Rosie Douglas’ legacy lives on in Dominica’s durability, say speakers at memorial lecture

At this year’s annual Roosevelt ‘Rosie’ Douglas Memorial Lecture, featured speakers Prime Minister of St Vincent & the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Acting prime Minister of Dominica, Hon. Fidel Grant, took a look back at the history of the Labour Party against the backdrop of Dominica’s fluctuating circumstances, weaving what they say is a thread of progression, through various hardships, built on Douglas’ legacy.

Held at the State House Conference Room on Thursday, the event marked the 25th Anniversary of  Douglas’ death.

Organizers describe the Memorial Lecture as a meaningful platform to reflect on his contributions to nation-building and the empowerment of small states.

Gonzalves, as key note speaker, relayed an essentially optimistic assessment, saying that despite the challenges Dominica has faced over the years, the country has still managed to survive and is thriving.

“We have lost so many leaders in Dominica,  bananas collapsed, Hurricane David,  Hurricane Allen,  Hurricane Maria,  the global economic crisis,  we have battered  COVID,  occasional droughts,  all the vagaries of climate change,  the harshness of the external world,  and through it all,  we have survived and we are thriving,” he said. “We have much  to be thankful for.”

He believes Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, “helped to take us through that.”

“Do not underestimate any of that. Do not get carried away by vanities, ” he added.

However, he balanced his assertions by confessing:

“To be sure, we all have complaints.”

Meanwhile, Acting Prime Minister Fidel Grant emphasized that the late Rosie Douglas’s vision is what brought the Dominica Labour Party into office after 20 years.

“Twenty-five years later, we are standing on a foundation that he built,” Grant stated. “And I believe that every Labourite can be proud of the work  that we have continued 25 years later.”

Furthermore, he pointed out that the work was resumed by the late Pierre Charles and is continuing now with the Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit.

“It is often said that this Dominican Labour Party, this Labour Party cabinet, this new cabinet, has shifted from the vision of the late Rosie Douglas. And this is far from the truth,” Grant argued.

In this regard, he explained that education was a passion of the late Rosie Douglas, citing proof that the current government has taken up the mantle in his wake.

“And this is evident in the policies of this current administration.  And we saw this with the universal access to secondary school,  the free tuition to the college,  and the one graduate per household across  Dominica,” he explained.

Another point he prefaced was that the late Rosie Douglas was passionate about housing, again listing his administration’s accomplishments in this area.

“And at this time, I must recognize the efforts of comrade Reginald Austrie for the work that he has done in housing,” he remarked. “ Ladies and gentlemen, it was this administration building on the vision of the late Rosie Douglas that offered squatters a dollar a square foot. It was this administration who offered 2 percent loans to public servants. “

Grant added, “It is this very administration who offered free housing to the people of Dominica. And just last week, we handed 21 homes in the Soufriere constituency, and that is building on the vision of the late Rosie Douglas.”

Rosie Douglas, following a long, distinguished career in politics and activism, died on October 1, 2000, just eight months after being elected Prime Minister of Dominica in the national elections held on January 31 that same year.