of the discourse. That is the nature of the celebration. That is the nature of the entire package that we want to be focused on this year. In terms of the logo, again, we had a lot of discussion, a lot of dialogue, a lot of debate about what that logo should be, what it should signify, how do we represent it. And again, we've tried to be as simplistic as possible. We want to demonstrate or we wanted to have symbols of our pride as a people. We wanted to have a depiction of the radiance, the positivity that is what we should be about. And we also wanted to demonstrate an act of pursuing excellence. And we thought there would be nothing better than having one of our major symbols, our parrot, carrying our flag, carrying our flag as a symbol of where we want to be, what we want to do. Carrying our flag with pride, carrying our country with pride. We are St. Lucia. The activities that we will unveil and which you have before you, I must tell you is a snapshot of all of the activities that will take place. It's physically impossible to have placed in this document all of the activities that are being celebrated. And I must say that we have been inundated with initiatives for inclusion. And not all of them. That's also very encouraging. Not all of them have been initiatives requiring direct financial support. Again, it tells us that we have people who are resourceful and who are prepared to take on the responsibility of implementing activities even without a level of financial support. The diversity of the activities and the initiatives I think is very, very impressive. Not just from the types of activities, but also from where they are coming from. And again, in an era where we have often spoken about trying to move away from being castries and north-centric to ensuring that we span all of the regions in our country, this set of activities is very much representative of that. And so I want to underscore the fact that this calendar is not necessarily reflective of all. And as we move further and further towards the Independence Day itself, we will be updating and informing you of many other activities that are going to be taking place. So from our perspective, and I want to underscore the minister's point, our success is really going to be measured against the level and the nature of participation of all of our citizens. And I want to again underscore minister's point to encourage all of us, all of us to truly take part in these activities. We are really what Saint Lucia is to be. And so the theme, I am Saint Lucia, must be part of how we look at independence, how we encourage and engage more and more persons so that in the end it is the positive spirit that we bring to bear that will ultimately read down to the benefit of our country, Saint Lucia. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Williams, thank you very much. I want to repeat your call for all Saint Lucia to invoke the theme which we have launched and think about what it really means to them. I am Saint Lucia. We are definitely all Saint Lucia. Wherever we are in the world, we remain Saint Lucia. As I speak of what's going on in the world, I want to turn our attention to the screen to our Prime Minister, Honourable Allen Michael Shastney, delivered a message to the diaspora in anticipation of the 30th Independence Anniversary celebrations, and we will be playing that now for the audience. As we celebrate the 38th anniversary of our independence, this year's theme is, I am Saint Lucia. And I have to tell you that your government has been working very hard to bring substance to that theme. We have so many new investments coming into this country. We have been trying to bring back the hope and inspire people. I am very excited that we have been able to reduce the VAT rate from 15% to 12.5%. And next month we will be able to announce major new projects that are becoming Saint Lucia. Included in those is the Pearl of the Caribbean, a landmark project that would really put Saint Lucia on the roadmap. But we need more help. We need help from you. You have been doing an amazing job in the diaspora. Carrying that flag and all being saying out loud, I am Saint Lucia. You are living it every day and we need your help more than ever before. We need your help in continuing to support the efforts of all our social programs. We need your help in investing in Saint Lucia. And very soon we are going to need your help to come back to Saint Lucia and lend assistance to help us build a new Saint Lucia. I want to thank you for all the efforts you have made over the last years. Especially after the disasters we have had. Your contributions have gone a long way in keeping the flame alive here in Saint Lucia. We have difficult times. We have seen some of the horror stories of our young people killing each other. This is a big challenge for the government. But I have given the population of Saint Lucia the assurance that the justice system is going to be priority number one. We have some difficult times but we have some great opportunities. We have two new hospitals that are going to be opening up. And obviously this is a huge financial challenge for the government. But we are going to be standing tall to make sure that all solutions will be so proud of their new healthcare system in Saint Lucia. I also want to say to you that we need your help in lobbying other governments to make sure the voice of Saint Lucia and our concerns are heard. We need to make sure you're out there as our greatest ambassadors in promoting this rural class destination. I also want to say to you that members of my cabinet will be out with you very soon. We want to create new opportunities for you to come back home and invest. We have a new sovereign fund that we are going to be putting together. An ability for you to be able to invest money into Saint Lucia and make sure that this is going towards the development of this country. Let's all be proud and say I am Saint Lucia. Happy anniversary Saint Lucia. Thank you very much to the Honorable Prime Minister for that message that went out to the diaspora on Saturday evening at a gospel fest that was planned in New York that went over very well. And apparently they also took