Dear Editor,
A Canada-West Indies conference was held in the month of July 1966 at the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa, Ontario. After two days of deliberations, a special black-tie dinner was hosted by the then Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Lester Pearson.
Delegates arrived in their sartorial best that evening. And then in came Guyana’s Prime Minister, Mr Forbes Burnham, well attired but with a multi-coloured tie. The other delegates must have wondered if he was not told that it was a black-tie event. But as Mr Burnham drew closer, it was recognized that his tie represented the colours of the flag of newly independent Guyana. And things were soon quieted and the dinner began.
Back in the early days there was a Canadian vessel, the Lady Harrison that plied the Canada-West Indies route, carrying both cargo and passengers. So at this black-tie affair Mr Burnham gave a moving after-dinner speech. It is reported that he told delegates that as a child he one day asked his mother,“ But mommy how did I come into this world?” He said that his mother stumbled, hesitated, pondered and then said, “Oh yes my son, you came in Lady Harrison. Mr Burnham then pointed out to the gathering that that is how his deep connection and love of Canada began.
A Trinidadian journalist, Mr Darryl Dean, now retired and residing in Toronto, and who covered the conference for his newspaper, The Daily Mail told me that after Mr Burnham’s speech it was very clear that Guyana seized much of the evening’s focus and attention.
I sometimes imagine the pomp and pride with which that tie was borne on Mr Burnham’s chest, and I am looking forward to seeing that tie in cloth and colour in some holding place on my next visit to Georgetown.
Happy Jubilee,
Yours faithfully,
Wayne Jones
Canada
