For many years, dating back to the time when Canada and our islands were colonies of Great Britain, St Kitts and Nevis enjoyed an arrangement with the Dominion of Canada, which allowed Kittitians and Nevisians, visa-free access. In other words, nationals of this tiny nation were among an elite group to whom was extended the facility of simply purchasing an airline ticket, boarding a plane and entering Canada. Those who entered had the option of remaining there for up to six months without hassle.
Let me back up a bit. An enduring tradition in St. Kitts and Nevis is saltfish for breakfast on Sunday mornings. During the week, given the hustle and bustle of getting to work and school, there was no time for families to sit and have breakfast together. That time came on Sunday mornings when, with some time to spare before heading out to the various church services, you would awaken to the smell of what really has been, for many years, our favourite breakfast.
Let me go back even further. During slavery which, for the record, ended in 1834, the owners fed their slaves a steady diet, consisting in part, of salted meat. That meat, as our assimilation into the English language gelled, came to be known as “relish”. Strangely enough, my experience here in the United States, having spoken with people from all over the Caribbean and elsewhere, tells me that we may be the only people in the world who call the meat in our food, “relish”.
Among those meats, was saltfish which, over the years, has become unchangeably woven into the tapestry of our local cuisine. Those of us who enjoy that Kittitian/Nevisian staple we call “cook-up” know that it is not complete without saltfish.
That said, the point I am getting at is the fact that saltfish, which has been a part of our diet for centuries, and which now forms the main component in our national dish, is really preserved cod, and has long been a product that we got from Canada, the country that just, as of November 22nd, 2014, relegated us to the position of having to secure visas in order to travel there.
Let me digress a bit and mention that November 22nd is a date that I will always remember because it was the date, in 1963, on which one of America’s most beloved presidents, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.
What caused me to write this, therefore, is a speech that I heard from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Patrice Nisbett. In addressing the matter, he mentioned that Kittitians and Nevisians “…like the citizens of the vast majority of Caribbean countries, and like the citizens of 147 countries around the world, would now travel to Canada on a visa…”. His statement, made on Monday, November 24th, 2014, may be found here: www.cuopm.com/?p=9638. However, just about a year ago, almost to the day, on November 26, 2013, the same Patrice Nisbett went on the record as saying: “…St. Kitts and Nevis is the only OECS country that enjoys this visa free access to Canada and the European countries referred to above…”. Here is the link to the article: http://winnfm.com/press-releases/6395-statement-in-the-national-assembly-by-the-hon-patrice-nisbett.
In other words, while we were in good standing, it was okay to boast that we were in a unique position within the OECS; but once we lost that status, it became necessary to nonchalantly name us among the nationals of 147 countries who require visas to travel to Canada.
Of course, I am not about to let Minister Nisbett nor the government get away with attempting to gloss over such a fall from grace insofar as the great nation of Canada is concerned, because something had to have happened to cause us to slip from elite to common, and government needs to own up to the part it played in bringing it about.
Following the closure of the sugar industry in 2005, even after the commitment from Dr. Douglas that it would have closed only over his dead body, the government looked to the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program that had been a feature since 1984, as a means of replacing the income lost from the production of sugar.
As I recall it, CBI required that an applicant invest a minimum quantity of money in some form of landed property in the Federation. However, this administration, upon revisiting it, made a couple of significant changes, they being: (i) an increase in the minimum amount to be invested in landed property, and (ii) the introduction of the option of making a “contribution” to the program. So, while a piece of property in St. Kitts-Nevis could always be linked to a particular person/family, the “contributions” are not. As a matter of fact, concern has been raised as to whether or not all of the “contributions” ever made it to the coffers of the SIDF.
By way of explanation, SIDF refers to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (http://www.sknsidf.org/index.cfm). It was deliberately established as a private entity but its account receives the proceeds from the CBI program. As such, while it benefits from the sale of a state-owned asset, its operations are not subject to the oversight of either parliament or the Director of Audit.
In the sale of our passports, it is clear that we did not do quite as well as we were supposed to, in screening the applicants. As such, a number of persons who needed it for illicit reasons got hold of it. On May 20, 2014, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory entitled: “Abuse of the Citizenship-by-Investment Program Sponsored by the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis”, in which it warned that “…illicit actors are abusing this program to acquire SKN citizenship in order to mask their identity and geographic background for the purpose of evading U.S. or international sanctions or engaging in other financial crime…”. Add this to the fact that at least two years ago, we removed the “Place of Birth” from our passports, a move that went counter to what just about every other country has been doing.
Where Canada figured in our wanton disregard for the rules is a matter in which I can cite a couple of instances off the top of my head.
1. About two years ago our government announced that, with immediate effect, no national of either Iran or Afghanistan would be allowed to participate in our CBI program. No reason was ever given but it was later discovered that pressure had been brought to bear upon us, because Canada had been noticing certain trends.
2. It was reported sometime last year that an Iranian national named Alizera Moghadam, turned up in Canada holding a St. Kitts-Nevis diplomatic passport. When asked his purpose for being there, he claimed that he was on official business for St. Kitts and Nevis and that he had a scheduled meeting with the Prime Minister of that country. Later in the encounter, he is said to have claimed that he paid $1,000,000.00 for the passport.
Our Foreign Minister, Hon. Patrice Nisbett, was forced by the public outcry over the matter, to offer an explanation in Parliament. He said in part: “… further to Cabinet's approval during its meeting on Monday 7th January 2013, Ministers having duly considered the content of a Memorandum dated January 4th 2013, approved the appointment of Mr. Alizeria Moghadam, a National of Iran who had formally acquired, following successful completion of all the necessary due diligence, citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis through the Investment Programme; as a Special Envoy to Azerbaijan and Turkey with the mandate 'to explore areas of interest to the Federation.'” His full statement may be found here: http://winnfm.com/press-releases/6395-statement-in-the-national-assembly-by-the-hon-patrice-nisbett
Note that the Memorandum he referred to was dated after the departure from the Cabinet of both Timothy Harris and Sam Condor so, neither was in a position to refute the details. I am pointing you in that direction because I am convinced that the explanation was designed around the scandal.
3. Currently fighting extradition from Panama to Canada, is one Dr. Arthur Porter who is the holder of a SKN passport and, I am told, a personal friend of our Prime Minister. He was born in Sierra Leone but became a Canadian citizen. His claim to fame is that he was to have overseen the construction of a new, $1.3 billion hospital at Montreal University’s Health Center. However, he became creative and is now wanted in that country in what has been described as “…the biggest fraud investigation in Canadian history…”. Meanwhile, he left Canada and was engaged by our government as an Honourary Consul to the Bahamas. I am told that he owns property on Nevis and is registered to vote in Constituency No. 9.
Meanwhile, elected representatives of the people of SKN, Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris and Hon. Sam Condor have had their diplomatic passports withdrawn.
The move by Canada is not quite the run-of-the-mill situation that Minister Nisbett would have us believe. There have been a number of instances in which people who hold St. Kitts and Nevis passports have either run afoul of the law or did not operate within set parameters.
It is no surprise, therefore, that we have now being asked to present visas whenever we enter Canada. As a matter of fact, as pertains in the case of the United States, you will not be able to purchase an airline ticket from any vendor in St. Kitts and Nevis unless your passport will have been duly decorated with a visa.
For every action, there is a reaction.
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
