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FLYER – CARICOM – CANADA POLICY FORUM 2022 – 25 May 2022 11 am
We wish to inform you that the CARICOM Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Ottawa in collaboration with the Canada-Caribbean Institute and the Latin America and Caribbean Study Group of the Canadian International Council will be hosting a Policy Forum on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, from 11:00am – 12:30pm (EST) via zoom platform under the theme “Shaping a New Partnership for Recovery and Resilience.”
The Event Flyer is attached above for ease of reference.
Please note that there is no limitation on participation in this event. Participants can register using the following link:
An artist’s impression of what the Corentyne River Bridge
A US$2 million contract was inked on Wednesday in Suriname for the feasibility study and design of the Corentyne River Bridge.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill and his Surinamese counterpart Riad Nurmohamed signed the contract with WSP Caribbean Limited.
The contract will last for seven months and the project is expected to be awarded by early 2023. Continue reading
Newsroom- Guyana – February 17, 2022
Air Canada – the largest Canadian airline – has signalled keen interest to enter Guyana’s market with the executives engaging President Irfaan Ali, the Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill and the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry Oneidge Walrond on Wednesday.
Though the meeting was held behind closed doors, Minister Edghill shared with the News Room on Thursday that the engagement was a “continuation of talks” with the airline that could possibly see direct flights being offered to Canada from Guyana.
“We want service out of Toronto direct to Guyana so we continuing talks to see that be realised,” the Public Works Minister said during a telephone interview.
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Canada has reinstated its advisory against all non-essential international travel but WestJet is having none of it.
The travel advisory, which just lifted in October, went back into effect on Dec. 15 as COVID-19 case counts spiked. Canada’s Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos had a stern warning: “Now is not the time to travel.”
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43rd Commemoration of the Jonestown Tragedy in Guyana
– By Lear Matthews
- Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.
- None but ourselves can free our mind.
- (Robert N. Marley)
Lear Matthews
November 18th 2021 marks the 43rdcommemoration of the People’s Temple tragedy in Guyana, South America, a nation that has been in the news again recently, but this time for good reason. According to Exxon Mobile, oil discovery off the northern coast of this southern Caribbean country, was expected to top six billion barrels by 2020, making it a leading oil producing nation.
The story of the People’s Temple symbolizes (a) fallibility of persons whose path to the ‘American dream’ had been frustrated because of economic hardship, political ideology or racism (b) the rabid power of a religious zealot over those seeking spiritual and material comfort (c) a developing nation’s vulnerability to sundry influences as it struggled to stymie conditions of poverty. The government of Guyana engaged in a policy and practice of offering resources to encourage efforts at hinterland resettlement and development. Continue reading
VIEW and REGISTER: Global Enterprise Week – GEW Guyana 2021
By 2036, Montrealers, aged 65 or over, will be around 465,800, and most are women. Photo credit: Anna Shvets/Pexels.
By Yvonne Sam – Contributing Columnist PRIDE NEWS Commentary October 6, 2021
Social exclusion is the process, through which individuals or groups are excluded from facilities, benefits and the opportunities that the others enjoy.
Montréal’s population is growing older and this is expected to accelerate over the next few years. In 2016, there were 323,660 Montrealers, aged 65 or over. By 2036, this figure will be around 465,800, and most are women.
Among the social groups considered vulnerable are the elderly, and the current pandemic has affected them disproportionally. It has excluded older adults from in-person contact with others in society. As such, they must shelter, in place, and maintain physical distance from others during this pandemic.
The Acts of Exclusion
Digital technologies pervade all aspects of life. The internet is a key example of modern digital technology that enables people to overcome physical distance, through digital social connections.
Older adults are less likely to be able to take advantage of the opportunities, enabled by modern information and communication technologies, such as smart-phones, tablets, and high-speed internet services. They tend to opt not to use the Internet or cannot afford Internet access.
Additionally, they lack technologies with which to use video-chat apps to virtually connect with people, or lack the skills to use certain technologies, even if they do have access.
Physical or cognitive limitations may prevent seniors, in long-term care facilities, from being able to use communication technologies on their own, without assistance from others. Non-participation in the digital world leads older adults to feel social exclusion during times of physical distancing.
The global social-distancing mandates during COVID-19, minimize social contact, but many people circumvent these limitations by using communication technologies to remain connected.
The Elderly and Digital Equity
The United Nations International Day of Older Persons 2021 theme, “Digital Equity for All Ages”, predicates the need for access and meaningful participation in the digital world by older persons.
Digital equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services. Older persons experience digital inequity to a greater extent than other groups in society. They are often not benefitting fully, from the opportunities provided by technological progress.
Sadly, most tech gurus at stores, online or on help lines are young people using unfamiliar terms or speeding through explanations. Now is the time to cross the digital barrier. The theme resonates loud and clear: now is the time to bring technology to the entire aging population. The need is increasing and not disappearing.
Older adults can learn technology, but it must be adapted for them and made accessible, and this is not happening. Older adults lack connected devices and internet access; devices are too expensive for those on limited incomes, and internet connectivity packages often do not consider the needs and uses of this demographic.
Conclusively, while the obstacles are many, it is imperative that older adults attain digital literacy and get connected, if they are to stay relevant, employable and engaged in their local communities. They need empowering learning opportunities, not ones that make them feel overwhelmed, ignorant or helpless.
Let not the United Nations International Day of Older Persons 2021 theme seem like an unattainable dream.
Aleuta continua — the struggle continues.
Yvonne Sam, a retired Head Nurse and Secondary School Teacher, is the Chair of the Rights and Freedom Committee at the Black Community Resource Centre. A regular columnist for over two decades with the Montreal Community Contact, her insightful and incursive articles on topics ranging from politics, human rights and immigration, to education and parenting have also appeared in the Huffington Post, Montreal Gazette, XPressbogg and Guyanese OnLine. She is also the recipient of the Governor General of Canada Caring Canadian Citizen Award.
GUYANA: Long-overdue US$106M Ogle to Eccles road to slash growing ECD traffic woes
Road construction
June 24, 2022. NEWS ROOM – Guyana
Years after it was expected to commence, construction of the Ogle to Eccles road link will now start as the government on Friday finally inked the US$106.4 million contract with an India-based company.
The new four-lane road will be built from the intersection of the Rupert Craig Highway and the Ogle airstrip road to Haags Bosch, Eccles, on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD).
And Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh underscored that the road’s construction was coming at perhaps the most opportune time. Continue reading →
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