Good morning,
I wish to first acknowledge my ministerial colleagues here today and especially Hon. Kim Wilson, Minister of Health and the Hon. Zane Desilva, Minister of Housing and Municipalities who will provide presentations on the pillars of Healthcare and Housing. I thank the entire cabinet for their support and mutual commitment to the Ministry's quest to provide affordable solutions.
Welcome to each and everyone of you, and especially those who have tuned in virtually, welcome to the Bermuda Cost of a living Summit. THANK YOU for being here.
I welcome you, formally as your Minister of Home Affairs, and fundamentally as a fellow Bermudian. A Bermudian who seeks to serve and partner in the promise that things can, and must, get better.
Know that the decision to host this summit, at this time, so soon after being given our mandate - in February - was a thoughtful one. We accepted that there was a clear call for immediate action.
I invite you to attend this cost of living summit not just as passive attendees.. But I invite your creativity and engagement as we refine our solutions.
The cost of living in Bermuda has become a constant talking point and has become a weight that many can no longer not carry. This summit is organised for you. Those who are unclear, feel unheard, unseen and underserved.
Know that this Summit was intentionally curated with a diversity of voices to provide clarity, confirm that we are listening, acknowledge your experiences and commit to serve your interests differently.
As I look into this room filled with a cross-section of our village, the third sector, seniors, doctors, lawyers, youth, business owners, parliamentarians, senators, public officers and students thank you for joining the journey.
The journey to this moment began months ago, and in truth, years before that.
We build on the work of the fiscal responsibility panel, and the Bermuda Industrial Union’s cost of living reports. I wish to also at this time acknowledge summer student Matthew Elliot and my former colleague Jordan Scott Furtado who supported the early research for this summit.
And so… we embark upon this journey armed with a collection of data and insights that contextualize the lived experiences and business perspectives that often are presented in isolation.
This summit seeks to evidence how a community, bruised by costs and worn thin by survival, Decided not to wait for change, but to become it.
In February 2025, when this Government was given its mandate, the Ministry of Home Affairs was tasked with challenging the status quo. We were handed a mandate that was laced with varying experiences and perspectives about the government's decisions, missteps and core mission related to living and the associated costs.
The 2025 Throne Speech included the added confirmation that the Ministry would take up a threefold mandate one that we have simplified:
● To Enhance affordability,
● Strengthen consumer protection, and
● Promote sustainability.
I was told not to host this summit. Told that it would not be possible. Told that egos would eclipse empathy. That self-preservation would win the day.
Criticised by the location and a litany of distractions from the core goal of collective progress.
But I believe in the possible, and believe that each of you, each business, each resident, and each stakeholder can turn our challenges into solutions.
Today I invite your grace, as unlike other mandates and ministry structures, the Ministry of Home Affairs does not have a Department of Cost of Living nor are we accustomed to conference management.
But what we know is that we must do things differently to get different results. We also know that it is important to understand the complexity of this challenge And so, we have stretched ourselves beyond all former responsibilities and committed to getting you all, key stakeholders, together in a room.
This Ministry is determined to deliver. It is our hope that you will leave feeling equally charged with determination.
We have devised a data-informed, stakeholder-driven, strategic framework for engagement …with the community, the third sector and business stakeholders.
This framework includes deliberate actions to move from the missteps of the past and from describing the problem… to design solutions. In support of our mission:
● In March we began by launching the 2025 Cost of Living Survey, capturing responses from residents and businesses alike. ● In April and May conducted Focus groups with private sector employers and nonprofits. ● One-on-one consultations with those who know the inner workings of our various sectors. ● and we sought to understand the lived experiences of ordinary residents ● Today, here in June we are pleased to see the fruits of those efforts.
We have been intentional about having purposeful dialogue with business leaders to both understand and present a forum to collaborate.
WHAT we have heard is not new or surprising; but what we decided — is that action is the only option. So this Summit — today — is the representation of action.
We invite you on the journey of collaborarion:
● To better understand the data ● To better understand the lived experiences ● To be better equipped with the information needed to form your opinions ● To be challenged to review how we operate in our community; ● To join us in refining the solutions ● and accept that we must evolve from the way things have always been.
We are no longer asking whether we should address the cost of living….we are asking what must be done to advance affordability? And who will join us in this effort?
It is a moral summons to right the imbalance between what is lived and what is possible.
We must right this imbalance because we have heard what you have told us:
A single mother of four small- children shared, "I pay my rent, then I pray for a miracle to feed my children. Miracles shouldn’t be a survival strategy."
A senior who has said, “The Government is allowing businesses to take from us, knowing we have nothing more to give”
A small business owner stated, “As a business, our costs are never considered, we have become the Government’s scapegoat”
These are the real stories from our people. Therefore So we have an obligation to be here. We must forge a better and more affordable way forward for this mother, this senior, this small business owner and For so many more Bermudians just like them.
I am gratified that we are not on this journey alone.
I wish to especially thank the group of industry professionals who have graciously volunteered their time to ensure today struck the right balance.
A huge thank you to Mr. Malcolm Butterfield, Mr. Neville Grant, Mrs. Lydia Dickens, Ministry special advisor Mrs. Latoya Smith, Permanent Secretary Mrs. Pandora Glasford, public officers Shavonna Simpson, Ian Cameron.…our summer students who greeted you upon arrival this morning, and the Government’s Communications Team.
We are not here to rehearse problems. But to reveal the possibility.
This summit is a bold invitation:
To abandon the worlds and perspectives that divide us, and build on what binds us.
To own our contributions to our challenges and be guided by belief.
And so, I invite you to gather your tools of participation and come and build with us.
So today, I ask that you: ● Be present and engaged in the dialogue ● Refrain from the desire to point to another entity to determine a solution, because ‘we are the ones we’ve been waiting for’
There is a Commitment Wall in the back of this room.
As you listen and engage throughout this day, how you can assist, no matter how big or small...
From each of the various sectors you represent:
The business owner reviewing you operations
Teachers who are tasked with empowering our students to be sustainable.
The lawyers who support business and the community.
The consumer who makes a decision about what type of goods they believe to be essential.
I invite you to add your name, as a visual representation of your commitment to Bermuda’s solution.
No government, no ministry, no stakeholder can do this alone. This summit represents an intervention focused on collaboration.
And when you leave this room, leave with that commitment. Because that is the moment where policy meets purpose and possibility.
I thank Ms. McKenzie Khol, Tuckett and Shamori Talbot Woolridge, our AM and PM masters of ceremony and the moderators and panelist who have volunteered to guide today's conversations.
And, I thank the cost of living commission who will receive the cost of living strategy implementing the next steps. And I thank each of you for showing up and for your commitment to listen and engage.
At the close of this summit, I look forward to returning to sharing some of the successes that the Ministry has already made toward affordability. Those successes coupled with today’s insights provide me with hope for the road ahead.
What I know for sure, is that the solutions we seek are within reach, and I invite you to JOIN IN.. as the architects OF SOLUTIONS for a MORE AFFORDABLE BERMUDA.
Now, Let’s begin.