Judges question religious leaders' being left out of law term opening

AT least two Supreme Court judges have questioned the omission of various religious leaders from the ceremony for the formal opening of the 2024/2025 law term on September 20.

For a second time, the ceremonial opening will be held at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain. On that day, NAPA will be designated a court to facilitate that sitting.

In October 2023, the term’s opening was held at NAPA for the first time, since the Trinity Cathedral, where it was usually held was under repair and not available to the Judiciary.

In 2018, the inter-faith service for the 2018/2019 opening was held at the City Hall auditorium because of the damage to the Trinity Cathedral from the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that year.

The move to NAPA was mainly to accommodate an increased number of judges, since the Judiciary cannot further expand the stage at the Convocation Hall to accommodate them.

There was a revision of the format as well as the venue for the ceremony. The inter-faith service was condensed so there was no feature speaker and the Chief Justice delivered his address at the Lord Kitchener Auditorium afterwards.

Traditionally, the law term begins with an inter-faith service, a procession by judges, an inspection of the guards outside the Hall of Justice, and the CJ’s address at the Convocation Hall inside.

In 2020 and 2021, the term opened with a virtual address by CJ Ivor Archie owing to covid19 pandemic restrictions. There was no parade or inspection of the troops. There was also none in 2022.

At Friday’s ceremony, an opening prayer will be done by Canon Richard Jacob of the Trinity Cathedral and prayers of intercession will be read by the Judiciary’s peer resolution volunteers, as was the case in 2023. There will also be a sermon by Anglican Bishop Claude Berkley.

In the past, religious leaders from the Inter-Religious Organisation, from the Hindu, Muslim and Shouter Baptist faiths, said a prayer at the opening.

However, in an e-mail exchange among judges seen by Newsday, Justice Devindra Rampersad questioned whether the omission of the other religious faiths from the ceremonial opening was “inadvertently done.”

“In the past, various religious members of the IRO, at the very least, gave blessings on behalf of other members of our multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society to promote a feeling of inclusion and participation in the bastion that symbolises justice for all that is the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago.”’

He asked for clarification of the “apparent inadvertence,” since, he said, the omission in 2023 “left a feeling of incompleteness and exclusion for many.”

Also requesting clarification was a senior Appeal Court judge Mira Dean-Armorer, who agreed with Rampersad that there should be prayers representing “each of the many faiths which sustain the people of this great nation that we serve.”

At least one judge, Justice Joseph Tam, the most senior judge in the High Court, agreed with doing away with that aspect of the opening entirely, as he believed it was “clearly divisive and unnecessary.”

In response to the judges, Archie admitted there were “many perspectives” on the matter. He said several people had commented favourably in 2023 on the inclusion of young people to recite the prayers.

“While all these factors deserve mature consideration, they cannot be resolved before this Friday.”

After Archie delivers his address,  the Defence Force will parade around Memorial Park, ending in front of NAPA, where he will inspect the troops and take the salute. Primary and secondary schools have been invited to view the parade, the service and the special sitting of the court.

Archie will also host a sherry reception for judges, masters and special guests on the upper floor of NAPA.

President Christine Kangaloo is expected to attend.