Garnet Joseph welcomes news of Kalinago monument

Kalinago chief, Garnet Joseph
Kalinago chief, Garnet Joseph

Kalinago Chief Garnet Joseph has described the news that a monument will be erected in honor of the indigenous people of Dominica, the Kalinagos, as a great accomplishment for his people.

Joseph told DNO that although he has not received official word on the decision, the news is a happy one.

“Well I haven’t heard that you know, before you telling me now,” he said. “If that is true, I want to say that that makes all of us very happy to know.”

Last week prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that he is in full support of the idea of a monument in honor of the Kalinago people and the government will underwrite the cost of the undertaking.

“I fully support the call by the Kalinago people the Carib chief, Carib Council and the several voices out of the Kalinago country on the need for the country to erect a monument in recognition of the sterling contribution of the Kalinago people to Dominica,” he said on state-owned DBS Radio last week. “We have all agreed that they were the first to come to Dominica and they defended this piece of our homeland for a very long time against the European colonizers.”

He said the decision by the Kalinagos to ask for such a monument is a fitting one since the contribution of the people are their ancestors must be recognized.

Joseph said that the Kalinago people will now be looking forward to the erection of the monument.

“Overall I think this is a major achievement for the Kalinago people,” he said.

He said the Kalinagos are proposing a 20-foot structure at the Pont Case roundabout that will depict the warrior spirit and strength of the people.

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10 Comments

  1. Law and Order.
    September 17, 2013

    Carib, is the beginning of Caribbean, not cannibal.They are truly Caribbean people.

  2. Tumble, Back Kick
    September 16, 2013

    While you are at that, please make some crown land available to the Kalinago to set up an additional village. The land there was never choice real estate, If we want them to really survive as a people do something . There are trained collegues who can deal with land management issues and susteinable agriculture .
    And a next thing, I thought that Pont Casse area was symbolic of the negre mawon, why not put this closer to Atkinson?
    Throw me a freaking bone!!

  3. September 16, 2013

    Back then they Use to be called caribs now they are called Kalingo. They are still indegnous People of Dominica

  4. anonymousaswell
    September 16, 2013

    baychin mwen pon-w.hehhehe.

    • anonymousaswell
      September 16, 2013

      this is in response to ‘anonymous’ question to the chief.

  5. New Yorker
    September 16, 2013

    How does the erection of a monument eliviate the economic plight of the Kalinago people, how many Joba will this create? Is thos a priority now for the territory, is it going to create full employment or partial employment for the territory, is this going to repair the roads or boost agriculture production? The carib people deserven much better than waht is presented to them now

  6. Anonymous
    September 16, 2013

    At the risk of sounding illiterate, can someone please englighten me (I’m being very serious since I left Dominica a long time ago and don’t know much about the history of it’s indegenous people.) What is the difference between Kalinago and Carib. I see that both terms are used in this article: There’s a “Kalinago Chief,” Then the Kalinago chief is quoted as saying, “I fully support the call by the Kalinago people the Carib chief, Carib Council and the several voices out of the Kalinago country………..When is it appropriate to use the term Carib and when is it appropriate to use Kalinago?

    • WAY WAY
      September 16, 2013

      according to dem bajans.. you is an idiot?

    • Anonymous
      September 16, 2013

      Kalinago is how the people prefer to be referred to themselves – more indigenous. Carib was a bit of a biased name given by the Spanish to imply cannibalism.

      • looking
        September 17, 2013

        They were called Caribs by the Europeans during colonization; it means cannibals. An example someone comes from one of the french territories and…

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