By now, most Bermudians will be aware of the Government’s proposals to provide new pathways to permanent residency and to status. These proposals are aimed squarely at bringing Bermuda in line with baseline international standards established not just in international law, but also in competing small-island jurisdictions such as Anguilla, the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.

There have been some concerns about the “Pathways” proposal expressed in recent days, but my genuine belief is that this is the right thing to do, and I am certain that Bermudians of all backgrounds share this view. Bermudians have always been a compassionate group of people; sometimes it is easy to forget that the loudest voices are not necessarily the most widely shared views.

In the early 1990s, I ran for office on the issue of the plight of long-term residents who had no prospect of obtaining Bermudian status after the status grant system we had in place in the 1980s was abolished. Those legislative changes led to much fear and concern among a segment of residents who had long called Bermuda home.

Partly as a result of my advocacy, the Government then introduced a pathway to status for non-Bermudians born in Bermuda or those who arrived here before their 6th birthday. This was another “stopgap” approach to immigration reform and another moratorium on status was put in place for 1989, with applications to be made before 2008. All the same, those enactments came into force in 1994 and represented a vast improvement on the status quo, and there were no quotas.

In 1997, the United Bermuda Party government then introduced the “Working Resident’s Certificate”, which was a grant of semi-permanent residency to long-term residents, conditional upon them retaining their job.

Soon after the Progressive Labour Party came to power, Paula Cox, then the Minister of Home Affairs, put out proposals by the Government to introduce a Permanent Resident’s Certificate. A group of concerned citizens formed the Coalition on Long-Term Residents, which advocated for full Bermudian status for all long-term residents.

This coalition included Foster Burke, Shurnett Caines and Judith Swan, representing the West Indian community, and Eddy DeMello, Robert Pires and myself representing the Portuguese community. It was the case then, and it continues to be the case today, that long-term residents represent the cultural mosaic that is modern-day Bermuda.

Ms Cox held a series of meetings in 2000 and 2001. Unfortunately, those meetings involved expressions of strong emotion against extending rights to long-term residents. However, it was our belief then that these sentiments did not represent the mainstream views of Bermudians.

Our belief was then confirmed when Walton Brown’s polling firm tested the views of Bermudians in 2000: 50.6 per cent of islanders felt that long-term residents should be granted status, 42.9 per cent were against, while 6.5 per cent were undecided. Mr Brown stated at the time that the poll was strongly reflective of Bermudians’ opinion and that its size of 403 respondents was a great number in Bermuda to work with and predict trends. I agree.

A majority of Bermudians has always supported granting long-term residents a pathway to status. This was confirmed recently. A poll conducted in 2014 showed that 57 per cent supported granting permanent residents Bermudian status, 33 per cent were opposed, while 9 per cent were undecided. Four hundred and four people participated in that poll, which is basically the same sample size as in 2000. Another poll in 2015 showed a significant majority of 69.5 per cent in favour of granting Bermudian status to long-term residents who have been in Bermuda for 25 years or more. 24.8 per cent were opposed and 5.7 per cent were unsure.

In addition, a recent Bernews poll, based on 1,715 responses, showed 75 per cent in favour of the Government’s proposed “Pathways to Status”. The Royal Gazette shows 69 per cent in support based on 6,713 responses (upgraded to 71 per cent from 8,029 responses yesterday). These are clearly unscientific polls but, nonetheless, they confirm the trends shown in the scientific polls: support for “Pathways” has trended upwards over time, while opposition has trended downwards. No political party has ever polled as high as “Pathways”.

The PLP also recognises these trends. Its position in 2001 was that pathways to status for long-term residents would be provided only upon Bermuda becoming independent. Today, it concedes the need for immigration reform right now and, implicitly, the need for granting permanent residency and status.

To his credit, Marc Bean, the Opposition leader, said in his 2014 Reply to the Throne Speech that a future PLP government would “address the issue of Bermuda status grants: how they are to be granted going forward and what criteria need to be met; what number of PRCs should be issued on an annual basis”. Such a policy would address “equal political status for individuals in a family rather than the current circumstance, where one sibling could hold Bermuda status and the other have no rights at all to permanent residence”.

I remind everyone of the Government’s Throne Speech commitment from 2013: “In order to conform to human rights obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Government will move forward with amendments to the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 to provide pathways to Bermuda status for persons born in Bermuda or persons who have been adopted by Bermudian parents.”

Various decisions of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal and the Supreme Court case of Carne and Correia necessitated an expansion of our approach.

There is clearly some difference between the two main political parties on the question of “Pathways”. This natural and healthy dialogue is the cornerstone of democracy. At the end of the day, however, the One Bermuda Alliance was elected to govern Bermuda in 2012. As such, it is the Government’s prerogative to propose laws and it will be the Legislature’s prerogative to consider and to scrutinise those laws.

The longer we wait to address the question of long-term residents, the more uncertainty we add to the lives of non-Bermudians and the more likely it is that we lose model citizens who have demonstrated their long-term commitment to Bermuda.

As I said, Bermudians are fundamentally compassionate. We are not as divided on the question of “Pathways” as some commentators might have us believe. This was true in 1992. This was true in 2000. This was true in 2014. This is true today. And this will be true well into the future.

Let’s do the right thing.

• Trevor Moniz is the Attorney-General and the MP for Smith’s West (Constituency 9). Tonight at 8pm on CITV (Ch 2 on CableVision or 102 on Wow), he will be joined by Minister of Home Affairs Michael Fahy and Sylvan Richards, the junior minister, to further explain the initiative and to take questions from the public