some collections in terms of charity there for people who are affected at home by crime, by health issues. So I definitely want to thank the very active organizations around the world, Saint Lucia organizations that continue to remember what's going on in Saint Lucia and continue to try to make a contribution to assist which lends to the idea that no matter where you are you are Saint Lucia. And we know that they are aware of what's going on in this country with the advent of social media. They can keep in contact at all times with what's happening here at home. Thank you very much. Also I do want to say that I was reading this morning that at 38 is when a woman is very sure of herself and where she's going. So I definitely know that Helen turning 38 she knows where she's going and she's definitely going to be sure of herself. You know it's two years from 40 which for some women can be a good or bad thing but I think definitely for Saint Lucia 38 and going into her 40 Saint Lucia will have a lot to be proud of especially if we as a nation come together. We want to go straight into some presentations by committee members who have been involved in the process in terms of planning the long list of activities we have planned. Obviously like the permanent secretary said the list does not include everything that will be happening but we wanted to highlight and give persons the opportunity to basically market some of the activities that they're involved in. I want to start by inviting Mr. Tedeson Glasgow to come up to the podium and explain to us some of the sporting activities that are going on for independent 38. Mr. Glasgow. Thank you Ms. McDonald. Good morning to my officials here. Indeed it's a pleasure for me to be here as 38th Independence Anniversary as the speakers before mentioned various activities have been planned for independence celebration but I do like the theme as a matter of fact I am Saint Lucia. What it really says is that we have to sell ourselves first I guess it will all filter down to our country. And of course we all know that sports plays an integral role in terms of development of a nation building a nation so you see on the program of activities is laden with a lot of sporting activities in terms of tennis which is the independence tennis tournament it's already started that's it being held probably every other day on weekends as well and the Saint Lucia National Tennis Center a lot of young kids a lot of actually a lot of categories are involved which means that if you're a tennis enthusiast learning the game you will be part of this tournament. It moves on we have seen the commencement of the independence netball tournament which is an island wide tournament because there are various venues of course the main venue would be the VG multiple sports complex but it brings again the going around the island because as the as the permanent secretary mentioned it's not only castries or north centric we have to spread our development and our involvement island wide so netball has been played quite across the island we move on to the independence table tennis championship again that's already started the house for this championship is the boss issue in the facility it is currently being continuing. Table tennis of course in itself we know about our history one time per house in the OECS but it brings enthusiasm when it comes to youth and we must engage the youth in terms of sport because they are the future of sport and they're also the future of our nation Saint Lucia that's why I love this theme I am Saint Lucia and if anybody knows me I am Saint Lucia we'll continue from February 11 to the 21st where we'll see the prime minister's cup which is the T20 cricket championship last year loads of crowd follow this championship all over the island again we know of how powerful Saint Lucia's are in terms of voice in their opinions and we know the national word it is often used at this championship when you see those players in those sixes and fours trust me they get all over it again it's in VF4, it's in Marble Valley it's in January, it's in Suffolk, it's all over not based on location so I'm looking forward to that of course the PS and the minister as well mentioned that we have to sell our own or we have to participate and I love that too because if we don't participate or if we don't spectate imagine playing on sport and there is no audience those players are not going to be alive they're going to be playing for playing sick but if we go out and participate and be part of the tournaments or the championships they get more involved and it gets more exciting and again it's independence let's go out there and participate as I look out further down in terms of the program I will now call on Mr Walter Berkeley who is the PRO for the Trailfinders Offroad Club there to have an event and it's going to be held at a very unique location I like the name as a matter of fact it's called cow city and earlier on someone said cow city and I had to tell them yes because they know of the millennium highway and I will set up now but back in the days I can tell you it was like a valley a lot of cows a lot of leech as well because we get cows you get that it's a very kind of swamp area the highway was nothing of the sort so cow city is quite fitting same way we have south for city for Stouffere it's a cow city so we now call on Mr Walter Berkeley just to give us an insight in terms of the independence for by four words and I'll be back just to give you a little more in terms of events sporting events that is for the 30th anniversary independence Mr Berkeley Honourable Minister Permanent Secretary, our host Press and our invited persons I would first like to thank the committee for all the government agencies I mean it's so possible for me to stand here today because we are a very young group and speak about this event the first one and the first time we have such an event for independence what we're going to be doing is that again our group trail finders deals with off-roading and going on trails and basically no way you want to drive a vehicle we like to go there and what we've done we've taken cow city again he was explained very nicely if