Saint Lucia celebrates Independence Day 22 February 2023
By Joy Osiagwu
History
Saint Lucia is an Eastern Caribbean Island nation. Formerly known as Louanalao and the Hewwnorra, the country is located north/west of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. The tropical island has Tourism as its primary source of income. The capital, Castries, is a famous cruise port. Saint Lucia has beaches, mountains, and the Qualibou volcano with its boiling sulphur springs.
The nation named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse is the only country in the world named after a human woman. History records that French sailors were shipwrecked on the island on December 13, the feast day of St. Lucy, and they decided to name the island in her honour.
Christopher Columbus sighted Saint Lucia in 1501, while the French established a colony on St Lucia in 1635 and signed a treaty with the Indigenous Carib people in 1660. The British and the French took an interest in the island in the 18th century after the enslaved person-based sugar industry developed. In 1722, George I of Great Britain granted Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent to the second Duke of Montagu.
After the slave-based sugar industry developed, the British and the French found the island attractive. During the 18th century, the island changed ownership or was declared a neutral territory a dozen times, although the French settlements remained. As a result, the island was a de facto French colony well into the eighteenth century.
In 1814, France ceded St Lucia to Britain after the treaty of Paris. The British proclaimed the island a crown colony and brought enslaved Africans to work on the sugar cane plantations. In 1967, the island nation became fully self-governing in internal matters, with Britain controlling external affairs and defense. St Lucia peacefully became fully independent on February 22, 1979, under Sir John Compton of United Workers Par, while remaining as a Commonwealth Realm. Most St Lucians are the descendants of enslaved Africans, brought in by the British in the 19th century to work on sugar plantations. Although St Lucia is a former British colony, the French settled in the 17th century, and their influence lives on in the patois spoken in the country. The country became one of the West Indies Associated States in 1967.
Current Governance Structure
Saint Lucia operates a two-party democracy with a bicameral parliament. Philip J. Pierre of the centre-left Saint Lucia Labour Party became the Prime Minister in 2021.
Philip Joseph Pierre is a Saint Lucian politician currently serving as the prime minister of Saint Lucia since 28 July 2021. Photo credit: Wikipedia
Trending News
Caribbean Water and Wastewater capacity building programme launched in Saint Lucia.
The Caribbean Water and Sewage Association (CAWASA) has launched a regional project for the year 2023 involving a series of training courses in water waste treatment and wastewater collection to support four Caribbean Community Member States (CARICOM).
The objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity-building initiatives in the Caribbean Region by supporting the regional water and wastewater operators’ training programme.
The project involving Barbados, Belize, Grenada, and Saint Lucia was launched in Saint Lucia on January 16-20 and will run across the countries until March 24, 2023.
Participating utilities are the Barbados Water Authority, the National Water and Sewage Authority of Grenada, the Belize Water Services Ltd and Saint Lucia’s Water and Sewage Company.
St. Lucia Ottawa Association
Saint Lucia Ottawa Association reflects the unique historical and cultural heritage of the nation. The association focuses on harnessing its resources to enable and/or facilitate human development of physical, social, economic, intellectual, professional needs of its members in Ottawa and Saint Lucian citizens in general, especially those living in Saint Lucia
Mission
To promote, support and assist the goals and objectives of Saint Lucians, their descendants, and friends of St. Lucia in the National Capital Region.
Objectives
- To unite fraternally and to promote the mutual interests of its members.
- To promote and perpetuate the spirit of unity and harmony among all Saint Lucians residing in Ottawa.
- To provide a forum for the discussion and resolution of problems peculiar to the members of the MASLOW/SLOA in particular, and the Saint Lucian Community in general and for utilization of resources and the implementation of policies directed to the resolution of these problems.
- To cater for, provide or organize cultural, educational, and social activities for the benefit of the members of the Association in particular and the Saint Lucian Community in general.
- To provide moral, material, and financial support primarily to Saint Lucians in Ottawa and to other Saint Lucian citizens wherever and whenever required and practical irrespective of their residence or domicile.
- To encourage, and wherever possible, facilitate Saint Lucians to pursue academic and vocational training or courses of study in Canada, St. Lucia and/or wherever such courses are available and affordable.
- To work with other associations, organizations, government departments, agencies and community-based groups through dialogue, networking and sharing or securing of resources on matters of cultural, educational, social, and economic development either for mutual benefit or to advance the needs of MASLOW/SLOA members and/or the citizens of Saint Lucia.
Commitment
To promote, support and facilitate the attainment of goals and objectives of Saint Lucians, their descendants, and friends of Saint Lucia in the National Capital Region.
The Executive Team
- President: Nathalie Peterkin-Campbell
- Vice-President / Public Relations Officer: Marshall Celestine
- Treasurer: Ramaar Hall
- Secretary & Youth Committee: Alana Aimable-Brathwaite
- Floor Member: Sharmain Georges
- Entertainment Committee Lead: Esther Charles
- Community Outreach: Adelaide Jean-Pierre
The Association can be reached by postal mail at the following address:
St. Lucia Ottawa Association
PO Box 91586 Mer Bleu PO,
Ottawa, ON, K1W 0A6
Canada
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Joy Osiagwu is a Project Officer with Black History Ottawa. She has over two decades of experience as a broadcast journalist in Nigeria and North America. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom, plus a post-graduate diploma in Broadcast Performing Arts from the Columbia Academy, Vancouver, British Columbia.