In 1967, Edward Oliver LeBlanc led Dominica to Associated Statehood with Britain and became the island’s first premier. That meant that for the first time, Dominicans had control of local government (internal self-government), while Britain retained responsibility for defence and foreign affairs. Leblanc’s enthusiasm for Dominican culture and his consistent efforts to promote it no doubt helped to engender a heightened sense of national pride among Dominicans and to help prepare them for eventual independence from Britain in 1978.
Alex Bruno has, from his archives, graciously made available to DNO E.O.Leblanc’s 1971 National Day address. We now share it with you.
This can’t be from 1971 because LeBlanc begins by saying it was the first anniversary of Associated Statehood. That makes it 1968.
Wow! DEEP, UN COMPLECATED, A SCENE OF TRUE CLARITY AND PROFOI NDLY, inclusive, sweet music to my ear, why this sort of Cherrished treature, not played thru all our media Houses? Leblanc must be turning in his Grave. I Rest!
I WILL POST THIS AGAIN Leblanc was the best leader of our time some people will not agree but also
we must never forget how and when we got independence some of us just want to put the fax together we did not get there without a leader and that was Patrick john not forgetting what he went through but we must accept it that is history its time that we put all the hate behind us because is our children and grand
children that will ask this question how and when we get there Grenada and some other island had worse
than us and they still make it their duty to inform their people some of us don’t want to agree because of
political differences
While I am awaiting moderation of the two other comments I posted, I am sending in this third:
In my second comment, I mentioned that I found the PM’s address to be lacking. I found that it created a great divide between “the we” and “the us.” In short, it did not display the Statesmanship displayed in the address delivered by Premier E. O. LeBlanc in the 1971 address provided by Pawol and published by DNO.
Thus, I went over to the President’s message as published on DNO to find solace. While I found it to be somewhat better than the PM’s, I found the same fault running throughout: a tendency to divide the people, to anticipate negative reactions, and to thus strike first by delivering dire warnings to the “undesirables.” I also found in both the address and the message various insincere appeals to God and the invoking of God’s name at every twist and turn. Instead of treading that path, let us ALL emulate the simple Statesmanship of our first Premier, Mr. E.O. LeBlanc.
Dear Hon Leblanc: Very clear, succinct speech of leadership, visionary, simple and thoughtful. Little boy then, never heard, but now I am reflecting back to that Dominica was then. To the point, not a long and winding speech. Short to the point that one can capture.
Picking up from where I left off: So, I watched this year’s Independence Anniversary celebrations. I listened intently to what the Prime Minister had to say. Alas, he is no Mr. LeBlanc. In fact, as he ended his address, I frowned and asked: “What was that about?” His address was filled with the first person pronoun, “we.” I kept wondering, “Who, exactly, constitutes ‘we'”? I was hoping it included all Dominicans, but then the Prime Minister said that after visits to New York, London and Brussels, “we” have half of the funding in place…. So, who constitutes the “we” who visited New York, London and Brussels? Who constitutes the “we” who are presenting the plans? And then he asked all Dominicans to “join us.” Well, who, exactly, constitutes “us”? I know I am but a simple ignoramus, but the PM’s address sounded like it was creating a great divide between the “we” and the “us.” I heard no mention of anyone else. He called no other names of people across the…
Thanks, Pawol, for making this clip available; and thanks, DNO, for publishing it. As Premier LeBlanc came to the end of his address, I smiled broadly. Mr. LeBlanc had no Ph.D. — real, fake, or imagined, no degree whatsoever, but he was a Statesman of class. When he delivered that address in 1971, he had just been through two “national disasters.” On August 20, 1970, Tropical Storm Dorothy visited Dominica, washing away the bridge in Roseau, causing widespread flooding, and leaving one person dead. Soon thereafter, three members of the Labour Party booted LeBlanc out, causing him to form the LeBlanc Labor Party to contest the October 26 general elections. His “Shoe Party” won 8 of the 11 seats in parliament. Yet, when he stood up to speak on November 3, 1971, Mr. LeBlanc held no ill will. He reached out across whatever aisles existed then and asked for “hands” for all those who were contributing to the development of our young country. What a class act! To be continued…
Excellent. Positive speech. Congrats again Jean Lawrence you are truly a blessed woman and Dominican.
What would be Mr. LeBlanc thoughts of today.? Of the Leadership of our Country.
DNO I wish you had put EO Leblanc and Skerrit side by side but that’s ok too because Skerrit should never stand side by side with EOL though both men are from Ittasi aka Vieille Case and they are both handsome and related. I am related to both as well. But I refer to them as the first PM and the last PM, just as the bible referred to Adam and Jesus as first Adam and the last Adam.
