‘We Support Pathways’ Welcomes Adoption Act
The ‘We Support Pathways’ group said they are pleased that the House of Assembly passed the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment [Adoption] Act 2016 last week, and also pleased they endorsed the “recommendation to lift the age threshold for adoptions from 12 to 18. ”
A statement from the group said, “The individuals behind the ‘We Support Pathways’ Facebook group are pleased that the House of Assembly passed the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment [Adoption] Act 2016 last week.
“Furthermore, we are pleased that the Immigration Working Group and the House of Assembly endorsed our recommendation to lift the age threshold for adoptions from 12 to 18. That recommendation was contained in our detailed submissions released on 15 May 2016.
“We welcome the Immigration Working Group scheduling three public meetings this week to discuss the question of ‘mixed status families’. It is also encouraging that these meetings are to be held at three schools, which most in community would regard as neutral spaces for this sensitive issue.
“We did listen to the debate in the House of Assembly. We are concerned at MP Walton Brown’s comments that this next stage will not address the question of persons born in Bermuda or who arrived in Bermuda at a young age.
“Firstly, this issue is so tied up with the question of mixed status families, and it is arbitrary to separate them out. In many instances, we see mixed status families arising because persons in the same family were born or arrived in Bermuda on different dates and obtained different statuses.
“Second, there is a particular urgency to dealing with persons born in Bermuda or who arrived at a young age. Many of these persons are at or near adult age, and their future in Bermuda is in doubt. These are persons who have lived in Bermuda their entire lives and who know no other home through no fault of their own.
“Finally, we remind everyone [including the Government] that this timetable is at odds with the letter dated 17 March agreed to by the Premier and various leaders of the March demonstrations. The letter envisaged the following three-staged approach to reform:
- 1. Child and family pathways by 13 May;
- 2. 15 year pathway to PRC by the end of the summer; and
- 3. 20 year pathway to Status by November / December.
“We ask that the Immigration Working Group and the Government give urgent consideration to our recommendation reviving the provisions allowing persons who were born in Bermuda or who arrived in Bermuda before their 6th birthday to apply for Bermudian status upon turning 18.
“We feel that this is the single most reform which is needed; the remaining provisions of the ‘Pathways’ Bill are secondary and can be the subject of more detailed consultation going forward.
“We reiterate to the Ministry and the Working Group the importance of resolving this issue in short order. We will continue to monitor developments and hold all parties to account.”
The Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Adoption Bill 2016 follows below [PDF here]:
we will not rush this cause it has to be done right
I have no problem giving status to a person that was born here
but to simply open the flood gates to any any everybody would be stupid
that’s why we went on the hill.
think about it Bermudians can’t find work in their own country
but someone from halfway around the world has a job
and Bermudians are suppose to sit back and let it happen
maybe it is time for Bermuda to get away from England
Some Bermudians can’t get status in their own country. But hey, that’s none of my business.
u lack a brain
“I have no problem giving status to a person that was born here”
That’s exactly what this group is proposing (well and persons arriving here before the age of 6). It sounds like they’re less impressed with the other aspects of that Pathways bill. So your issue is ….?
Some Bermudians don’t/won’t apply/want those jobs but hey that’s none of my business…
It’s sad, but I completely agree. Some (not many) feel that they are entitled to a (job) position just because!
Don’t want to put in the time or work. Just feel they deserve it.
I was in the construction industry long enough to see it. Any fool can lay a few blocks, or hang some drywall.
Learn a trade first.
For the record. Until about ten years ago (when the plp got greedy and rich) there wher jobs a plenty
You don’t have to like it. Just learn it
When they do apply and get the job, they are treated like crap so they can say Bermudians dn’t want to work. But you have some of those welcomed guest workers do substandard work and it is accepted.
“I have no problem giving status to a person that was born here”
If they tried to pass that into law you would find a problem with it to whine about.
They were never giving out status to just anybody and everybody, they were giving status out to those who had lived and worked here for almost their whole lives. Giving people who have made their home here the right to have a say in how their future unfolds here. There are probably more ‘real’ Bermudians that don’t understand or appreciate the significance that right, than there would have been people eligible for it. The problem with us as a culture is that the are too many that buy into the socially failed nationalistic philosophy of entitlement. It has never advanced a culture or nation, in fact it is typically one of the leading causes of their down falls.
some Bermudian dont understand economics or human rights…but hey thats none of my business.(actually it is, but I love kermits phrase)
Steve, not sure what you mean but you have attracted a lot of Dislikes. Is there a button for multi-hate.
my comment might be offensive to some and really isnt of any use so i understand the dislikes.However It isnt dramatic enough to get all those dislikes but its been noted by myself and others that if you run through political articles and a negative plp comment is made, you will get mixed like and dislikes and then all of a sudden get 30 to 60 dislikes in an hour. but hey,thats none of my business.
Pathways to Status will be passed by the House exactly as it was originally brought. The only difference is that it will be brought in parts but it will still be passed because it is the right thing to do to long term residents and children. What is ironic is that I’m sure most of the demonstrators come from parents or grandparents where one or both came from the Islands. In the same way that CURB is headed by a person who received status through marriage.
Here’s a shocker. Not all long term residents, or children, are white.
fey ???
?
This is a ridiculous and xenophobic process – says he & the OBA.
“recommendation to lift the age threshold for adoptions from 12 to 18. ”
Saw this coming from a mile away. 18 is an adult not a child.