you're going down south of the millennium highway in the mud that's what we're going to be we've created a nice track beautiful all right with a lot of obstacles we have persons coming from Barbados and Vincent hopefully Trinidad quite a number of persons coming down to deal with mud pits climbing rocks big holes in the dirt we set up our track nicely okay also we're going to have on that same day when we start at nine o'clock we want to open both our races we have two major races there to anybody in the public okay with a four by four that wants to take part of course we want to keep it as very organized as possible so you'll have to come and just register for that event so we don't just have people driving onto the track but it's going to be open for anybody to come and trust me it's going to be something different and we're going to like it if you like mud you like off-roading we solution we like a little rough road so come down it's going to be fun nine o'clock yes we used to do rough roads in solution but it will be a great event it's the first time we're looking for the support of everybody come out and support us it's free there will be music of course concession stands come out and enjoy it and hopefully next year you'll see us there again thank you very much thank you Mr. Berkeley of course we mentioned we've sent solutions so a lot of what is planned by the committee is all in the realm of being truth sent solutions that's why I go again I love the theme I am Saint Lucia moving on with other activities what's called the independence drag race battle there's a lot about drag racing it seems to be joined quite a bit of a crowd it's something new and again we moved away from the traditional ways of doing things so when you hear of drag racing it's new to Saint Lucia so why not go out and see what it is but it's free be part of it okay on the program it is I think this is a big one as a matter of fact it is the main event if you ask when it comes to sports especially when it comes to independence it's the very 18th National Cultural Center from 7 p.m. this is where everybody who played their part in sports if you a top flight player participant administrator whatever role you play in sports this is your night now everybody is going to be rewarded but we all know it's the sportswoman the sportsman of the year junior and senior they are the major ones highlighted also in terms of sporting associations they're going to be added as well that is their night of reward so the committee put together a nice little function it's becoming a red carpet function because you get to see sporting forces in a different light no longer in the tights or whatever but everybody is decked out in their nice dress and guys in their suits and ties and bow ties so the sports awards is definitely you want to mark on your calendar to be part of February 19th continues with the independence dash color run I like this dash color run what can I say it's a colorful event which involves running from Marcy Stores Shock Bay to Rodney Bay from 6am it is another event that you would want to be part of if you're not a runner at least you could walk fast to be just say you were part of it so the dash color run is another one to look forward to another event on February 19th is one which has become traditional or staple event rather is the Monropo Road Relay you often hear about it but now it turns to be part of it other organizations you don't have to be for example because you have road running that you have to be a road runner it could be a football or a cricketer put a team together again it's organized by the department of youth development and sports along with the Monropo committee and we have Mr Glenn Wilson to give us some more information on that event Honorable Minister Bellrose Secretary Mr Williams Ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for the opportunity to speak to you our Independence Road Relay held in the great state of Monropo on the 19th of February this month the great state of Monropo ten years after Saint Lucia became an independent nation a few persons from the great state of Monropo decided to put together an event that would sort of be a signature event for the community and so this year we'll be celebrating 28 years that we are hosting an Independence Road Relay in Monropo the event has grown from strength to strength we've been having participation from a lot of local clubs teams organizations as well as regional clubs participating and from the inception we had Machnik which has been a constant participant in our road relay we've changed our route slightly last year we wanted to make it more communal so our route usually took us to Wani in Viewfort and so we decided that we wanted to make it something more community based and so we wanted to involve other communities around so including the Miquud Village so we've changed the route slightly all of the information is available on our website it's rmrysc.org on there we have all the routes already plotted out so the aerial views of the route and how long they are where they would take you to and we've tried to do it as much as possible in communities so some of the routes will take you actually inside of Monropo itself and through the Miquud Village and on our way back the fifth leg would go to Elen which is just past Derisoga and then coming back we will go back to the Wendt Plainfield in Monropo where the activities will continue with fun games and other events get bring people together building families and so forth. This year one of the things that we've added to our road really is that we will be showing we'll be airing the event all of the event live at the Wendt Plainfield so persons can view the leg the persons participating in the relay so we'll have a big screen at Wendt Plainfield where persons can come and sit and have fun bring your family and everybody else with you and watch the race from the Wendt Plainfield. It's an activity that we've been having for quite some time and I want to encourage all solutions to participate as was mentioned before it is not just clubs but individuals can register it's an eight leg event so eight persons registration forms, rules, guidelines