Community centre on ancient burial ground?

Originally published in the Daily Express,

by Kimoy Leon Sing,
June 14, 2019

Community centre: The newly opened San Fernando North Community Centre.

Flickering lights and power failure marked the official opening of the San Fernando North Community Centre on Wednesday.

Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and mayor of San Fernando Junia Regrello were at the site to open the multi-storey facility, which has had several unexplained occurrences since 2009.

It was reported during the initial phase of construction that these incidences were believed to be the work of spirits.

Some of these unexplained occurrences included falling tools and various accidents, after members of Amerindian tribes visited the site in 2009, claiming it as a First Peoples burial ground.

However, these claims were never confirmed.

According to Gadsby-Dolly, the centre sits on one acre of land along St Vincent Street, San Fernando and has taken 11 years to build to the tune of $16.8 million.

The multi-million dollar facility is a four-storey structure which consists of an auditorium with a capacity to hold 275 people along with changing rooms and washrooms, all located on the top two floors of the facility.

On the ground floor, the centre is comprised of an audio-visual room, computer room, a gymnasium, administrative office, kitchen, and multipurpose room.

There is parking in the basement and outside the building. There is also an elevator and ramps for the differently abled.

Speaking to media following the unveiling of the commemorative plaque and ribbon cutting ceremony, Gadsby-Dolly chuckled when asked about the supernatural occurrences at the centre.

She said, the country is steeped in folklore, but the flickering lights and power failure at the start of the opening ceremony was not any foreboding of evil and doom, but there was a reasonable explanation.

“We are a country rich in folklore and heritage and that’s good too. Burial sites are revered by T&T’s first people and were happy to have done the right kind of ceremony, which had the blessings of the Amerindian descendants,” she said.

“We feel that we are honoured to be on this site. We feel that it is a good addition to the foundation and it means that the whole centre is steeped in the good values of our ancestors and we look forward to that continuing,” Gadsby-Dolly said.

She noted with the change of government in 2010, work at the center halted, but with PNM returning to office in 2015, work at the center resumed in 2017.

At the opening ceremony, residents of Spring Vale, San Fernando, and environs said the center was a great addition to the community.

Regrello said the centre will now be used for various events and outreach programmes spanning education campaigns, health activities, and many cultural items.

It will also act as a safe haven and be a central pillar in the community, he said.

“These activities are simply some of the everyday initiatives that community centres such as this can host. However, one of the most critical factors that we all must pay heed is ensuring that all those who utilise this facility take responsibility for it. Treat it as your own. The long-term sustainability of this building, as well as many of the other upcoming projects in San Fernando, hinge on our citizens accepting responsibility for the general upkeep of these buildings,” he said.

Project manager of UDeCOTT, Terrence Beepath attributed the flickering lights and loss of power during the opening ceremony as power failure.

He said, “UDeCOTT is going to be here one year after, on this project to improve all aspects.”

Red House upgrade to be completed by 2016.

Red House upgrade to be completed by 2016.
By TAUREEF MOHAMMED | Triniad & Tobago Guardian Online | Monday, July 15, 2013.

The expected completion date for restoration works on the Red House has been pushed back to January 2016, the Urban Development Company of T&T (Udecott) has stated. In February, based on information from Udecott, the T&T Guardian reported that the restoration project would be completed by the first quarter of 2015. The project was initially expected to be completed by December 2014, the T&T Guardian report stated.

According to Udecott, the discovery of human bones and project management issues caused delays. In April, the human bones, which date between 430 AD and 1390 AD, were discovered during excavation work on the building located on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain. “Work has slowed considerably due to the recent discovery of the bones. We had to pause because the area is critical to people in T&T,” a source from Udecott said.

At present, an archaeological team is working in the area where the bones were discovered, while work in the surrounding areas continues, the source said. Describing the work being done on the iconic building as “preliminary,” the Udecott source said the “real” restoration work hasn’t started. The Udecott official said designs are currently being formulated by a historical architect.

After the designs are completed tenders for the restoration work would go out, the source said. According to an e-mail from Udecott, work under Udecott’s tenure began in 2005 and has cost the company $84,180,037.04 so far. Restoration works on the “home of the Parliament” started under the National Insurance Property Development Company (Nipdec) more than ten years ago, according to newspaper reports.

In 2011, the People’s Partnership Government announced that taxpayers had spent $200 million over an eight-year period on the restoration of the historic building. Based on information on Nipdec’s Web site, the “full-scale” restoration was expected to cost $100 million over a five-year period. In October 2011, the Parliament moved to the International Waterfront Centre on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, to clear the way for restoration work.

