Cabinet to consider tabling Morris-Julian fire report in Parliament

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says Cab­i­net will meet to con­sid­er whether the in­ves­tiga­tive re­port in­to the deaths of for­mer MP Lisa Mor­ris-Ju­lian and her two chil­dren should be laid in Par­lia­ment.

She spoke yes­ter­day af­ter the fu­ner­al of UNC stal­wart Daphne Phillips, ac­knowl­edg­ing sus­tained pub­lic and me­dia in­ter­est in the re­port.

“And I know there’s a me­dia is­sue and a pub­lic in­ter­est is­sue about the re­port in­to the trag­ic death of for­mer Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, Lisa Mor­ris,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

“I know there are calls for the re­port, so I will ad­vise the ho­n­ourable min­is­ter to bring the re­port to the Cab­i­net for con­sid­er­a­tion, with a view to us lay­ing it in Par­lia­ment. I think that’s a bet­ter way, should we so de­cide, but it will come to Cab­i­net for con­sid­er­a­tion.”

She did not name the min­is­ter, though the re­port falls un­der the re­mit of Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der.

The Prime Min­is­ter’s com­ments come as Fire Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Keone Guy said the re­port should be made pub­lic in the in­ter­est of trans­paren­cy and restor­ing pub­lic trust, not to as­sign blame.

“We are of the view that, giv­en the fam­i­ly’s now pub­lic state­ments, the con­cern—which is a re­al con­cern—can be laid to rest, and it clears the Cab­i­net to re­con­sid­er their po­si­tion. Ul­ti­mate­ly, we are hope­ful that this re­sults in the re­lease of the re­port,” Guy said.

He said the Fire Ser­vice re­mains un­der se­vere strain be­cause of the lim­it­ed avail­abil­i­ty of ap­pli­ances na­tion­wide, though he ac­knowl­edged some progress over the past year.

“What we have seen is an in­crease in al­lo­ca­tions to pur­chase ap­pli­ances, in­creased by al­most 400%. That will en­sure we will be able to pur­chase and see the ar­rival of an ad­di­tion­al four or five ap­pli­ances,” Guy said, adding that a team of of­fi­cers is cur­rent­ly in Spain scout­ing new ve­hi­cles.

On Sun­day, Mor­ris-Ju­lian’s sis­ter, Jozanne Be­har­ry, told CNC3 News the fam­i­ly wants to see the re­port and sup­ports it be­ing made pub­lic.

Mor­ris-Ju­lian and her chil­dren died in a house fire at their Far­fan Street, Ari­ma, home on De­cem­ber 16, 2024.