and all those things are available on our website as I mentioned mrysc.org and all information is on there. This Saturday also we'll be celebrating a smaller event with one of our affiliates Grass Street Youth and Sports Council on the 11th we'll be having the Kevin Malcolm Memorial 5k which is in memory of one of its members who died from cancer and it's now get towards providing scholarship funds for persons attending the Monropo and Passions so this event is scheduled for this Saturday the 11th of February and the next week Sunday the 19th all roads lead to the Wendt Plainfield in the great state of Monropo thank you so very much thank you for that the great state of Monropo, I like that because it's an area I'm very much familiar, you mentioned an area there I think you said Ellen for persons not too familiar what it is it's just after the Deriso Gap you get the bridge that's that area and the Wendt you need to go into the community go to the left and then you make your way down the hill to get onto the Wendt Plainfield moving on earlier we mentioned about the independence drag race and I was a little worried because this is a new event a lot of excitement, guess what Mr. Montut who is the president is here to fill us in and then we're going to move on to the Moto X club where Mr. Daniel Louis will fill us in as well so we now call on Mr. Montut good day to all Honourable Minister, Secretary, Ms. McDonough I'm here from Timeline Events this is we're no stranger to drag race in St. Lucia this is one of the steeple events that is celebrated almost every holiday thank you Timeline Events has been a club in organization for we've been here for about four years we've had about four to five events our Prime Minister and I will guide Joseph into two sports cars and send them down the track the video is actually on our Timeline Events so this event it's a two day event we have three cars coming up in St. Vincent you're going to invite the Minister they are welcome we're actually going to try it again we're actually going to try it again as a matter of fact everyone is invited the structure this time is that we will be having three cars come from St. Vincent some bikes from Dominica some bikes from Barbados as well and of course our local drivers will be there to take on the event so it's a two day event for this test and tune the last days the grudge matches where everybody gets excited to actually see some of the fastest cars go all out at the event so always all are welcome check out our Facebook page Timeline Events and we'll see you there, 18th and 19th thanks thank you Mr. Mondo I don't know if you folks have realized but as much as it is all about St. Lucia some of the planning of some of the events that have gone regional you see invitations now to Dominica Martinique Trinidad and Tobago Barbados so definitely we are getting out there that's what we need more of you know too much time that we have tailored our events for our own people we are St. Lucia and we are warm and hospitable so hence the reason why we can host this event across we move on now to the Independence Bikers Super Moto event that's February 19 at the Cassries Waterfront Mr. Daniel Louis will fill us in with more information First I would like to say good day to the honourable minister my name is Daniel Louis president of the St. Lucia Moto X club I'd first like to start off by giving the existence of our club it's 24 years old we started going to St. Vincent as a motorcycle club for the independence some years ago and this has created a movement amongst the biking, fraternity and other islands wanting to do the same as part of this year activities will be hosting clubs from St. Vincent Martinique, Quadloop Grenada, Dominica and Tobago we have a total of 150 bikes coming to the island and over 200 persons I expected along with audio sound cars we have drug cars and we have of course the off-roaders it's expected that these persons from these clubs will be arriving on the 16th from the 16th of February our activities is the welcome party we'll be hosting it at the old St. Moto X we're going to have all our invited guests all our foreigners come in and congregate so we could get them familiar with our activities for the independence on the 18th we have a song clash where we have all our cars from St. Vincent Barberas with the audio they will be competing with our guys from St. Lucia that is the St. Lucia Auto Sound Club so then and again we'll have like a regional competition the 19th I'm going to talk about this event Super Moto that is something that we held for the first time in the city of castries which created a carnival impact in the front of the castries market and of course we know that this time around it will be bigger and of course moving along to our island ride with all those foreigners all those bikes coming into the island from Dominica, Martinique Barberas St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago I mean that's a day that we all look forward to we attend the parade and then after we go sightseeing around our island and we take our foreigners and we get them to Noody Island so we take that trip through West Coast and come around through the east I would like to thank the government and the independence committee for inviting us to be part of this 48 year celebration thank you on behalf of all the members of the St. Lucia Moto X Club we're looking forward to collaborate with the government in the future we're looking forward to see St. Lucia come out and support the festivities planned by the independence committee thank you thank you chief in terms of what you mentioned in terms of the Super Moto event at the Cassius Waterfront near the market area I can tell you I attended that event last year I was very much pleased with what I saw so if you have a doubt of what Mr. Daniel Louie mentioned make sure that you're part of it because it is something that especially the youngsters they're thrilled to see that motorbike go up and land tires you guys had it made so again it's a new type of event and this is what we're moving away from traditional stuff to introduce new events that persons can get interested in all falls in line if why we