Preliminary works done on the building include construction of an underground plant room at the western side of the compound, construction of a temporary roof above the South Chamber and the South Link, dilapidation surveys, demolition of modern-era construction elements, asbestos removal and excavation of the foundation.

Restoration Update

• Stollmeyer’s Castle: expected completion—December 2013; 90 per cent complete

• Whitehall: scope of works being developed

• President’s House: expected completion—2015; preliminary work to start in August

• Red House: expected completion—January 2016; preliminary work ongoing.'

MORE INFO

Although work has recently slowed, the restoration of Stollmeyer’s Castle is expected be completed by December of this year. The building is one of the Magnificent Seven and is located at Queen’s Park Savannah West, Port-of-Spain. According to an e-mail from Udecott, restoration work began in January 2008 and is now 90 per cent complete. In an interview, a source from Udecott said work on the building has slowed because the company was awaiting funding from the Office of the Prime Minister.

“The funding is expected any time now. Once we receive that funding, work should be completed within three months,” the source said. The contractor is doing remedial work which involves correcting minor defects in and around the building, the source said. The historic building, originally called Killarney, was initially earmarked to be used as a “protocol house” for visiting dignitaries.

However, according to the source, the use of the historic building has not been finalised, but the Office of the President has expressed interest in it. The Udecott source said the scope of works for Whitehall is still being developed and restoration work has not started.

“Once the scope of works is finalised, a budget will be determined and then the project will go out for tender.”

Meanwhile, restoration work on President’s House, which falls under the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, is expected to be completed in the latter part of 2015, according to Zanim Ali, director of construction at the ministry. Asked if any work has been done on the building located on Circular Road, St Ann’s, he said: “No work has been done except for a temporary roof over the collapsed part.”

Ali said he is “hoping” that preliminary work, which involves building a temporary roof over the structure, would begin in August. The tendering process for the complete restoration, he said, would begin in November. According to a T&T Guardian report in March, Ali said work was earmarked to begin in May. Ali said the layout of the President’s House has been finalised but needs to be validated by President Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona.

The initial design of the restored building, which was completed in 2007, had to be changed due to the collapse of part of the building in May 2010, he said. The designs are now being finalised, he added.

Office of the President

Stollmeyer’s Castle and Whitehall have been earmarked by the Cabinet and President Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona as prospective locations for the Office of the President. In a telephone interview, Napier Tillai, executive director to the President, said Cabinet has been in discussions with the President on the issue of the location of the Office of the President.

“Two possible locations came up—Stollmeyer’s Castle and Whitehall—but no decision has been made and discussions are still ongoing.” At present, Tillai said, the Office of the President is located at Circular Road, St Ann’s. In March, Minister of Housing, Land and Marine Affairs, Dr Roodal Moonilal, described Whitehall as a good facility for the Office of the President.

First People wants Govt to relocate Parliament.

First People wants Govt to relocate Parliament.
By COREY CONNELLY | Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday Sunday, July 14 2013

Carib Queen Jennifer Cassar, second from left, and President of the Santa Rosa First Peoples' Indigenous Community, Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez, second from right, along with other members of the First People descendants, leave the Red House in Port-of-Spain, after performing a Purablaka ceremony to 'appease' the spirits of their ancestors, yesterday.
Author: ROGER JACOB

Members of the Santa Rosa First Peoples’ Indigenous Community have asked the Government to consider relocating the seat of Parliament in Port-of-Spain as a mark of reverence to the remains of their ancestral spirits, says Carib Chief Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez.

However, he said if this is not possible, some attempt should be made during the current re- construction exercise to preserve the remains of the First People’s ancestors, at the site of the Red House, for descendants as well as members of the international community.

Bharath-Hernandez expressed hope that the Red House could further be developed as a heritage site “for the remains that are found there.

“The bones must be dealt with in a special way,” he said.

Bharath-Hernandez was among a group of First Peoples’ descendants who performed what he called a “Purablaka” spiritual ceremony at the Red House, yesterday, “in the name of the departed.”

He said the one-hour long ceremony marked the first phase of a two-part ritual, which is expected to be performed “more extensively” by a Shaman of High Priest of the community in October.

Bharath-Hernandez said the person is likely to be sourced from the mainlands of Venezuela or Suriname.

Acknowledging that the Government has been more sensitive to matters involving the indigenous peoples, the Carib Chief said, however, that the process of drawing greater national attention to their plight was “going slowly.”

“It is not going at a pace we would like and deserve some more meaningful attention,” he said.

Bharath-Hernandez said the Government has already given the First Peoples’ a 25-acre plot of land, along the Blanchisseuse Road, Arima, for the development of an indigenous Amerindian village.

