with employment issues because one of the facilitators -- Bermudian Arnold Minors -- now resides in Canada, has been slammed by the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs as "stupid'' and "counterproductive.'' "I think that's just playing politics and I think it's stupid,'' Quinton Edness yesterday told The Royal Gazette . "They're just talking nonsense.

"He (Mr. Minors) comes from Bermuda; he's from the back of town and he knows what the conditions are there,'' said Mr. Edness. "That's why we brought him in.'' If any organisation had an interest in creating employment for younger Bermudians he added, it should be the BIU.

Union President Derrick Burgess yesterday confirmed the BIU would be staying away from the two-day Open Spaces and Technology conference, scheduled to open Friday at Pier 6.

"They're always bringing in someone to tell us what to do,'' Mr. Burgess said yesterday, adding the union also felt enough studies have been done and are merely "sitting on the shelf collecting dust.'' One of the primary objectives of the conference -- which has been organised by the Ministry of Labour's training branch -- is to assemble a cross-section of the community to flesh out employment issues in general and problems confronting the Island's young black male population in particular.

Conference organisers hope to attract Bermudians from all walks of life, including former inmates, politicians, senior civil servants, clergy, Police, athletes, teachers and unemployed young people to participate in the open discussion.

Mr. Minors, a leading activist in Toronto's black community, has been pegged as one of the driving forces behind the conference. Since moving to Canada in the 1960's, he has sparked headlines as an outspoken member of the Metro Toronto Police Services Board.

A graduate of the Berkeley Institute, Mr. Minors has also sat as a member of the Toronto Board of Health, worked as the manager of Bermuda Forwarders, a bio-technologist at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, and as an Organisational Effectiveness Consultant for Esso Canada.

He most recently was contracted by the Attorney General of Ontario to conduct staff training seminars on race relations.

Despite his Bermudian connections however, the BIU maintains Mr. Minors is just another outsider. "He may be Bermudian but he hasn't been here in years,'' said Mr. Burgess. "We have enough people here who know what our problems are.'' One of the conference participants, Dr. Eva Hodgson, says she respects the BIU's decision to stay away, even if she disagrees with it.

"I have such mixed feelings about this. Intellectually I can understand their position but to be quite honest the issue didn't even occur to me.

"I have very strong feelings on this subject as well, but not towards Arnold Minors because he is a Bermudian.'' Dr. Hodgson -- founder of the National Association for Reconciliation -- has been at the vanguard of the issue of young black males in Bermuda and most recently has been contracted by the Ministry of Labour to study the needs of young Bermudians and how to better tailor youth employment schemes.

Her findings said the Ministry of Labour's Naomi Schroter, will form part of the conference's wider discussion.

"We want to get across that this is an action-centered conference. No one is going to be lectured to; there won't be any speeches or lobbying or people with platforms,'' she yesterday told The Royal Gazette .

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