Remarks of the President of the Industrial Court, Mrs. Heather Seale, on the occasion of the International Day of Women Judges, March 10, 2026

Today, March 10, 2026, we celebrate Women Judges internationally. For us in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, it is a proud day indeed, especially since at this point in the nation’s history, we can boast of having three jurists at the helm of our country, namely, Her Excellency Christine Carla Kangaloo, O.R.T.T., President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; The Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the Honourable Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, Opposition Leader.

The Industrial Court has itself been headed by a woman President since December 13, 2011, when Her Honour Mrs. Deborah Thomas-Felix assumed the Presidency. She now serves as the High Commissioner of Trinidad and Tobago to Jamaica and Ambassador to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

Regionally, I want to recognise Her Ladyship, the Hon. Justice Margaret Alison Price Findlay, yet another woman jurist from Trinidad and Tobago, who is the first Trinidad and Tobago national to serve as Chief Justice (Ag.) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

I wish to celebrate all of our Women Judges for their sterling contribution to the jurisprudence of Trinidad and Tobago, including those serving at the Caribbean Court of Justice; the Supreme Court of Judicature; the Equal Opportunity Tribunal, under the leadership of Her Honour Donna Prowell-Raphael; and, of course, my learned and dedicated sisters at the Industrial Court.

While today is set aside specially to celebrate women Judges – and I celebrate with my colleagues on the Bench, having celebrated all women two days ago – permit me to go a bit outside of the box, and to register my personal appreciation for the many women in our various courts in supporting roles. Women who ensure that we discharge our judicial functions professionally and, seemingly, effortlessly.

In the Industrial Court, I owe a debt of gratitude to the many women who fill the positions of Assistant Registrar, Court Administrator, Communications Officer, Senior Human Resource Officer, Human Resource Officer, Librarian, Legal Officer, Research Officer, Executive Secretary, Clerk Stenographer, Court Clerk, Court Reporter, Orderly, Bailiff, and the myriad other supporting roles; all of whom play pivotal roles in the administration of the day to day delivery of justice.

To the aspiring jurists among us, who may today be in one of these supporting roles, I end with a quotation from Henry David Thoreau, which I hope will inspire you:-

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”