I can adopt myself votes and pass anything into law I want.
Bermuda don’t fall for this one. If you spent 18 years of your life in another country how can you call your self Bermudian and want to vote as a Bermudian? whats going to happen is they will vote in Bermuda as a whatever their country of origin is. As a voting person, how can you have Bermuda’s best interest at heart is you do not know Bermudian culture?
Is it appropriate to infer from your comment that you support the proposal for expats living here for 15 years and 20 years to get PRC and status, respectively?
My mom and dad are both expats PRC is fine but I don’t think they should have the right to vote. they don’t think so ether so they don’t vote. The right to vote gives you the right to change Bermuda. why would they want to change Bermuda when they choose to come here it means they accepted Bermuda and its Culture as a place to raise me. when they came her Bermudian Culture was very similar to their own Culture but there are still thinks about the culture they don’t understand. there are things about the culture I don’t understand I was born here but I was heavy influence by my mom and dad. I don’t vote because of this. My Children will be more Bermudian than me. They should be the ones to choose the path that Bermudian culture goes down.
This is how real Bermudians are made it take generations.
Bermuda is not some shallow club where you pay your dues and get to vote on is we sell part of the club house or paint it.
you need to know the history of that club house because it may mean more then you know.
Some might argue that a focusing on culture, as you put it, prevents many voters from focusing on a party’s platform and if it actually contains viable proposals. Many of our politicians certainly recognize this is the case. They rely on and foster it.
All parties should be about protecting the culture however some people don’t understand the important of the role culture plays.
If you google you will see that even China understands the important role of culture and is spending lots of funds to protect it.
Culture is just as important as an ecosystem and the effects caused by tempering with it can be just as drastic.
Example I was apart of the generation that live through the poorly planed tempering of the public school system. and I lay witness to the effects it had on the Bermudian Culture.
when we mess with things like that and this we must think very very carefully before we act.
Its early…I haven’t finished my first cup of coffee yet…apologies if I misunderstood what you are saying.
Are you saying that people would adopt purely to gain votes? Or are you saying that someone who has wanted to adopt would now vote for the current government because their adopted child was given status. Or that the adoptee would vote for the current government because they were given status? How many of these people are we talking about?
Are human rights and common sense now secondary to whom someone might vote for? I hope that’s not what you’re saying. If these people signed a piece of paper pledging that they would vote PLP for life, would then everything be OK? Honestly, that concerns me a lot. Is power and control that important?
If it is…I’m certainly not trying to discredit you at all…I’m trying to understand why you would feel that way…because isn’t that really what needs to be resolved for the island to move forward and isn’t this unquestionably the root of a lot of our issues. Suspicion and distrust must exist for a reason. All opinions and perspectives count in my books, whether I agree with them or not.
what I am saying is common sense. no country should make legislation that opens a path for the country culture to be easily infiltrated and we are living in the time of infiltration.
nothing in my post said anything about plp or oba. no one party should have an ill earned monopoly. This is how dictatorship leading and both parties have been guilty of this.
many people don’t know why Bermuda is one of the safest places to live or visit.
I know that it is the culture that makes it this way. I have watch the culture shift and the safety expect along with it.
the culture protect the country.
at the age of 18 you are an adult and will not easily be affected or even want to learn about Bermudian culture.
culture is something that get merged into a person as they grow in a family apart of a community. Culture is passed on though parents teachers and elders and in some country even the Government take responsibility for passing on and protecting Culture.
Bermuda is a small place and if there is an influx of persons that are not affected by and make decisions in the interest the local Culture the change will be easily seen.
Bermuda must be care full not to open itself up to cultural genocide because when that happen we will be just like the rest of the world.
Yet so many Bermudians marry people from Jamaica, Bahamas, St Kitts and other Islands. You are implying these cultures are the same as Bermuda. Many might disagree. Is culture by marriage somehow different to culture by status? Please explain further.
I am not sure if my other post was visible before or after you posted this question so I will explain.
The difference has to do with the why Culture passed on.
someone with at less one Bermudian parent will have more access to more Bermudian Culture than me who both parent expat. it is only logical given one of the keys way culture is passed on is through family. the child will have the opportunity to Be around Bermudian Culture and learn from the grand parents uncles aunties.
They learn things like why we do/don’t eat, say, fight for support certain things. why thing are the way they are. they learn about plants insects animals. traditions why and where they came from there is so much the list could go on and on .however all of these things are sucked up into a person and form and Culture.
and NO the countries you listed are similar how ever not the same. Because there is only one Bermuda. all it takes is for you to look online at the news all over there world to see how Bermuda is vastly different.
Why are so many things happening all over the world but not in Bermuda. To me it is so mind blowing.
one think I know is everyone needs to figure it out and protect it.
I may not completely agree, especially with with words infiltration and genocide (seems bit extreme but maybe thats just me who thinks that)…but your point is well taken.
As for…”many people don’t know why Bermuda is one of the safest places to live or visit”, this is disolving, we all see that, but its safe t say that this erosion is not due to adopted children.
Apologies for the political reference…at the moment there is far to much community polarization due to political affiliation. At the end of the day we all want what is best for the community as a whole, but that message sometimes gets lost in political noise.
Who said they weren’t living here before they were adopted? You know that children can be born here and not be Bermudian, right?
But 17 is a child in law.
fey ??
?/
this process is xenophobic and ridiculous -
fey ??
?
this process is xenophobic and ridiculous