Constitution Reform

Tell us at CAISO what you’re concerned about in constitutional reform: both your hopes and your fears

Download the “Working Document on Constitutional Reform for Public
Consultation” (essentially a draft of a new constitution) [PDF-802KB]
also available in print form at all local government offices, including city/borough halls

“Canadians, Australians and Indians made constitutions which they believed would last.
The new generation of constitution makers in the 1950s and 1960s were not concerned with
creating a permanent instrument for government so much as a device for securing independence
which could be altered subsequently at will. Something akin to the British model might serve its
temporary purpose in allaying fears in Britain about transferring power. But it remains to be
proved that it is appropriate for the tasks of self-government anywhere else than in Britain.”

AF Madden, “‘Not for Export’ : the Westminster Model of Government and British
Colonial Practice”, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 8 (1) 1979.

*

Government Information

Roundtable Chair Hamid Ghany’s “Changing Our Constitution” seeks to provide a background to the
T&T Constitution, constitutional “controversies”, and the elements of the “Working Document”  [PDF-2.36MB]

Prime Minister’s Speech on Laying
the “Working Document” in Parliament

Constitutional Reform Secretariat Facebook page (for some clearly stupid and
possibly unconstitutional reason, you have to request approval to become a Friend)

Parliament’s Constitutional Resources page
offers a history of Constitutional Reform

*

Critical Perspectives on Constitutional Reform and the Proposals

Constitution Reform Forum

CRF’s “Let Us Remake Our Constitution: Toward A
People’s Manifesto for Constitution Reform” [PDF 628K]

YesTT: “Power to the People” video
blogs, referendum petition, and more

Referenda & minority rights:
a CAISO member’s response

Tobago Forum for Consensus on the Constitution has a new 68-page
booklet “Proposals for Constitution Reform from a Tobago Perspective”

“The Anti-Constitution”, Congress of the People’s
response to the Working Document [PDF-360K]

Express article on “Proposed Constitutional Reform: One Step
Forward or Two Steps Backward?”, Sep. 30, UWI-SALISES

*

Newspaper Columns

Derren Joseph’s columns in the Guardian

Dennis Pantin’s columns in the Guardian

T&T Humanist [1st link]
Association columns [2nd link]
in the Express [3rd link]

*

There is no public website for the Constitutional Reform process beyond the Facebook page.
The Secretariat is housed in the Prime Minister’s Office and can be sent comments or correspondence at:
The Coordinator
Draft Constitution Secretariat
Office of the Prime Minister
13-15 St. Clair Avenue, St. Clair
Port of Spain

Their e-mail address is:
constitutionreformsecretariat@gmail.com

[essentially a draft constitution]