A delegation of six nationals of St Martin has expressed the hope that the authorities in Anguilla would consider allowing the indigenous people of that French territory to travel to this island on ID Cards as proof of their bloodline.
The request was made on Tuesday this week when the six-member delegation, led by Leopold James, met with Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes.
Mr James, along with the other delegation members, the majority of whom have close family connections in Anguilla, stressed that the inhabitants of St Martin and Anguilla were one people with a common history and culture, as well as the status of Overseas Territories.
Mr James said that as a people, St Martiners had come to realise that they must develop their own norms, values, culture and identity so that they could survive. “We realise it was very important for us to move on, at a given moment, to define ourselves as a people in terms of our culture identity and we have done that,” he stated. “We are going through a process of many years, and we came to realise that thisprocess had to be followed by us coming out with a symbol that would identify us as a people; and we came up with the idea of the ID Card.
“The ID Card defines those people that are owners of the ID Card as indigenous St Martiners. The card is only given out to people who can prove their bloodline. It is also given out occasionally to people of non-St Martin heritage that live on St Martin but who we consider to be of very great added value to us as a people.
“We have come to Anguilla to promote that ID Card so that eventually the holders can be seen by Anguillian authorities as real St Martiners. That would make it easier for the authorities in Anguilla to treat them according to our historical relationship because, for too long, the Anguilla Government has been struggling with knowing who it is dealing with coming from across the channel. That is not a healthy situation so we want to reclaim our identity to bring more clarity to our relationship with the Government and people of Anguilla.”
In welcoming the delegation to Anguilla, and commenting on their request, Chief Minister Hughes said in part: “As far as I am concerned, I have always been opposed to the idea that we scrutinise the St Martiner with immigration cards at the ports of entry. I have asked please, when genuine St Martiners are coming here let them go in the same line as Anguillians…
“What I am saying is that we have to promote this, and this is a historic day in Anguilla. I will be speaking to the people on the Dutch side as well [in St Maarten], and we all have to come together and stay together as one people. Rest assured that I will promote this idea with CARICOM and the OECS because Guadeloupe and Martinique now want to become associate members of CARICOM.”
Meanwhile, Mr Haydn Hughes, Anguilla’s Parliamentary Secretary, pointed out that in dealing with the request of the St Martin delegation, the matter would have to be referred to Executive Council.
The St Martin delegation in addition to Leopold James, comprised Albert (Jessie) Adams, Horace Whit, Freddy Richardson, Nadika Stephen and Jean Louis Rey.