are St. Lucia we really appreciate the innovation and what you guys are doing on February 19th there's also the independence Autocross that's in V4 at 9am that's put on by the association of Assorted Motor and Advancement 90th as well this is a free-stage Invitational Cycle Race by the St. Lucia Cycle Association again the Cassius Waterfront 2.40pm if you remember clearly back in the days you would hear move off the track keep off the track that is St. Lucia and that is what you want to see we reintroduce where we saw those guys go around the city circuit and you know persons would be so excited I think it was the oval team or something at that given point that's why it was so we need that injection of those sports they need the support but how do we do it by selling it by ensuring that the association goes out and engage their members first and thereby create that buzz that persons would want to be part of it moving on again on the February 21st it is it's called the Independence Walk-a-phone I think it's more than a walk-a-phone because actually it is a challenge and that is put on by the northern long distance walking group they're going to go around the island so it's not a walk-a-phone I can tell you it's a challenge in itself to give you more information on this we're going to call on Mr. Wayne Monroe who represents the northern long distance walking group Good morning Honourable Minister, Honourable PS Madam Second Madam Chairperson Ladies and gentlemen The northern long distance group really is a group of avid walkers over the years, over 30 years as a group we've been walking and we formalize ourselves and form this group and from henceforth we decided on different activities and that was the both of the walk around the island this walk is really a challenge a walk, a challenge for everyone who wants to challenge themselves while the ultimate is that of the finishing where we start at Kaldisak we go through the west coast and we end up back onto the boulevard that's where it ends but the objective is to challenge everyone to challenge themselves so while we hope everyone could get to the finish line you don't have to get there you could decide to stop at Ransker stop at Canaries, anywhere that you choose the average walk is 24 hours and this is not to fear you we start at five o'clock in the afternoon we go all across it is really to ensure that you get yourself prepared in advance necessary that you have that is important for you to complete it we've decided that everyone is a winner you don't have to finish it as I said earlier on if you're interested and you get involved you don't have to finish to be a winner it is free registration is free it is an 88 mile challenge take note of that and there is a documentary out which was done in the 2016th walk it is on YouTube 88 miles of endurance I want to ask everybody to have a look at this documentary very interesting it's a very interesting documentary it really gives you an idea of what we are all about and what is involved in the walk one of the things we wanted to ensure here was that we do not create any sort of when you use 88 miles of endurance is to ensure that persons listening don't feel so worried or fear some that they may not want to challenge it and this is why the departure this year is really to encourage persons to challenge themselves forget the 88 miles if you cannot do it if you do 10, 20, 30, 40 whatever and that is the objective we want to also remind persons that registration is free and we will be having a meeting on the 9th it was supposed to be at the town hall that has changed and I hope we may be able to get the ministry of sports to allow us to use their facility because I am told that repairs are being done there so we will advise the public that on the 9th and on the 16th this is the two meetings we will have and we will give you more information and all the necessary things I could go among the list of things that you would need to do to prepare yourself but I am sure we can do that at that meeting so again it is an 88 mile challenge and we welcome Saint Lucians to be part of it thank you Mr. Monroe you mentioned it is an 88 mile challenge what I want to say now it is the 48th year challenge in terms of independence anniversary and I challenge Saint Lucians to be Saint Lucians moving on we look at the independence volleyball championship from February 24th to 25th very interesting tool going to be held at the boss issue in the facility we know that our history in terms of volleyball so I am right next door at the VG Sports Complex 1986 if I remember clearly because I was a ball retriever at that time where we took over and we have been dominant so it is another sport that needs your support as well February 25th it is the independence rugby 7th it will be 7th tournament and when you have rugby it will be some rough stuff but what you have done, you have tweaked it a bit in terms of the 7 so I guess you need 7 individuals to participate it is a little faster like a T20 version of the sport so it has drawn a lot of attention so make it also a sport to go out and spectate moving on we also see the independence invitational games that is athletics yes we know the conditions down there however we must create a platform for athletes themselves I mean yes they do practice on Tooth or probably the ground but you have a good track down there and again they need to showcase themselves so it is a spectacle that you could really take in International free on free basketball finals on the 25th at the VG sports complex put on by the solution basketball federation excitement, fast space draw lots of attention when we speak of basketball it is normally 5 against 5 but those guys play 21 but the free on free is certainly catching on so definitely you want to be part of that male and female that is thank you minister male and female of course we also want to engage the ladies so we have also the independence challenge swim meet February 26th at the Rowling Heights Aquatic Center 10 am swimming so don't show how much of a swim association you see those youngsters swimming but if you wear their chairs in the crowd you really spurs them on and I've often said that whenever