TODAY'S EXTRACT IS FROM THE EDITORIAL OF NOVEMBER 23, 2003
Once again, there is cause for celebration of the achievement of a Jamaican son of the soil who has been elevated to a position of respect and influence in another land. The latest news of the election of Kingston-born Canadian resident Alvin Curling to be Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, thus becoming the first man of colour to attain such a position of eminence in Canada, serves to underscore the commitment to excellence which has been demonstrated by many of our people when they become adopted citizens of another country.
Mr. Curling is one of an exemplary band of Jamaican-born men and women who have not been content merely to take the opportunities for advancement offered in the setting to which they migrated, but have found a way to give back to the community and in so doing, brought prestige and honour to the two societies which can lay claim to them.
Alvin Curling's story is one of persistence and perseverance, of sustained involvement in public service given through the political system. Having migrated from Jamaica in the 1970s, he has represented the electorate in the Province of Ontario as a legislator for over 18 years, savouring victory and tasting defeat along the way, but never giving up...
Many of our people abroad still dream of coming back home to settle and thus seem to regard citizenship elsewhere as denying that dream. The fact that our Constitution allows for dual citizenship seems to escape them...
While citizenship should not be undertaken as a matter of expediency, it is to be hoped that the message will reach those of our family sojourning in Canada and elsewhere, that they can play a part in the life of their adopted community and still maintain loyalty to 'Jamaica Land We Love'...
