And Habet's Cabinet colleague is trying to get settled with his new responsibility for religious affairs. The announcement that a minister was appointed to see to the needs of one particular group created a stir and as such, Henry Charles Usher was asked to appear on Sunup On 7 to clear up some of the confusion.
He explained that Christian values were important to our Belizean society and he wanted to ensure that they remained. While he didn't expound on what exactly those values are, he did concur that times are changing and we need to change with them.
Hon. Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service, Constitutional & Political Reform
"What I think is most important is that we have in Belize a set of values that would govern the set of laws we make and I think that is critical, what makes us Belizean? If I ask you, why are you a Belizean or what makes you different as a Belizean as compared to a Guatemalan, Mexican, American, Jamaican or whatever. I think some people would say, oh it's the food, I agree. It might be the music, true. But it all comes out of our value system, what we believe in as Belizeans and I think those values, those principles should govern the laws that we make."
Host
"Minister, you referred to them as Christian values, is that really it? Because we're having a conversation, we're saying, not just Christianity, many religions, even people who are atheist might still have those values as well."
Hon. Henry Charles Usher
"I completely agree with you. I am a christian, i am a proud Catholic, and I will always be willing to say that, i'm not ashamed of saying that and so when i said Christian principles, those were the principles I grew up learning."
"Other religions, and i have been invited to meet with the Islam religion, i have been invited to meet with different groups and i am willing to sit down with everyone to listen to them and try to find a common way forward. But you are absolutely right, different religions, different belief systems, we all have these principles that are the core."
Host
"How we were thirty years ago... the core values remain but it's transforming and the society changes..."
Hon. Henry Charles Usher
"It should be like that, things should not remain stagnant, we are in an ever changing role so Belize should change as well. But we also need to have core values that remain the same."
Host
"If we could find an example, what would be the definition of family for you?"
Hon. Henry Charles Usher
"A family structure? There's a traditional family structure. I come from a traditional family structure, but there are other family structures in place so we need to look at those, what is important is I can't tell you all the family structure because I don't know but I need to hear from other persons, open discussion."
And he's also willing to dialogue with other groups - including the LGBT+ community who have already registered their concerns. As pointed out by the hosts of Sunup, a part of the community feels that giving more entitlement to the religious groups will only result in further prejudice and discrimination against them and the work they've done towards the goal of equality. But Usher explained that while this group has been long oppressed, they should still have an open mind about the appointment.
Hon. Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service, Constitutional & Political Reform
"I believe that, and I certainly appreciate that his group, Mr Orozco and his group have faced a number of prejudices over the years, but all I ask them to do is to prejudice this appointment, i ask them not to be judgemental about this appointment until we've had an opportunity to sit down and talk. As a matter of fact I met with MR Orozco and his group at the Ministry of Public sErvice last year and it waas very corodial conversation we spoke about a umber of issues having to do with the public service, having to do with the laws, having to do with the laws that they believe are discriminatory against them and we looked at a lot of those and we spoke about how we could improve those laws."
"All I'm saying is let us have the conversation before we start to attack the appointment and I think it was unfortunate that the attacks came almost immediately, I didn't have a chance to sit down with anybody. I was surprised last week when the prime minister asked me to take on the responsibility, I had other items scheduled for last week so I really have not had an opportunity to reflect on what it means to have this responsibility and also to set a schedule of meetings with the different organizations and groups and certainly with the different Christian and non Christian organization to chart the way forward."
