Arrival or Indian Arrival Day

For the record, let me state that, though recommended, there was never a public holiday called Arrival Day in 1994 or subsequently.

The public holiday known as Indian Arrival Day was only instituted in 1996 under the UNC-coalition administration.

It was in 1989 during the 1986- 1991 Parliament that I had placed a private motion on the Order Paper of the House of Representatives.

The motion was never fully debated and lapsed at the end of that Parliament.

I again submitted it in the 1991- 1995 Parliament and, after a brief debate, it was referred to a joint select committee of Parliament whose terms of reference were to consider the entire question of public holidays.

The majority on the committee were members of the then PNM administration. The then minister of education, Augustus Ramrekersingh, was chairman of the committee which finally submitted its report and recommendations to the House on May 1, 1995.

However, before that report was presented and debated, then prime minister Patrick Manning rose to make a statement to the House which included the following: “The committee (joint select committee) considered and reported on the question of whether Indian Arrival Day should be a holiday or not. The debate is going to articulate clearly what the committee recommended.

“I merely want to draw the attention of honourable members to the fact that the committee’s report makes recommendations with effect from January 1, 1996.

It is my pleasure to announce that the Cabinet has decided, in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first East Indians in Trinidad and Tobago, that May 30, 1995, will be declared a public holiday.” It should be noted that the declaration was for a one-off holiday for that year only. It was thus merely a fleeting acknowledgment of the significance of the day and was to be celebrated only on one occasion.

Ramrekersingh presented the motion as follows: “Be it resolved that this House adopt the report of the joint select committee appointed by the Senate and House of Representatives to consider the entire question of public holidays … In the majority report the public holidays remained as they were with the exception of May 30, but we recommend May 30 to be a public holiday to be called Arrival Day … That with effect from January 1, 1996, the schedule to the Public Holidays and Festivals Act Chap19.03 be amended (I) to delete therefrom Whit Monday (II) to add thereto Arrival Day, May 30.

In my own contribution I said inter alia: “Madam Speaker … As you know, I am the member who moved the motion in two Parliaments that May 30 be declared a public holiday called Indian Arrival Day … You do not recognise your history by denying it because it pertains to a certain group in the society … It seems to me that the report wants to deny this, that in fact on May 30, 1845, it was indentured workers who arrived in Trinidad. That is a fact of life, a fact of our history. Why do they want to deny that and say it is not Indian Arrival Day? Is it another arrival?” It was a significant and interesting debate in which reference was made to our history and its landmark events, the immigrant antecedents of the country and our own evolution into a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country, our diverse origins and heritage and the issue of national recognition of significant h i s - tor i c a l e v e n t s particularly in relation to those of East Ind i a n origin.