Deeper ties with Caribbean countries could help to alleviate skill shortages in Bermuda without open borders, the home affairs minister said as she spoke on the perceived benefits of full Caricom membership.

Alexa Lightbourne added that the island should “lean into” the opportunity to draw from a labour market with a body of workers who speak English and understand the local culture and economy.

Her comments came on the Government’s Leaders on the Recordpodcast, where the minister was asked whether full membership of the Caribbean Community — of which Bermuda has been an associate member since 2003 — would mean unlimited immigration or free movement of people to the island.

Ms Lightbourne said: “The Government has been clear and I will restate our position: the opportunity to deepen our ties with Caricom does not equate to open borders, that is not our intention.

“We have been very clear with the secretariat in terms of the terms of our intended membership. We don’t wish to have open borders.

“We recognise that Bermuda has its unique challenges in terms of size and we are seeking to support the advancement and the advertisement of roles that are hard to fill in Bermuda, roles that we are unable to fill with a Bermudian, within the Caricom marketplace.

“They are, too, skilled workers and we are seeking to benefit from those who may be skilled to be able to solve some of our employment needs following the inability to find Bermudian placements.”

She added: “The free movement is a pillar of the Caricom free-market and single-market economy and that’s what most people will look at but it is also important to note that though that is an initiative under Caricom, not every island, not every member state has currently signed up to it.”

Ms Lightbourne said that while the umbrella organisation had advanced the free movement principle, there was an appreciation that not all members would be able to apply it in the same way.

She also pointed to expected benefits for small businesses to expand their reach to Caribbean countries.

The minister insisted that the Government’s intention for greater involvement with Caricom, which came to the fore in the 2023 Throne Speech, was driven by an intention to advocate for the island’s economic and domestic needs.

She noted the island’s challenges in filling roles that Bermudians were either unable to fill or no longer had interest or desire in taking.

Ms Lightbourne said there was potential to fill the roles with people “who are English speakers, who understand our cultural and island unique economies”.

“That’s an opportunity that we should lean into,” she added.

The minister said that there could be chances for the Government and other Bermudian entities to benefit from technical expertise developed in Caricom member states, for example in the field of energy, where there are shared challenges.

She added: “We are comfortable having consultants from other jurisdictions and so why not the Caribbean?”

A Green Paper, The Story of Us, on the Government’s move towards full Caricom membership was published in March and remains open for consultation.

Download PDF File

The Story of Us, Caricom full membership Green Paper

It said that full membership represented an annual Caricom contribution increase for the island of about $2 million.

Two town hall meetings on the topic are scheduled for the public this month — one at St James Church Hall in Sandys on Thursday and another at Penno’s Wharf in St George’s on May 19, both starting at 7pm.