Former Dominica PM's law career overshadowed by political achievements, say lawyers
The late Dame Eugenia
Charles
by Paul Charles
Caribbean Net News Dominica Correspondent
Monday, September 12, 2005
ROSEAU, Dominica: The Dominica Bar
Association (DBA) said on Friday that the late Dame Eugenia Charles’
stewardship as Prime Minister overshadowed her illustrious legal career of 56
years. Dame Eugenia, who died in Martinique
on Tuesday after she went there for a hip replacement operation, began her law
practice in 1949 and became the country’s leader 31 years later.
The Caribbean’s first female Prime Minister
ruled Dominica from 1980 to 1995 and died at the age of 86 from an undisclosed
ailment. Her body was flown back to Dominica on Friday.
In a press statement the Bar said Dame
Eugenia was a fearless advocate who “championed the cause of her people when
the government sought to introduce legislation which interfered with the
rights of citizens”. The Bar said one of her
major achievements as a lawyer was the solution to a constitutional crisis in
Dominica in 1979.
“Her skills as a lawyer came into sharp
focus when she engineered a constitutional solution to a political crisis in
Dominica,” the statement said in reference to the sudden collapse of the
Patrick John administration under a national strike.
The lawyers’ body also pointed out that Dame
Eugenia had served the “common man and would not turn away from her chambers
those who could not afford”.
She became the first Dominican lawyer in
1949 when she was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in London following
her law degree from the University of Toronto, Canada.
She served as president of the local Bar and
was a former executive member of the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean
Bar Association. A special sitting of the
High Court in Dominica on Tuesday will pay tribute to the former Prime
Minister and lawyer, according to the local Bar.
On Wednesday, her request for a private funeral will be met in her birthplace
of Pointe Michel, a small town which is three miles south of here.
Spokesman for the family and close friend,
Dr Bernard Yankey, said on Thursday that Dame Eugenia did not want an official
or state funeral, declining the government’s offer of a state funeral.
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