Some members of Toronto’s Little Jamaica community are watching what is happening in the Caribbean nation, saying the time has come for the country to cut ties with the British monarchy.
“It’s an awakening that has been brewing in our hearts a long time and luckily for us we are finding the time and courage that this must stop and it needs to stop now,” said Courtney Akinwale Kazembe, a lawyer and member of Toronto’s Jamaican community.
“(It’s a) relief. The time has come.”
Prince William and Kate Middleton are currently on a trip to Central America and the Caribbean.
The couple have visited Belize and they are currently in Jamaica, where protests have been held since their arrival. The trip, taken at the behest of William’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, is intended to strengthen the U.K.’s ties with Commonwealth countries as the Queen marks 70 years on the throne.
On Wednesday, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness spoke with the Duchess and Duke during a photo opportunity and said he wants Jamaica to be an independent country.
“There are issues here which, as you would know, are unresolved,” he said.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Queen could soon be removed as the head of state of Jamaica as local politicians plan to push ahead with turning the country into a republic by August.
Noel Phillips, Good Morning Britain‘s North American correspondent, says he’s heard rumblings that Jamaica will begin to remove their ties to the monarchy as soon as Prince William and Kate Middleton leave the island.
In a segment posted to Twitter, Phillips commented on the couple’s current Caribbean tour, saying, “the timing just doesn’t seem to be right. The people here in Jamaica, they don’t want William and Kate here.”
“They don’t have a problem with the Queen, they have a problem with the institution. They see the British monarchy as an institution that has long oppressed them and they want reparations, they also want an apology, and they feel they’ve been asking for these things for an awful long time and until now there’s been no acknowledgement of their suffering or pain.”
Kazembe said the British monarchy’s impact is being felt by Caribbean people centuries later.
“The legacy affected the Caribbean people and all Black people physically, psychologically, spiritually, emotionally in every way that you can imagine,” he said, adding that the pain caused can be acknowledged through a formal apology, reparations and separation.
“It’s not about blame anymore. It’s now a level of openheartedness that we all need to have for all humanity.”
— with files from The Associated Press and Michelle Butterfield
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