ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Jul 19, CMC – The chairman of the Grenada National Reparations Commission(GNRC), Arley Gill, is reiterating a call for the government to declare August 1as a national holiday in commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the Western Hemisphere.
Gill repeated his call as the Cultural Foundation along with St. Andrew’s Development Organisation (SADO), the Grenada Reparations Committee and several other local groups collaborate to observe historical event.
“I’ll also use that platform once again to call on the government of Grenada to declare August 1, Emancipation Day as a national holiday,” Gill told a ceremony held to launch the celebration.
Gill, who is also an attorney, said that the significance of the event can not be full appreciated if it is not observed on the that it happened in history.
“I believe that as long as we continue to behave as if Emancipation Day is not significant enough for a national holiday, we will continue to struggle to fully embed in the psychic of our people the true relevance of Emancipation Day.”
Several former British Caribbean colonies such as Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands and St. Lucia, commemorate Emancipation Day on August 1, in keeping with the date in 1834 when the Act to abolish slavery took effect.
For over four decades, the first Monday has been given as a public holiday in observance of Emancipation Day in Grenada. But over the years different activities took place on that day including a cultural festival known as Rainbow City Festival.
This year, the 2024 Emancipation commemoration is being held under the theme “In a Spirit of Emancipation, we embrace our African Identity through our cultural expressions to honour and celebrate the island’s rich African heritage”.
Activities planned to commemorate this year’s Emancipation Day include a pre-recorded panel discussion to be televised on August 1; a service on August 4th at the Holy Innocent Anglican Church; a food festival called Flavours in the Forest to be held on July 2, a Heritage Queenshow, a traditional mass parade and a Freedom Flambo March.
CMC/nb/ir/2024