there is a meet there's always some sort of record being broken so again if you support who knows you might just check on those youngsters into breaking some island records last but least on terms of the sporting events February 26th it is the Invitational Football Tournament Baccatelle Football Club, Marsha Football Council at the Mendo Phillip Park we know how critical football is to that community and that is Marsha and clearly the minister will can compound what I've said when he's saying how critical football is to Marsha if you ask me if ever there is a community that lives and dies and breathes football it is the community of Marsha so certainly taking this one it's an Invitational Football Tournament which means you are invited all you need to do is just get with the guys put on your team or the registration forms and be part of this tournament so folks that always brings us to the roundup in terms of sporting events for the 40th anniversary of Independence for Santa Lucia again I love the theme I love the theme I don't know who came up with it but who endorsed it but I am Saint Lucia and I urge other individuals to be Saint Lucia Miss Magdala mentioned the diaspora play your role as well to showcase our lovely island of Saint Lucia thank you thank you very much Mr. Glasgow for that passionate account of what's happening in terms of sports thank you very much to the representatives from the various communities and the various groups I can't tell the public that you see the effort and the passion that goes into planning these activities so what we really need from the public is the support these activities will not be successful unless you come out and support some of them sound so exciting I will not be doing the walk-off on but I will definitely be there at the start wish good luck to those who are heading off to the walk-off on so please take the information you have received here today look for them online as well we have some other persons who are involved in the activities which we have planned for our 30th Independence not related to sports related to some other aspects of the celebration I would now like to invite the representative for the National Youth Council to speak on behalf of what the youth have planned Honourable Minister Fortuna Belloz P.S. Donovan Williams and our host today Nicole McDonnell who is the Communications Officer at the Office of the Prime Minister excuse me so this year at the 40th Independence celebrations we have been given an opportunity from the National Youth Council to host a very special activity Mr. Tennyson earlier that youth or young people are the future of St. Lucia now what I would like to elaborate on is the fact that youth are not just the future of St. Lucia the current youth are today what we must embrace is that youth are today and the opportunity is now given for you to get a glimpse into the future with the youth expose this year we are going to be displaying some of the talents of our young persons in the arts, in the performing arts we are going to show you what St. Lucia what it means to be St. Lucia what it means to be part of this country and how we are going to be displaying what the young persons have to offer so we are going to have a youth expose and that is basically in a nutshell the talents and the expressions and the vibrancy of young people in St. Lucia so it's basically free to be between the constitution pack and the William Peter Boulevard so we invite everyone young old, grown, whoever feel that they can be part of such an activity whoever feels that they are St. Lucia, come out, come support come give the young persons the strength that they need because we know what is happening today we know what is happening from the 1st of January 2017 we have been crying so much that young persons are not doing so much positive things and the PSA alluded to earlier we need to be able to contribute positively we need to be engaging and again this is the opportunity right there for the public to come out and support there are no barriers, nothing keeping you out no separations it is the 21st of February from 3pm onward and basically inviting everyone young persons, old and all those who are interested so that is one activity that the National Council will be hosting and participating in the second activity is some people tend to think it is not but this year the theme will bring out I know for a fact we are going to be discussing CIP and the benefits in the time of independence the benefits of such an initiative we are basically discussing the pros and cons of such a program young people will be discussing you are not hearing from the parliamentarians you are not hearing from the decision makers you are hearing from the young people themselves how beneficial is CIP to Senegal to engage and be part of such an initiative and what it is that we should expect from it so young persons are going to give their views from all around the island every corner of Senegal is going to be at the House of Parliament from 10am on the 24th of February so two activities you are going to be engaging choose one, choose both come to every activity if you can but then we ask you to be part of the celebrations this year so thank you for having me and thank you for listening to what the youth have all offered this year thank you thank you very much Kelvin thank you so much for that overview of some of what the youth is participating in I know that the youth parliament will be very exciting with that topic and I am sure certain agreements which are in the news right now will come up as well so definitely the public should be excited about I think it will be carried live as well so persons can tune in if you are not able to make it to parliament so that session I do want to invite Mr. Frederick back on stage to deliver an overview of the prayer and prayers and worship which we have planned for the anniversary as well Honourable Minister Permanent Secretary in the Department of Equity Social Justice and Empowerment and our host, Ms. McDonald thank you for the opportunity to speak on one of the staple events every year annually which is the church service in celebration of our independence basically