Goals and Outcomes

When asked in interviews what influenced his decision to make this declaration, Mr John describes the difficulties that he faces in developing the island while permission was required from the government of Britain for the construction of new roads and other projects This permission was not easy to get. He describes on example of when he wished to build a road to connect the town of Portsmouth with the villages of Cottage and Capuchin. At the time the villagers of these communities required a boat ride to reach the other villages. 

A representative was sent from England to assess the proposed section of road. Upon returning to England the representative reported that the proposed construction was a "Social Road" and as a result permission was not granted from Britain. He also described an instance where he requested permission to build feeder roads between a number of villages. Once it appeared that these roads would be used for access to agricultural land, permission was granted and it was in this way that he was able to construct the majority of the roads that connected the village of St. Joseph to Portsmouth.

Other examples of his frustrations were in his attempts to have a stadium and an airport at Canefield constructed, or when he was bestowed an honour in Venezuela and subsequently told by the British Government that he was not allowed to wear it in public. Mr. John says that it is these frustrations that lead him to seek independence for Dominica, and on August 29th 1976 he declared his intent to do so.