Bermuda’s position on reparations is in line with a plan put forward by Caricom, attendees of a round-table discussion on the subject heard last night.

The talk, held at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, was organised in advance of the island’s observances of both Emancipation Day and Mary Prince Day.

Caricom’s 10 Point Plan for Reparatory Justice was a focal point for the conversation, with Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General, stating that the Government’s position was in step with Caricom on the subject.

The plan calls for a full formal apology along with the recognition of the right to reparatory justice, along with cultural and educational initiatives, health initiatives, economic development, land restitution and the cancellation of debts owed by Caribbean nations to European countries.

Ms Wilkerson said that discussions about reparations were considered in a much broader context than just financial and the Caricom template included elements such as mental health, where the impact of enslavement was still felt in the community.

She explained: “When we look at the amount of psychological and mental disorder in this country and we say we have a huge segment of our population who cannot thrive because there are so many underlying issues, we need to find a way to get under that.

“And when we look at the ten-point plan and how it looks at redress for psychological harm, and we know at this stage it is generational — we are bearing the burden of things that we cannot even identify where they came from.”

Ms Wilkerson said the island could benefit from additional resources to address psychological harm.

“You can’t take advantage of an education or get a job if you have underlying issues to deal with,” she added.

She noted that measures such as the Commission of Inquiry into Historical Land Losses was intended to look at related issues in a Bermudian context and identify past harms.

“It was very much in line with the same kinds of losses, where things have generationally been taken, and they were taken because there was a view that we, Black people, were less than,” Ms Wilkerson said.

Wendell Hollis, meanwhile, said that when people think about reparations, their first thought is usually of direct payments to descendants of enslaved people.

“That is the one that comes to mind first, but that is usually the one that comes up with the most resistance,” he added.

He said that another approach was institutional restitution, or affirmative action, through scholarships, healthcare and community investments, but such measures had recently seen strong pushback in the United States and elsewhere.

Mr Wendell said he believed that it had been hoped that the Commission of Inquiry would achieve more than it did and he did not think that it tackled the history of Tucker’s Town or St David’s in the way that it should have.

Jonathan Starling, who sat on the CoI, said that half of the commission’s report was centred on Tucker’s Town and St David’s and included legal arguments for reparations.

“The Commission of Inquiry can only make recommendations to Parliament to consider,” Mr Starling said.

“It has been tabled and is awaiting debate — I don’t know when that is going to be — but the recommendations on that did discuss things like reparations and the like.”