the Prime Minister indicated this year that he wanted to have something more festive in that we come to give praise, glory and worship to God so we have moved away from the traditional kind of church service within four walls and this year we are going to be having it at the Boseju Cricket Ground, the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground and it's going to be on Sunday afternoon, February 19th from 3.30 to about 6.30 and we are inviting churches from across the island it doesn't matter what denomination we are just inviting everyone to come and celebrate and all of that event is the prayer, praise and worship celebration where we are coming to reflect and even in mind with the theme, I am St. Lucia so we as St. Lucia we are going to reflect at where God has taken us as a nation where we are right now and where we would like him to continue leading us as a nation and part of that service is going to include a time you know reflection thinking about different aspects of our society various prayers will be offered by the ministers of religion and other members of the lady so it's going to be really a day to bring praise and honor to God and worship him for sustaining us as a nation you know we already had our first meeting with the leaders of various umbrella church organizations the Pentecostals were in attendance the full gospel fellowship and various other independent non-denominational faith based organizations and basically we have already picked out our key verse of scripture we have already started putting in place who will be presenting so we are going to be having alternate performances choreography and dance there might be some poems and definitely lots of prayer will be offered on behalf of the nation and we have asked since it is a Sunday that whether the church leaders could tailor their usual Sunday service to have it end a little earlier than usual so that everyone can make it to the big grand event on the Sunday afternoon but preceding that again the prime minister had indicated that he wants us to have something called a national day of prayer and rededication for our people and country and that will be held on Friday the 17th of February and basically it is going to entail several different prayers offered and basically everyone is being invited to tune in to the hourly prayer broadcast on radio and television between 9am to 6pm on that Friday and we are also asking members of the religious community whether they could have their places of worship opened during that day so that the congregants would be able to go in and have some prayers meditation even fasting on behalf of the nation we are also asking the corporate citizens corporate business places whether they could hold a staff meeting during on that morning and call members of staff to pray also the schools whether the school principals could have general assemblies and allow students to pray on behalf of our nation and some of the prayers that we would like to air throughout the course of the day is a prayer for the youth, prayer for our economy commerce, business, trade, agriculture prayer for the schools prayer for even our national security the Royal Saint Lucia police force firefighters, the bodily officers security guards and even watchmen some other prayers we would like to have for prayers for our nurses and medical practitioners and also prayer for our religious community for the commitment of believers to the feet so again we are seeing that this independence year of celebration is really going to have a foundation on our Christian principles what has built us as a nation and has preserved us to this day so we are inviting everyone on that Sunday to come and be a part of the prayer, praise and worship celebration. Thank you very much Mr. Frederick no doubt this would be a very unifying event for our entire community I do call on the private sector again to lend support to this and obviously it would bring your team together and feel like you are part of something much bigger than your own I would now like to invite finally the PS in the department of culture and local government to speak to the best of Saint Lucia initiative which is also forming part of the activities welcoming back again I am tempted to say you saved the best the best for last okay this activity really is an attempt to bring a real culmination to our celebrations and it is also an attempt to take some of the traditional things that we did and place it in a package that perhaps would appeal more to a wider group of solutions and certainly appeal to families because I think part of what we want to do is to ensure that we have the participation of families traditionally we have celebrated independence with your military parade your youth rally and it has sometimes been seen as somewhat disjointed what we have attempted to do is to have one activity which captures all of those elements together and so I think what we have attempted to do with this particular event is to truly showcase what is the best about Saint Lucia so it will include a parade a military parade it will include a rally but as part of that package it will include performances and performances which truly depict the best of Saint Lucia one of the things that allows us outer solutions is our capacity and our appetite to celebrate to party to come together and really unite in celebration and so this activity really is designed to bring all of that together as one bring us together as one bring the close if you like of the celebration of independence to something that is big that is rewarding and so we will hopefully have a reflection of the best so the best of Saint Lucia culture the best of Saint Lucia dancers the best of Saint Lucia music and even in the category of music all different genres of music the best of Kai so the best of Soka the best R&B if you like the best of Pan it is really to showcase everything that is good quite apart from the musical and the performance based activities we also going to be showcasing other aspects of Saint Lucia's life so the best of Saint Lucia cuisine is going to be a major feature of this the best of Saint Lucia art is going to be a major activity here and again