Chanting their ancestral songs and donned in traditional Amerindian wear, scores of this country’s First Peoples marched through the streets of Port-of-Spain on Wednesday, calling on Government to give them permission to perform the last tites of their dead and to declare a public holiday in recognition of them.
Wednesday also marked the annual day of recognition of the First Peoples and the beginning of a week of activities.
Human remains of T&T’s First Peoples were discovered at the Red House during refurbishment works a few years ago.
Santa Rosa First Peoples' Community Chief, Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, who led the procession said despite pleas and promises by successive governments nothing had materialised.
Assembling along the pavement at the back of the Red House building on Abercromby Street, they performed various rituals before making their way to Frederick Street and finally at the Brian Lara Promenade.
During this time traffic came to a crawl in the city as pedestrians also lined the streets to take photos on their cellphones of the colourful spectacle.
Saying the area where the bones were discovered was once a village of the First Peoples Hernandez said the rituals were done to pay respect to the ancestors.
Regarding requests to have the land on which the Red House sits designated as a heritage site Hernandez said: “The First Peoples have petitioned both orally and in writing of the things we would like to see, including the reburial for the human remains of our ancestors with the appropriate ceremony right on the same spot.”
He said they also requested a monument be erected on the site in recognition of those who inhabited that place many years ago.
“We have also asked that within the renovation of the building that a space be set aside as an information area and these are the humble requests we have made and we have yet to hear from the government their position,” Hernandez said, adding that such requests were made when the PP administration was in power.
He said there were oral promises by the current Government that the requests would be fulfilled but the group wanted that in writing.
“We don’t see this as an official position because anybody could come after and say anything. We want some official correspondence saying that the requests made would be adhered. We have heard no official response from them,” Hernandez said.
He said if the requests were not recognised then the group would be very disappointed, especially since this country was a signatory to the UN's declaration on the rights of indigenous people.
He said despite a lot of effort, both financial and human, to preserve the heritage and calling for a public holiday, the First Peoples were “going against a very strong wave.
“It is not for leisure or liming but it is the recognition that comes with the request. We were told it was going to Cabinet for deliberation. I don't know where it is.
“The other major ethnicities have permanent holidays. We are not asking for a permanent one but a one-off one,” Hernandez said.
He said he was still thankful that the First Peoples were still receiving a subvention from the State despite the tough economic times.