GRENED staff with panelists of the Reparations event

GRENED’s Executive Director Dessima Williams and Administrative Officer Dilma Wickham hosted members of a panel on emancipation, reparations and the SDGs. Panelists were Ambassadors Arley Gill and Kennedy Roberts and reparations advocate Laura Trevelyan. The session was held in Grenville at the Deluxe cinema for secondary school children on Wednesday September 6th and moderated by retired educator Maria Viechweg. We had in attendance students from the Grenville Secondary School (GSS), the St.Andrew Anglican Secondary School (SAASS), St.Joseph Convent Grenville (SJC), teachers, and members of the public. The first speaker Ambassador Arley Gill, chairman on the National Reparations Commission spoke on the history of Grenada and why it is important for the Europeans to pay reparations and apologize for their ancestors role in slavery. Our second panelist Laura Trevelyan, a reparations advocate whose ancestors owned numerous slaves and plantation in Grenada, apologizes for their role in slavery and paid reparations in which allocations were made for education in Grenada. The final speaker Ambassador Kennedy Roberts presented to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), what they are, and how we can work together to achieve these goals. After each panelist contributed to the topic of reparations, the event concluded with questions that were asked by the audience which included the students, teachers and members of the general public.