Premier Jennifer Smith yesterday has said the CURE regulations are Bermuda's only hope for establishing how much progress has been made, if any, in the area of racial equity.

And her comments were seconded by Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb, who pointed to evidence that alienation and racism in the workplace are still alive and kicking.

Speaking on Friday during the House of Assembly's motion to adjourn, Ms Webb referred to a recent story in The Royal Gazette about the young black Bermudian David Burt, who attained unparalleled success overseas but said he felt alienated by discrimination in the workplace at home.

"CURE is for people like him,'' Ms Webb said, "who are evidence of the inequalities that still exist in this country.'' She said the regulations were important in that they would allow Government "to monitor the movement of our people'' in the work force.

"I'm tired of seeing our people alienated,'' she said. "We need to ensure that they're employed and that they have equal opportunity.'' "The people elected us and they expect us to try our best to change the system and tackle the inequalities that they experience.

"We must be a part of that vision to make Bermuda equal for all people,'' she said. "It's something we need to do.'' Ms Webb said she felt the Opposition United Bermuda Party should be supporting the regulations.

Premier Smith said she remembered a time following the end of segregation in Bermuda "during which race was completely omitted from any official documents''.

She added that the CURE regulations were part of Government's commitment to find out where racial relations currently are on the Island.

"Without collecting information we're not going to be able to say what progress, if any, has been made on that front,'' she said.

Premier Smith noted the CURE regulations should not be regarded as "the be all and end all'' of surveys regarding race, adding that only like businesses would be compared with each other.

"We might, in fact, learn something from interacting with each other and sharing this information.'' She said that the point of view of some Bermudians was "quite clearly wrong'' and added: "We're never going to be able to dissuade those people without proper evidence showing the difference between perception and reality.'' "It's not an accident that this debate is happening now,'' Premier Smith noted. "We could say we wished it had gone through earlier but that's not going to do any good.'' "One must first admit that race is a problem before it's possible to properly deal with it,'' she said. "It doesn't go away if you do that, it festers.'' "We will not back down on this because we feel very strongly that it is important for the future of this country.'' Renee Webb