More Windrush J’cans confirmed as British citizens

KAMINA JOHNSON Smith, Jamaica’s minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, has confirmed that 1,093 persons of Jamaican heritage have received documentation confirming their British status while a further 722 were

granted citizenship under the Windrush scheme between April and July this year.

Johnson Smith, who made the disclosure at the foreign ministry’s quarterly press briefing in Kingston yesterday, said that the ministry continued to support affected persons but indicated that it was now also heavily focused on the compensation scheme.

She highlighted that one of the steps made by the ministry to support affected persons in Jamaica was to bring awareness to the call for evidence.

“This is the method by which persons are able to submit evidence of the impact on them directly to support claims of compensation down the line,” Johnson Smith explained.

She said that the ministry was also an active participant in the consultation process.

“As we know, the Home Office issued a Windrush consultation document, and we have not only pulled together stakeholders among the ministry’s departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General’s Chambers, and broader stakeholders, but our consular department, ably led by Ambassador Sharon Saunders (under-secretary for diaspora protocol and consular affairs in the ministry) and Ariel Bowen (acting director, consular affairs), have pulled together a submission in respect of the design of the scheme and the approach of the scheme. Our high commission is also working on this matter from the London side and has pulled together stakeholders there,” Johnson Smith further outlined.