Saying that the land was being surveyed, Bharath-Hernandez said issues relating to comprehensive development plan and cost of the project, still needed to be addressed.

“We do not want handouts from the Government,” he said.

“What we want is an industry so that the people can benefit from it. Not a little bit here and there.”

When completed, Bharath-Hernandez said, the village will contain a cassava and craft factories. Tours are also expected to be conducted at the site.

“All activities will be geared towards sustainable development,” he added.

Asked about the response of the community’s descendants to the First People’s, Bharath- Hernandez said: “It is not as solid as we would like it to be, but once they have something they could identify (Amerindian village) we expect that we would get returns. People feel more empowered when they can identify with something.”

First Peoples group may take Red House case to UN.

First Peoples group may take Red House case to UN.
By JULIEN NEAVES | Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday | Saturday, July 13 2013

LOCAL indigenous peoples group “Partners for First Peoples” says if Government does not agree to make the Red House a national historical site, they will take their case to the United Nations.

“Here is a Government that is taking a sacred site, and depriving the first peoples of their claim to it,” said one of the group leaders, Roger Belix.

First Peoples groups believe that skeletal remains, cultural and historical artifacts unearthed on March 26 last during excavation work at the Red House, which is to undergo restoration works, were that of their ancestors.

At a press conference on Tuesday the various groups called on Government to turn the Red House into a national historical site, and consider the permanent removal of Parliament, which has been housed temporarily at the International Waterfront Centre, since October, 2011.

Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration, Clifton De Coteau, had described the request as “a very tall order”, but reported that he would meet next week with Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa First People’s Indigenous Community.

Yesterday Belix noted that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was “quite clear on burial sites of indigenous peoples that they should be protected and returned.”

Partners for First Peoples was one of the groups that had been engaging with the Red House Cultural Heritage Team, a Cabinet-appointed committee to manage aspects of the historical find.

Meantime, members of the Santa Rosa First People’s Indigenous Community plan to perform today, a spiritual ritual at the Red House in Port-of-Spain to “appease the spirits” of bones disturbed during works at the Red House site.

SMOKE OUT TO GIVE SPIRITS PEACE.

SMOKE OUT TO GIVE SPIRITS PEACE.
By JULIEN NEAVES | Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday | Friday, July 12 2013

MEMBERS of the Santa Rosa First People’s Indigenous Community will be performing a spiritual ritual tomorrow at the Red House in Port-of-Spain to “appease the spirits” of bones disturbed during works at the site, Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez disclosed yesterday.

He explained it is the belief of the indigenous peoples that when bones are disturbed, a special ritual has to be performed “to give peace to the spirit of those killed there”.

About seven people, including himself, will participate in the simple ceremony which will involve smoke as a medium of prayer and will take place at about 2 pm. They will also sanctify the site as a sacred burial area.

In October, they plan to hold an all-night ceremony called a “Purablaka”, similar to a wake. It will start from 6 pm with the ceremonial painting of people, go through various phases with different music, prayers and chants, and end the next morning with a procession around the building and a visit to a river or the sea for ritual baths and cleansing. About 30 or 40 people are expected to participate in that ceremony, Hernandez reported in a telephone interview with Newsday.

He said approval for tomorrow’s ceremony was given by officials of the House Cultural Heritage Team, a Cabinet-appointed committee to manage aspects of the historical find.

On March 26, a number of skeletal remains, cultural and historical artifacts were discovered during initial excavation work as part of the restoration of the Red House. The bones date from 430 AD to 1390 AD. The First People believe the remains and artifacts are from their ancestors.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the community called on Government to turn the Red House into a national historical site and consider the permanent removal of Parliament, which has been housed temporarily at the International Waterfront Centre since October 2011.

Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration, Clifton De Coteau, described the request as “a very tall order”. Speaking with the Newsday, in a brief telephone interview, he noted the Red House is a heritage site for many reasons, including that it is the Parliament building.

“And there is a lot of history on that site where the building is situated,” he added. On possibly converting it to a national historical site, De Coteau explained that because the site is on the parliamentary property, the Red House Cultural Heritage Team will assume responsibility for it. Heritage sites fall under his ministry while the buildings are under the purview of the restoration unit of the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.

“So that we’ll all have to talk but first of all, I’ll have to talk to Chief Bharath,” he said.

He planned to meet with the Chief of the First People some time next week. Hernandez reported yesterday the community has sent a formal letter to the Red House Cultural Heritage Team, chaired by House Speaker Wade Mark, with the suggestion about the Red House. They have received an acknowledgment and the assurance of a reply. Questioned whether he believed Government would convert the Red House to a national historical site Hernandez replied, “I would want to believe so. I see no reason why it shouldn’t be. Not 100 percent sure of (the) position of those in authority. But we will do all in our power to see that it is made as such.”

