Carib Territory in Dominica

The Carib Reserve Act of the Commonwealth of Dominica was enacted on March 30th 1978. This Act seeks to provide guidelines and rules by which the Carib communities are to be administered, while providing autonomy to the residents. It was amended in 1980, 1984, 1990, 1994 and 1996 respectively, and is composed of various sections that present clauses in regards to the administration of the Carib Reserve, the establishment of office of the Carib Chief, constitution and powers of the council, the Chairman and meetings of the council etcetera.

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The following clauses include a random selection of some of the Act’s dispositions:

• There shall be a Carib Chief for Dominica who shall be elected by voters registered in the Carib Reserve.
• The chief shall hold office for approximately five years, unless he sooner resigns or is removed.
• He shall at the end of a term be eligible for the re-election for further terms of office as Chief.
• During any period when the office of Chief is vacant, or the holder is absent from Dominica or is for any reason unable to perform the functions of this office, those functions shall be performed –
  1. by such person as the Prime Minister acting in the advice of the Chief may appoint from among the members of the Council; or
  2. in cases where it is not possible to obtain the advice of the Chief by such person as the prime Minister may appoint from among the members of the Council after consulting the members thereof.
• As soon as possible after the coming into operation of this Act and thereafter on every date and place fixed for the nomination of candidates for the office of Chief, the Returning Officer shall attend at nine o’clock in the morning to receive the nomination of candidates for election as Chief.
• Every candidate for election to the office of Chief-
  1. must be nominated in writing by not less than six registered electors of the Reserve;
  2. must consent in writing to the corresponding nomination Form

But no candidate shall be deemed not to have been validly nominated by reason only of the fact that subsequent to nomination day any person by whom his nomination paper was signed is struck off the list of electors for the relevant electoral district. - Every candidate shall at the time of this nomination deliver or cause to be delivered to the returning Officer a statutory declaration of his qualifications made and submitted by the candidate or, if the candidate is absent from the State on nomination day, by his duly authorized agent in Form 11 or Form 12, as the case may be. If the statutory declaration is not delivered as aforesaid the nomination of the candidate shall be deemed to be void. - Every candidate or someone on his behalf shall at the time of his nomination deposit or cause to be deposited, with the Returning Officer, the sum of sixty dollars in cash, and if he fails to do so, the nomination of the candidate shall be deemed to be void. - The full amount of every such deposit made under sections 6 (5) shall forthwith after its receipt be transmitted by the Return officer to the Clerk. - The full amount of every such deposit shall be returned by the Clerk to the person who made the deposit or his personal representatives, as the case may be, upon the production by him or by them, within one month of the conclusion of the election in respect of which within one month of the conclusion of the election in respect of which the deposit was made of a certificate from the Chief Elections Officer that the candidate was elected or polled not less than one-eighth of the total number of votes counted at the election, or died before the close of the poll on polling day. - If at the expiration of seven hours from the time appointed there is only one candidate duly nominated, the Returning Officer shall forthwith publicly declare such candidate to be elected, and shall immediately thereafter certify by endorsement on the writ of election in Form 13, the return of such candidate and shall return the writ so endorsed to the Chief Elections Officer for transmission to the Minister within the time for that purpose specified therein. - Where at any time between the nominations of candidates and the day appointed for the holding of the poll at any election the Chief Elections Officer is satisfied that it is expedient so to do by reason of – 1. Government having become engaged or being likely to become engaged in any war; or 2. The proclamation of any state of emergency under Emergency Powers Act; or 3. The occurrence of any earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire, outbreak of pestilence or outbreak of infectious disease or other calamity whether similar to the foregoing or not;

He may by notice in the Gazette or a newspaper published in Dominica or by notification over the Radio Dominica adjourn the holding of the poll for some other day specified in the notice or notification not being more than thirty days after the poll in which the poll should have been held under this Act, and the poll of electors for the election of a Chief shall take place on the day so specified. - If any member of the Council refuses to obey and conform to the rules thereof the Council may, after affording the member an opportunity of defending himself, by resolution expel the member from the Council, and declare his seat vacant, and his seat shall thereupon become vacant accordingly. - Any person who, having been returned as an elected member of the Council, but not having been at the time of his election qualified to be an elected member, sits or votes in the Council, shall for every day on which he sits or votes, and every person who sits or votes, and every person who sits or votes in the Council after his seat has become vacant, shall for every day on which he sits or votes after his seats has become vacant, be liable to a penalty of one hundred and fifty dollars to be recoverable by action at law at the suit of the Clerk of the Council. - A member of the Council may resign his seat by giving fourteen day’s notice in writing to the Chief. - The Council may make By-Laws for the rule and good government of the reserve generally for the occupation and use of lands in the Reserve and with respect to the following matters: 1. the naming, cleanliness, regularity and width of streets and the opening, making, repairing, stopping up and diverting thereof; 2. the erection, removal, demolition, sanitation and closing of buildings, walls, fences and structures of all kinds and the numbering of buildings and lots; 3. suppression and abatement of nuisances; 4. establishment of markets, slaughter houses, bathhouses, latrines and the regulation thereof; 5. dogs; 6. the keeping of animals, birds and bees; 7. the destruction of insects; 8. unoccupied land 9. cemeteries and graves; 10. protection against fire; 11. tanks, wells and cisterns; 12. drainage and sewerage; 13. scavenging and the removal and disposal of excreta; 14. the sale and inspection of livestock, meat, fish, vegetables and all other foodstuffs; and of liquids intended for human consumption; 15. mortuaries and dead bodies; 16. street meetings and processions; 17. the cleanliness of hotels, guest houses, cookshops, public baths, coffee-houses, confectioner’s pastry shops; 18. the storing and sale of petroleum or other inflammable substances and the place or places where the same may be stored, sold or exposed for sale; 19. assistance for tourists and the prevention of annoyance to tourists by idlers and beggars 20. entry of members, officers and servants of the Council upon premises for the purposes of this Act and By-Laws made thereunder; 21. public entertainments and performances; 22. the erection, removal, demolition, sanitation and closing of factories; 23. parks and playing fields.