GOVERNMENT backbencher Dale Butler has reiterated his call for a National Youth Commission, three years after he suggested the idea on the floor of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Butler said a cross-party effort was needed to help guide the way for young Bermudians, many of whom were feeling "lost".

He proposed a panel of a dozen or so eminent people from a wide spectrum of the community, including representatives of all major political parties, to tackle the primary youth issues.

And with violent incidents involving youths featured all too regularly in the news pages over recent weeks, Mr. Butler felt the need for a body to tackle their problems was as acute as ever.

"There is a lack of values and a lack of standards," said the former school principal. "We have made life easy for our young people.

"Schools seem to expect little of them and young people have few places to go and talk and have some good, clean recreational fun.

"We have places like church halls that could easily be used as facilities for young people. What we are calling for now is some real leadership."

Next Thursday evening Mr. Butler will grab the initiative himself to address the challenges facing Bermuda's youth when his writing group Writer's Machine holds a think-tank session at Warwick Workman's Club.

Mr. Butler said the establishment of a National Youth Commission was an urgent matter that should transcend political, racial and age differences.

"Now it seems that a youth is anyone under 30," said Mr. Butler. "Things are very challenging these days for people aged between 20 and 35.

"Those years were culturally the time when most Bermudians used to get married and build homes. Now there is no land available for them to build on and many of them feel lost. There has been a cultural shift.

"We need to get our clubs involved and allow our young people to put forward ideas of what they want to see happen. I would also like to see interaction between seniors and youth to facilitate a transmission of values and to get some positive youth programmes going."

And he believed there were programmes that could be easily implemented, some costing less than $1,000, that could make a positive difference.

Thursday's think-tank event will start at 6.30 p.m. with dinner, followed by the Dr. E.F. Gordon Memorial Lecture, read by Dina Simas, president of Bermuda College's student government.There will be representatives from all three major political parties. As well as Mr. Butler's input, Opposition MP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin will read an excerpt from her father's biography and Ms Simas will be introduced by the National Liberal Party's Graeme Outerbridge.

Everyone is welcome to attend and after the lecture, at 7.30 p.m., the audience will split up into five groups to discuss different youth issues, such as violence, youth programmes and the role of schools.

"Each group will discuss a different subject and summarise their discussion with a list of bullet points," said Mr. Butler. "We will ask people to polish those points up and we will then produce a report to present to the country."

The Warwick East MP said the event had attracted interest from outside Bermuda.

"I've had a number of e-mail contacts who said they'd be in Bermuda at the time and could they come along," he said. "Some of them are experts.

"Youth problems are not unique to Bermuda, so they have a great interest in what we will be talking about."

The outspoken backbencher and former school principal first raised the idea of setting up a National Youth Commission in Parliament in 2000. Later the same year, United Bermuda Party MP Cole Simons put forward a motion in support of the idea. It did not receive support from Mr. Butler's colleagues in the Government.

Last week Randy Horton's Ministry of Youth & Sport staged the Youth Service Forum at the Sonesta Beach Hotel, something Mr. Butler felt was a step in the right direction.

Mr. Butler feels most UBP MPs support the National Youth Commission idea and he is hoping to persuade Mr. Horton of the need for it.

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