opportunities exist for all of those involved in those different areas to come out showcase enlighten in many instances all that is good all that is best about Saint Lucia as we move closer towards the celebration we will give the general public a greater sense of the specifics who is going to be involved etc but I think as a taste it should wet our appetites and it should encourage us as community and as family to make sure that we celebrate the day of independence with something that is grand something that is spectacular and something that will keep us united and proud thank you I would now like to open up the floor to any questions we might have for the honorable minister and obviously members of the committee who are here who can also lend support to answering those questions we have a question in the back Steve I am Saint Lucia can we translate this in Queo I think we need to give a little more thought to our Saint Lucia culture if you want to embrace all our Saint Lucia language I think we need to consider that thank you thank you very much do we have any other questions from the audience yes just please introduce yourself before you ask the question your nation long distance walking with breath over the last four years we have been involved in this independence we have been involved in this independence we have been involved in this independence challenge we have been ending almost alone except for last year to some extent because we ended with the activities that were taking place it is somewhat discouraging after in some cases some persons have walked for as long as 38 hours to end and end alone to encourage persons participants to feel just a little more excited about it I am wondering whether this year in particular we could not cause from the community side of things a welcome that would make a feel welcome the first persons who have ended the walk have been the ones welcoming the other participants and you end up feeling like oh god it was a waste of time though there is the joy that you did it but no one to have witnessed you doing it so let's hope this year we see a better representation of the committee and ministers of government I think that is definitely a request that can be arranged I think with people being able to go live now even on Facebook people can maybe keep track of the walkers a little bit better so we know what time you are actually getting to that finish line and we can have a welcome committee there to meet the winners good morning Sumon Plesi part of the planning committee though we mentioned the 22nd being a grand day we would also like to make mention of the 26th of February being really the end of the celebrations our PM made specific mention of ensuring that the planning committee includes view for the south of the island in its activities and we will be having a family beach bash during this beach bash you will again sports will be a highlight we have invited the motocross guys to also be part of this activity so we are inviting sanations to end the celebrations down in view for on the 26th of February and I would also like to mention Creole definitely it will be part of all the activities that we will be hosting for the season thank you very much do we have any other questions from the audience okay I will just ask the minister to say some final words before we wrap up just to bring everything together honourable minister thank you Niko thank you Niko but it's basically just to echo the plea and to encourage all Saint Lucians to come out and support the event and the event is for all Saint Lucians I know my Creole speaking friend mentioned the fact that we didn't mention anything in Creole but of course Saint Lucia belongs to all of us our history has done for us now you see I'm gone that's why I didn't use the Patois to be Saint Lucian is to be able to articulate ourselves clearly in the Creole language as well and a lot of us are working on it like myself and of course we're just happy that we're able to celebrate 38 years 38 years of independence 38 years of freedom 38 years and like Niko said we are mature we're supposed to know exactly where we're going and the sad thing is not every Saint Lucian can see the same thing we really want to be in a place where we all can be singing from the same song sheet about our country and we want to know that through the program this year we can provide the opportunity for reflection, engagement and of course helping all of us to reshape the direction that we would want to go in our own personal lives and so in the process contributing to the development of our own country so we want to say thank you to everybody thank you to the committee that has worked so hard to put the program together we could not have done it without you and your wonderful team the enthusiasm of all the groups as you see the passion was displayed in the presentations this morning we just hope that the rest of the country now can come in and participate and be a part of this wonderful journey of 38 years of Saint Lucian success and history thank you so much I do want to mention that one of our official activities on the calendar begins this evening it's constitutional discourse it's being moderated by Mrs. Kim St. Rose and also she has an excellent panel of lawyers and they will be going into details in terms of our fundamental rights and freedoms this is open to the public and you can find out more information on the schedule activities on the government website I assume it will be or should have been uploaded already I hope I'm not preempting them we hope they do it right away so persons can go to that website and see all the activities that they would want to partake in I want to thank the honorable minister for being with us this morning I want to also thank the PS in the department of culture and local government thank you to members of the media thank you to members of the independence committee thank you to persons who are so passionate about the activities that you have been planning you can see from today that you will get more government support we are not getting that already so thank you everybody and I will just end with saying I am Sen Lusha we are all Sen Lusha thank you