Mark yesterday told Newsday he had not received the correspondence, adding he had only recently returned from “another place” — serving as Acting President in the absence of President Anthony Carmona. He noted the request would be reviewed by the committee and at the appropriate time a statement issued.

CARIB COMMUNITY CONCERNS.

CARIB COMMUNITY CONCERNS.
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Jul 9, 2013 at 10:47 PM ECT

A conflict between science and culture.

The discovery of Amerindian remains at the Red House has triggered the formulation of a special team of archaeologists and experts.

The indigenous community that's laying claim to the dead is concerned their traditions may be sidelined in the process.

Archeological survey of T&T. Bones beneath Red House, heritage consultant calls for...

Archeological survey of T&T. Bones beneath Red House, heritage consultant calls for...
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Apr 25, 2013 at 10:01 PM ECT

IT’S time to stop paying lip service to First Nation people and move to protect this country’s history, heritage consultant Dr Kris Rampersad has said in the wake of the discovery of a set of bones beneath the Red House in Port of Spain.

Two weeks ago, skeletal remains were found beneath the Parliament Building. The remains were accompanied by artefacts, such as pottery pieces, typical of the indigenous peoples.

In her Internet blog, Demokrissy, Rampersad referred to the need for a comprehensive archeological survey of Trinidad and Tobago.

“This also has value to the region and the world,” said Rampersad, who has been conducting training across the Caribbean in available mechanisms for safeguarding its heritage.

“We have for too long paid only lip service to our multiculturalism.

“The find under the Red House of bones potentially dating to the beginning of this epoch points to the significant need for a proper survey and actions to secure and protect zones that are of significant historical and prehistoric importance.”

Commenting on another famed--but neglected--historical site, Rampersad noted the neglect of the Banwari site in San Francique, south Trinidad.

The Banwari Site was the home of the Banwari man, a 7,000-year-old inhabitant and one of the most significant and well-known archeological treasures of the region.

Discovered some 40 years ago, little has been done to preserve and promote the site.

At a recent workshop, the potential of T&T’s heritage assets as UNESCO World Heritage sites were discussed, Rampersad said.

However, there was concern among Caribbean colleagues that this country was yet to move to effecting the research, legislation and other actions necessary to pin the sites as being of value.

Rampersad said Trinidad’s entire south-west peninsula was a key entry point in the migration of prehistoric peoples.

“So much of the history of the region is still unknown and so much of the accepted theories are being challenged,” Rampersad said.

Bones in the Red House. Restoration works reveal eerie find...

Bones in the Red House. Restoration works reveal eerie find...
Trinidad Express Newspapers | Apr 9, 2013 at 9:15 PM ECT

HUMAN REMAINS?: A display of some of the bones and artefacts 

discovered during restoration works at the Red House in Port of Spain last week.

Ongoing restoration work at the Red House, Port of Spain may have to be suspended pending an official report on the discovery of bones and artefacts found in the foundations of the building, a UDeCOTT source has said.

One week ago a number of bones and Amerindian artefacts were found at a depth of seven feet in two foundation pits at the building. The Express learned that Dr Valery Alexandrov of the Forensic Science Centre has confirmed that the bones are similar to human bones, but he was not in a position to confirm whether they were Amerindian or otherwise.

Arrangements are being made to send the bones to France for further analysis. Some of the bones found resembled jaw bones with teeth, as well as bones in the lower region of the human body.

Meanwhile archaeologist Peter Harris has confirmed that the receptacles found in the pits are similar to those used by the Amerindian. Further investigations as to the origin are also under way by a team from the University of Trinidad and Tobago.

In order to carry out the necessary restoration work on the Red House, the Parliament building had to be moved to Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain while work is in progress.

The existing building is the second to be erected on the same spot. The first was in 1844 and the second in 1907.

The Express learnt that during construction in 1844 land fill from nearby Laventille was used in the foundation. “That is the first lead we have concerning the discovery,” said a source.

History of renovations

In 2011, the People’s Partnership Government announced that taxpayers had spent over $200 million over an eight-year period on the restoration of the historic building. During that period the project was managed by the National Insurance Property Development Company (Nipdec).

In 2012, Government announced that it would have to spend an additional $200 million to complete the restoration, bringing the figure to half a billion when work is completed in 2015. Ad-hoc renovations over the years had led to a number of problems which included modifications of the original design, leaking roofs, insect infestation and deterioration of the original structure.

The restoration led to Parliament being relocated from the historic location at the heart of the city to Tower D, International Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain in September 2011.