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By Ewart Walters

Jamaica’s Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Arnaldo Brown preached a gospel of Diaspora engagement on his visit to Ottawa and three other Canadian cities in April. Minister Brown is convinced it will spur growth in the Jamaican economy.

While new IMF forecasts suggest that even with a slightly lower growth expectation of 2.2 per cent in 2016, Jamaica would still beat the average growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, the government was looking elsewhere. Minister Brown indicated that with the IMF austerity programme falling short of boosting growth, the Government is seeking to put more reliance on home-grown activities, particularly those that involve Jamaicans in the Diaspora.

The Minister was in Ottawa, following similar trips to Toronto and Edmonton. He also took the gospel of the Diaspora to Jamaicans in Montréal, Quebec. His goal: create the buzz to double the number of participants at this year’s Conference scheduled for Montego Bay in June.

And buzz there was a-plenty. Jamaicans in Ottawa packed a City Hall venue that bristled with colourful charts, a breezy retrospective video on the 2013 Conference, a PowerPoint presentation, and a public-private sales pitch. For, joining the Minister, were Jerrold Johnson of Jamaica National Building Society, and Vivion Scully of JAMPRO, both based in Toronto.

In his presentation, Minister Brown observed the first-ever presence of an Indian Prime Minister to Canada on an official visit, and noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seized with the importance of Diaspora, was reaching out to his own Diaspora here.

He also spoke about the Diaspora Education Task Force of February 2014 which was sponsored by the JTA, the Ministry of Education and La Sierra of California, partners with US AID in a six-year plan for global improvement of education in Jamaica. Minister Brown made the point that the Task Force did not take the view that it was bringing solutions to Jamaica. Rather it recognised that the deficit was in implementation and is working with that as its goal.

The Conference is becoming more businesslike. There will be a working group on migration, and a focus on solid achievement. Identifying implementation as a weakness, Minister Brown acknowledged the plans and discussions of the past but promised a move into action.

“In 2013 we established the Diaspora Conference Implementation Council to address the matter of implementation. As a result Conference 2015 will give a report on the activities since 2013. And an Action Plan will be presented, complete with timelines and markers.

For the Ottawa-based Jamaicans, it was a rare and welcome event since visiting Ministers tend to focus on the admittedly larger Jamaican populace in Toronto. But Minister Brown noted that he was keeping his promise to recognise that Jamaicans live in sizeable numbers in other Canadian cities as well.

The next Jamaica Diaspora Conference will be held in Montego Bay in June.

Participants included High Commissioner Janice Miller, Deputy High Commissioner Laura McNeil, Diaspora Foundation Ottawa Director Chris Harris, Pastor Carmen Hamilton of the Jubilee Apostolic Church, and author Ewart Walters who introduced the Minister. High Commission staff member Shantel Edwards gave a vote of thanks.

Photo credits: Joan Wright