– seven more Amerindian communities received land titles yesterday
TOSHAOS from around the country are returning to their communities with the news of projects that are likely to receive funding come first quarter 2011 when the disbursements by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) begins.
Yesterday marked the end of the conference, which saw high levels of interaction between Government and indigenous peoples.
“The sessions that we have had with the President were open sessions. At no point did we feel that we were not permitted to speak freely and those are some of the things we value. We can carry a good message of some of the things that happened in the past couple of days,” said Chairperson of the NTC Yvonne Pearson.
Vice-Chairman of the NTC, Michael Williams, of Region Nine said: “We go home proud and to carry the message of the new pathway and the community development plan. It is a new path for us.”
Derrick John, a toshao of Region Five spoke of the interaction with the Ministers of Government and President Bharrat Jagdeo, who spent all of Wednesday and Thursday at the meeting.
He said that they have achieved “a great deal” and that there were positive results. We are being assured by the Government that a lot of the plans in the pipeline will become a reality. There will be a lot of positive changes in our economies at the first quarter of 2011.
Another of the village leaders present at the press conference said that he and the other toshaos have gained a lot from the interactions over the past week. He noted that many of them now are clearer of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and he is very happy about this. He said that every toshao is going back with a good message for their people.
Pearson said: “We had a lot of discussions around land rights, demarcation and issuing of title. Coming out of the conference, we have a resolution on the full support of the LCDS and of REDD plus (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation, Forest Degradation and conservation of standing forests). The Amerindian peoples of Guyana are in full support of the Government strategy,” she said.
She said that of the 171  toshaos and senior council members who attended the meeting, only five of them decided not to sign or support the resolution made by the NTC to support the LCDS and REDD plus. “We respect their rights not to support the resolution,” Pearson said.
“We would like for the public to stop looking at the Amerindian peoples as peoples who only have issues and who only complaining. We are part of the decision making and policy making process and we are a people who wish to be seen as strong, ready and willing to make a contribution to the development of the country,” she said. Pearson noted that as indigenous people, they have rights and the Government has recognised this.
“Yes some of our people have issues but things are changing and we have to have an open mind,” she charged. “We cannot allow a little thing to continue to hinder us, that is not the way to go…Guyana is a democratic country,” she said.
“We want the public to know that the majority of the toshaos who attended the conference support the Government’s initiative,” she added.
Pearson said that out of the conference, the toshaos were able to discuss the community development plans which will be funded by the Norway funds. “This is important for our communities. We can go back and say what are some of the projects that have been approved,” she said, adding that the projects “will allow us to create jobs in the communities.”
In addition to the ten communities which received their titles on the first day of the NTC meeting, seven more received titles to their land at yesterday’s closing engagement. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Mr. Colin Croal said that this leaves just seven more communities for which titles are to be issued.

QUOTE: “The sessions that we have had with the President were open sessions. At no point did we feel that we were not permitted to speak freely and those are some of the things we value. We can carry a good message of some of the things that happened in the past couple of days.” –  Chairperson of the NTC, Yvonne Pearson