HOW THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF ARIMA LOST THEIR LANDS: NOTES FROM PRIMARY AND OTHER HISTORICAL SOURCES, 1802-1880

摘要

This is a summary of a Report prepared at the request of the Santa Rosa Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad. It was done at the request of Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, President of the Santa Rosa Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad; but this report is based on my own historical research into the background of the Mission of Arima. Much of this information surprised me as I began to encounter it during my work. Apparently, at no time, and not under the law, was the actual Mission of Arima ever formally dissolved by the Roman Catholic Church, nor were the lands of the Mission ever formally or legally yielded to other proprietors. The dissolution of the "Indian Mission of Santa Rosa de Arima" was a de facto occurrence, and not one that was de jure. For the members of today's First Nation Peoples' Community, I imagine that it was thus very encouraging to hear Joanne Yuille Williams, Minister for Community Development, express the desire to "make reparations for all that this Community has lost", in a speech at the "Santa Rosa Carib Centre" on Wednesday, 28 August 2002, for the launch of the new First Nations Resource Centre.