ARNOLD PIGGOTT, Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to Canada, said yesterday there is no evidence to show that nationals of TT are fleeing to this country because of the upsurge in criminal activity back home.
“There is no evidence of that,” Piggott stated as he prepared to host 200 nationals last night for Indian Arrival Day.
Speaking to Sunday Newsday at the Commission’s spacious offices in Ottawa, Piggott dispelled rumours that TT nationals had been fleeing to Canada because of the increase in murders, kidnappings, robberies and other crimes in Trinidad.
Admitting he did not have the statistics, Piggott was certain that the increase in applications to the Canadian High Commission in Port-of-Spain was normal for this time of the year.
“It is a normal thing around this time. Many people come here every year to spend the summer period with relatives. There are many applications for visas in Port-of-Spain, as a lot of people come around Caribana time. There are several people applying for visas there, they are not applying for resident status to flee the country. One has to be careful in saying and believing that Trinidadians are fleeing the country because the crime situation.”
Piggott admitted that the crime situation back in Trinidad was a major issue for nationals living here. He added: “At every event that I host or am hosting, I address the issue of crime in Trinidad and Tobago. I make the point that the issue of crime was not isolated to Trinidad, it is a worldwide phenomenon. It is here in Canada, in every province and city, there is crime.
“I tell nationals of the initiatives that the Government are taking, legislatively and otherwise, the bills which were passed in Trinidad, the establishment of the 555 system for reporting crimes, the new radar system, and the airplanes used to monitor the country.”
He continued: “They get a better appreciation. When you are far away from home and you get a report from Trinidad, either by phone, by the internet or by the newspapers, the nationals here interpret that in a more dramatic way than on the ground in Trinidad.”
Piggott, who presented his credentials to the Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, on March 15, 2003, said that apart from the crime situation, nationals were also concerned about health care, housing, and the road development project in Trinidad and Tobago.
“But do you know it is easier in Trinidad to obtain health care than here in Canada?” the former minister of works asked. “It takes a while in Canada to see a specialist, but in Trinidad, you can see one in a short space of time.”
During the interview, Piggott defended the role of Ambassadors and High Commissioners.
He added: “There is a lot of misconception and misinformation about the role of High Commissioners and Ambassadors at foreign diplomatic missions. There has been an old view that Ambassadors go out to posts and have a very good time. They get great houses, they go to cocktail receptions, generally, they spend time socially.”
Piggott related: “Too many people have been saying for too long that they view the role of a High Commissioner as a sweet job, that they do nothing. They just go out there, enjoy themselves, have a good time, eat drink and be merry, and that is all they do. This High Commissioner has done much more substantially than that. My record will show what I have done for the past three years.”
Piggott said he has been doing a lot to increase awareness that a country such as Trinidad and Tobago exists. He just sent down a 17-member trade and investment mission from Halifax to Trinidad. He has since received a response from the mission whose members reported that they had a good time and good investment opportunities from the visit.
Piggott said the qualification of the Soca Warriors to next month’s World Cup finals in Germany will prove a positive thing for the country.
“I can tell you that after the World Cup, nearly everyone in the world will know this country, Trinidad and Tobago,” he added.
