As a mother and longtime advocate for young people in foster care, I’ve seen how essential a sense of belonging truly is. Now, as Junior Minister for Home Affairs, that understanding guides me as Bermuda begins its national conversation about our relationship with the Caribbean Community.

Bermuda’s story is largely a Caribbean story. It is written into our parish registers, our family names, our foodways, and the rhythms of our Gombey tradition. For more than three centuries, Bermudian vessels sailed the Caribbean Sea. Our sailors worked the salt pans of the Turks Islands. Our shipwrights built the fastest sloops in the Atlantic. The Basdens, Talbots, Harriotts, Tatems, Smiths, Misicks, and Friths appear in both Bermuda and the Turks Islands to this day, living proof of connections that no distance could sever.

The deeper bonds run through enslavement, emancipation, and the long work of self-determination. Many of us grew up in a Bermuda where this history was not always taught as fully as it should have been. But culture carried what classrooms sometimes left out. Our music carries it. Our kitchens carry it. Our churches carry it.

Last September, I wrote about connectivity as the idea that should guide Bermuda’s place in the world, and I still believe that. The cost of living remains too high, our supply chains are fragile, and climate threats are growing. The global trade landscape is changing in ways that will touch every family here. These are not distant policy issues. They show up in the grocery store, in the electricity bill, and in the quiet worries of young families trying to build a life that they can sustain.

Full Membership does not solve these problems overnight. But it does provide tools that Bermuda currently lacks: a vote in regional decision-making on food security, climate resilience, and trade; access to concessional lending facilities we cannot reach as Associate Members; and collective bargaining power with external partners who share our vulnerabilities and understand our realities in a way that larger, distant partners simply do not.

Some Bermudians worry about immigration, sovereignty, or whether such a step was signalled clearly enough in the political conversation before now.

These are fair questions. And they deserve careful answers.

First, the consultation process exists precisely because the Government recognises that decisions of this nature must involve the public. The Green Paper is an invitation to review the evidence, weigh the opportunities and the risks, and contribute to the national discussion before any path forward is determined.

Second, membership does not automatically change Bermuda’s immigration laws. Our work permit system, labour protections, and border policies remain in place.

Third, Bermuda’s identity has never been singular. While our ties to the Caribbean are deep and enduring, we also maintain strong relationships with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Atlantic neighbours like the Azores. That diversity of connections has long been one of Bermuda’s strengths.

Exploring deeper engagement with the Caribbean does not replace those relationships. It simply recognises that our geography, our history, and many of our challenges are shared with the region.

In truth, Bermuda’s story has always been one of balance, in maintaining multiple partnerships while preserving our own independence of thought and action.

That balance will remain essential.

These are facts on which the conversation should be built.

The Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon. Alexa Lightbourne, has led this process with transparency and rigour. I am proud to support her in it. The Green Paper she has brought forward is thorough, honest, and grounded in evidence. It does not pretend there are no costs. It does not shy away from complexity. It invites Bermudians to weigh the facts and make their voices heard.

Every morning I wake up and think about the Bermuda my daughter will inherit. I think about the children I have fostered, and the futures they are building. The Green Paper asks us to consider whether Bermuda will be better equipped for the journey ahead with the tools that Full Membership provides, or whether we will continue to stand outside the room while decisions are made without us. The Green Paper is available at togetherforcaricom.gov.bm. A public consultation is underway, which will include online surveys, town halls,and an online question portal. I encourage every Bermudian to read it, bring their questions, and participate.

We are the fabric of this community, all of us. Get involved. Come to the Town Halls. Submit a question. Disagree, if you must, but disagree on the basis of facts, not fear. Because this is a conversation about who we are, where we come from, and where we choose to go together.

Division has kept us small. Connection makes us strong.

This process belongs to you.

Senator Lindsay Simmons, JP, Junior Minister for Home Affairs; Youth, Social Development and Seniors; and National Security