Young Caribbean, Canadian leaders gather for Commonwealth dialogue

Emerging leaders from the Caribbean and Canada have converged in Barbados for a landmark tree-planting ceremony, launching the final leg of the 2025 Caribbean Canadian Leaders Dialogue (CCLD) study tour and highlighting the region’s commitment to cross-border collaboration and sustainability.

The group is part of the wider Commonwealth Study Conferences (CSC), an initiative founded in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Dr David Bynoe, special adviser to the CSC Global Alumni and country co-chair for the CCLD Barbados leg, spoke during the event and gave media representatives a brief history behind the initiative.

He said: “This is part of the Duke of Edinburgh study conferences which started in 1956. Prince Philip had a vision that across the Commonwealth we should be working together and working together in a way that we do so without silos so in his vision he put together labour, the private sector, government and civil society so all these leaders from various sectors in one room and over that period they were able to learn from established leaders in these various sectors and they had this cross fertilisation between them and this has continued. This particular group is part of the Caribbean Canadian Leadership Dialogue.”

Dr Bynoe noted that the current cohort follows the same model, with 100 to 120 leaders participating in each cycle held every four years. The 2025 edition began in Toronto before the group was divided into regional tours across the Caribbean, including stops in The Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, and Barbados.

The tour offered participants insight into the island’s environmental, economic, and social frameworks, with visits to such locations as the Barbados Fertility Centre, Harrison’s Cave, the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, and the National Botanical Gardens.

He added: “All of these groups are meeting back in Barbados on the 29th, this Thursday, at the Hilton where we would have the closing plenary and of course the president of the CCLD is Her Royal Highness Princess Anne. So Her all Highness would be here in person to greet, these groups personally, to speak to them, ask them about their experiences, and also to share some words of wisdom as well. We’ll also have the Commonwealth Secretary General and other significant leaders across the Caribbean and Canada.”

Representatives like Cara Lambe from Bermuda said the experience has been an enlightening one.

She said: “Our experience has been such a rich experience with so many different perspectives. I think I came here thinking one thing, but to see the fertility clinic, to see the botanical gardens, to see the nature reserve and the caves there’s so many different aspects of Barbados that that make it work together well and so just understanding the backstories behind that those experiences as well as the legacy that all of these that all of these parts would like to leave in the future considering all those factors has just been such a rich experience.

“We have so much information to think about and so many so many good stories that we can take back with us to. Me being from Bermuda, this is such a meaningful experience playing into the whole big picture of what was intended when these conferences first began.”

(SB)