A Supreme Court judge called on the community yesterday to do more to help people who are homeless — and said there was a risk that the issue could become the island’s legacy if further action was not taken.

Juan Wolffe spoke at the first Ending Homelessness Together conference, which was held at the Bermuda Industrial Union headquarters in Hamilton.

He said: “We like to talk all the time but we’re not good at doing. We’re also not good at being proactive — we’re reactive.

“Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is whining.

“Bermudians, we are a very giving people. We’ve always been that way.

“I think we’ve lost it; it’s eroded over the years. But our core is that we would help people, individually and collectively.”

Mr Justice Wolffe said he wanted to pass on a lesson he learnt following a “most inspirational” trip to Rwanda last month.

He said that 30 years ago the country was torn apart by genocide in which 800,000 people were murdered.

“It was horrific,” Mr Justice Wolffe said.

“And yet in 2024, Rwanda is probably the safest and cleanest place in Africa, if not many parts of the world.

“Because after 1994, as horrific as that was, the Rwandans said ‘we cannot let this situation define who we are. We need to sort this out. We need to come together so that we can make Rwanda a better place. We need to make sure this country thrives’.

“So you cannot tell me that in Bermuda we cannot solve any problem that we have if we come together, if we had the will to do it.

“If the Rwandans can do it, we can do it.”

Mr Justice Wolffe said that the turnaround happened in Rwanda after the introduction of “Umuganda” — a national holiday held on the third Saturday of each month which residents must by law spend carrying out community service.

He added: “They do something that will benefit someone else — someone they may not even know.”

Mr Justice Wolffe said that the community action day was driven by a sense of unity and togetherness, community spirit, and pride and dignity in service — qualities that Bermuda needed to follow.

He told the conference: “We all have morals. We all have notions of fairness that reside within each of us.

“We all have a commitment to ensure that those who are downtrodden are able to pick themselves up by the bootstraps.”

Mr Justice Wolffe began his presentation by quoting Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian lawyer and nationalist, who said: “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”

“That is so important because many of us give credence to those who are performing well or have our notions of success,” Mr Justice Wolffe noted.

“But there are many people among us who are vulnerable and they need assistance too.

“We must not forget that. Any society that proclaims to be for its people must as a primary mandate ensure that the most vulnerable people are taken care of.

“I’m talking about are senior citizens, our youth, and yes, I’m talking about those who do not have a piece of this Bermuda pie.“

Mr Justice Wolffe said there were some “misperceptions” about who was homeless and why.

He said it was typical for many people to have no sympathy for those affected by homelessness in the belief that they were responsible for their plight.

Mr Justice Wolffe pointed out: “That used to be the view, but figures show that that’s not exactly true.”

He said that there were many factors behind the cause of homelessness including breakdowns in relationships and unemployment.

Mr Justice Wolffe told attendees: “Many of these categories are not self-inflicted. Many of these are created by circumstances beyond a person’s control.

“I was struck by a very stark reality about ten years ago when I was a magistrate for the Civil Court.

“I noticed there was a change in the type of individuals who were coming before me.

“They no longer were the destitute. They no longer were the downtrodden. There were persons who looked like you and me, people who worked for exempt companies — and they were struggling.

“They were struggling to pay mortgages, their rent, their bills, their food. And yes, some of them were homeless.

“Some of them were coming into a courtroom for the first time in their lives and they were crying, because for the first time in their lives they were facing a judge who was telling them they must pay money for rent and they were looking in the face of eviction.

“You can probably understand the turmoil that someone goes through in those circumstances.”

He said that although people discussed generational wealth, they did not recognise generational poverty.

Mr Justice Wolffe warned: “We don’t have that conversation. We are in a society where we’re there — or getting there — to have a legacy of homelessness; homelessness which has been deeply ingrained in family members to the point where maybe their futures are self-destined.

“They are going to be homeless if we don’t continue our efforts to ensure that that doesn’t happen.”