[R-G] Canada's neo-colonialism in Antigua

[Anthony Fenton]

Cool welcome for Canadians in Antigua
Craig Offman,  National Post  Published: Wednesday, April 09, 2008
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=431413

Sailors have long regarded the Caribbean island of Antigua as a  
hurricane hole, a shelter for sailors escaping the turbulent seas. But  
recently the former British colony has been harbouring a more unlikely  
crew of arrivals: Mounties and Canadian bankers.

The police commissioner for Antigua and its sister island Barbuda--and  
his three trusted deputies -- are Canadian, as are the top three  
English-speaking banks in the region.

However, many locals see their new guests as a throwback to an unhappy  
era. A former prime minister said he viewed the Mounties' arrival with  
"utter abhorrence."

"Some see a climate of neocolonialism," said Jaiden Couchie, a  
Canadian expat from North Bay, who works in the publishing industry.  
"This morning on a talk radio [show], there were a lot of call-in  
guests saying that very thing, but some said they thought the change  
was positive."

While Ms. Couchie said she has never experienced any overt Canadian- 
baiting, she said the political climate is touchy.

Last month, Canadian Gary Nelson became the police commissioner and in  
turn the 35-year veteran of the Ottawa Police Service appointed three  
former members of the RCMP to help him overhaul the unruly,  
underfunded force over the next two years.

Later in March, the country became the island's banking superpower  
when the Royal Bank of Canada formally took over the Trinidad-based  
RBTT, the largest Anglophone institution in the region. The region's  
second-and third-largest English-speaking banks are also owned by  
Canadians, who now control $42-billion in assets, four times the  
amount claimed by the 40-odd remaining local competitors combined,  
according to The Economist magazine.

Long seen as a counterweight to U.S. and British interests, Canada has  
a long history in the Caribbean. The Bank of Nova Scotia established a  
branch in Jamaica in 1889, and since then Canada has been mining,  
extracting and digging for resources throughout the region. It even  
enjoys a cozy relationship with socialist Cuba. There is now $1.8- 
billion worth of two-way merchandise trade between Canada and  
Caribbean Community member countries.

Nine months ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the launch of  
negotiations toward a free-trade agreement between Canada and this  
group, otherwise known as CARICOM.

But there is more to this longstanding relationship than commerce.

Over the past century, politicians from islands such as Jamaica and  
Barbados have floated the concept of uniting with Canada. So have  
officials from the Turks and Caicos Islands, which has had an ongoing  
flirtation with its distant neighbour since 1917, when Canadian Prime  
Minister Robert Borden suggested that the islands join the dominion  
before his British counterpart, Lloyd George, rejected the proposal.  
The idea was revisited as recently as 2004, when various Canadian  
legislators raised the idea to then prime minister Paul Martin.

But one Caribbean leader with no such romantic illusions would be  
former Antiguan prime minister Lester Bird.

The former head of the Antigua Labour party (ALP) who lost power amid  
corruption charges in 2004 heaped scorn on Antigua's ruling party when  
Mr. Nelson's appointment was announced, saying that he viewed the  
arrival with "utter abhorrence."

"Are they unaware of our history of slavery, imposed inferiority of  
poverty, second-class citizenry and servitude by the privileged  
colonial plantocracy?" said Mr. Bird, referring to the colour  
distinction between the force's new leadership and the majority of  
Antiguans and Barbudans.

"How could any but a government that is bankrupt of ideas and human  
values dismiss in such casual and cavalier fashion the hard-won  
freedom and rights to assume the opportunities and social mobility in  
our institutions? Are they too daft to realize the insult and  
retrograde harm they have inflicted?" he added.

Some residents thought that Mr. Bird was playing the race card--and  
effectively so.

"Nothing could prove better than a juicy bite on race baiting," one  
reader wrote to the Antigua Sun, the daily newspaper in which Mr.  
Bird's quotes appeared. "He played the card well, and seemingly, he  
convinced his foot soldiers."

"Those white Canadian officers will do a great job for the people of  
Antigua and Barbuda," wrote another reader. "The force will become  
more sensitive to its position and trust will be restored by public at  
large."

But Steadroy "Cutie" Benjamin, who now leads the ALP, said that Mr.  
Bird's quotes must have been taken out of context, that race has  
nothing to do with the issue. Instead, he wonders why his opponents  
chose Mr. Nelson over an indigenous or even regional candidate.

"Nobody is saying that Mr. Nelson does not have the skill," Mr.  
Benjamin said. "We have always had a good relationship with Canadians.  
I just do not agree with the way in which the matter was handled."

Stewart Kingdon, a forensic accountant who investigated a corruption  
scandal in Mr. Bird's government seven years ago, said that locals  
treated him with great respect, although he did receive a few death  
threats. "Mr. Bird is completely wrong," said Mr. Kingdon, who has  
since returned to the RCMP as a commercial crime investigator. "The  
locals treated us like local heroes."