United Bermuda Party leader Pamela Gordon has said she did not attend a ceremony dedicated to her late father in protest at Government's "hypocrisy'' towards foreigners.

Ms Gordon stayed away from the ceremony last week at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital when a ward was named after her father, the workers' leader and Progressive Labour Party hero, Dr. E.F. Gordon.

She said it was hypocritical of Government to honour her father, a Trinidadian, while displaying xenophobia towards foreigners over the issue of status for long term residents.

Government held the first of its public meetings on the Green Paper on the status of long-term residents the day after the renaming ceremony.

She said: "What I could not accept was the very strong degree of hypocrisy the Government displays towards this issue.

"First and foremost, my father was a non-Bermudian and he would be perceived as a long-term resident.

"The day after they renamed a ward after him for his contribution to Bermuda they have this event to lash out at all the non-Bermudians who don't belong here and don't have a right to status.

"Everyone on a work permit comes here and makes a contribution to a greater or lesser extent.

"If you happen to be a black foreigner and make a contribution like my father it's okay, you'll get a hospital ward named after you.

"What about all the other foreigners who have made a contribution? The message they are sending is `go home, we don't want you here?' "I remember from my childhood my mother told me that many Bermudians said Dr.

Gordon should go home. It happened even then.

"I found it hypocritical to have the first dedication to a non-Bermudian in the same week that they were having a meeting blasting non-Bermudians, saying they should leave the country.

"Also, a lot of money was spent bringing in the family from other parts of the world. My father, as a labour leader, would have wanted the money to be spent to help the working classes. That would have been a more fitting tribute.'' Labour and Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox, who has been chairing the public meetings on long-term residents, said: "I find in extraordinary that she is using an event on Thursday (the public meeting) to actuate an event that happened the day before.'' No caption