Lets contrast the two:
1. EO Leblanc was a nation builder; Skerrit is a nation destroyer
2. EOL was about people first; Skerrit is all about me, I and myself
3.EOL was a true patriot ; Skerrit is sure not
4. EOL was a real laborite, who cared about the plight of the poor; Skerrit is an opportunist that will use the poor to get what he wants
5. EOL did what he could to ensure the like of greedy Savarin does not get into power; Skerrit made Charlo his president
6. EOL was the builder of the DLP; Skerrit is the destroyer
7. EOL cherished our Dominica passport; Skerrits see our passport as…
8. EOL laid the framework for our independence ; Skerrit replaced it with RED CLINIC
9. EOL realized that God blessed us with rich soil & fresh water so he ensured that poor people’s children export bananas, Cocoa, coffee, citrus etc to send their children to university: Skerrit made destroying them his priority so all could depend on him.
10. EOL ensured that all of his children were born in Dominica; Skerrit made sure that not one of his children as PM was born in Dominica
11. EOL always ensure that we all knew our first family because they resided here with us and amongst us. Not so with Skerrit as his family only come for short visits.
12. EOL ensured that Dominica was never in any type of scandal; Skerrit had Monfared, a wanted criminal, reside in Dominica for 6 months.
Skerrit tried to use EOl for his political gain, by naming highway after EOL; but EOL since he was so different from Skerrit, showed his disapproval as the so called highway is always being destroyed
EOL’s children and I attended school together from primary to high school; Skerrit’s children are Americans and our children will never attend school with his children. His children and I went through hurricanes and thunder storms together.
One last thing I want to say: When EOL was Premier, Vielle case was the village. It was crowded and non ittasians wanted to make Vielle Case their home. Our population back then was in the thousand and our school had over 300. Under Skerrit we do not have 300 residents and our school only has 31 students. Skerrit has failed us big time!!
There are many more we could say about the two but time will not allow us. I do hope DNO will honor the sacrifice I made to contrast our two Ittasi leaders by moderating my comments. In all fairness to my fellow villagers I wish to God that Skerrit was the first PM so his evil acts could be forgotten and EOL was the last, so people could have a long lasting memory of the good of Itassi. Thank You EOL
Excellent piece of history!
Thanks Alex. It’s some important to know where we came from, to understand where we are going.
Thank you, Alex Bruno, for Sharing:! :-
He was the grates leader in Dominica without a doubt we must never forget Patrick John
Wallace, I’m sorry but I can not agree. Patrick was a simple opportunist and ultimately a loser. Not on the same scale as Roosevelt Skerrit, I give him that but the fact remains that he was booted out by the people and guilty of treason. I can never trust a man like that.
Thanks A B , for the memories of a truly esteemed leader, the prophetic message emanating from Mr Leblanc’ address, is loaded with the vision he had then, which today, is truely lacking. A true leader dominica had then, only to be steamrolled by a former hurricane Maria, with the name Eugenia, Dominica, have never fully recovered.
Alhough from the same village Skerrit can never be the equalizer of Leblanc. It’s like comparing chalk to cheese.
Just as Vielle case blessed us with the finest leader today Vielle case see what you brought us in the person of Skerrit’. Skerrit destroyed the foundation of everything Leblanc built. Every other leader from Leblanc up to Pierro maintained that tradition and made Independence day something worth remembering. Today Independence means nothing under Skerrit because he literally destroyed our foundation to the point that when Erika came, followed by Maria they met us without a foundation and devastating us was easy. I don’t hate Skerrit but I am hurt by what he has done to us as he used us to get his wealth. From Leblanc to Pierro all got into power richer than Skerrit. Yet in 12 years Skerrit’ got ten times richer than all of them combined, simply because they were about building a nation for us and our children, while Skerrit was about building an Estate for himself minus his children. Aie Dominique we your children mourn your lost not because of Maria but because of what Skerrit…
DNO why did you do this to us on this 3rd Day of November 2017? You have me in serious tears tonight as I listen to this message by my hero the Hon. EO Leblanc. As I listen with tears I think of when we were at our pick. It was at that time we began to dominate cadace music as in almost every village we had a top band like bells Combo, Gaylord’s, Swinging Stars, midnight Groovers, grammax, liquid eyes, black affairs, Mamoute, and the list goes on and on. In the 70’s it felt so good to be a Dominican on a public bus in Guada as all you would hear was our music. It was at that time we were dominating Windward island and combined island cricket with some top players and one of the best radio announcers that the world has ever heard – Jeff Charles. We were United, we were strong and it felt good to be a Dominican. Not so today as the good old days of late 60’s to 200 seems to have long gone. It was the small village of Vielle case that made us so proud! See how Skerrit destroyed us!