Having taken a hiatus of about four years from last writing an opinion piece, I do so now not on behalf of the One Bermuda Alliance, but rather as me, and just me. Since last writing, things in Bermuda have changed quite a bit, and not always for the better.

What has changed has been Bermuda’s late awakening to our population decline, shrinking workforce and the effect that fewer people means fewer opportunities for Bermudians.

I take this chance to wholeheartedly thank the hundreds of people who have stopped me on the streets, in the grocery stores and on the ferries over the past few years to discuss immigration issues, admitting that their views have now changed in regards to the granting of status and permanent residency, and in so many instances apologising for being so vociferous in the campaign to defeat the obvious. Let me just say the word “vindication” has been used more often than not. It is a somewhat hopeful development.

Still, it is very hard not to pen a piece that simply says, “I told you so” — or reminds of the warnings of Larry Burchall or any number of other politicians and social commentators. Instead, allow me to remind you of a few facts that have been forgotten over time.

When I was appointed home affairs minister in late December 2012, I was handed a dossier of information about term limits. Included in that dossier was a legal opinion penned by a prominent Queen’s Counsel — now King’s Counsel — that laid out the flaws in the term-limit policy and how, if legally challenged, the Bermuda Government would most likely lose. Previous ministers with responsibility for immigration had presumably seen this opinion and failed to act upon it. This legal opinion ultimately led to the decision to scrap term limits. It was the right thing to do given the disastrous state of the economy and the continued own goals that Bermuda was inflicting on itself in shrinking the country’s work force.

Remember, term limits were not introduced to protect jobs for Bermudians, but was a poor attempt at preventing claims for long-term residency by our guest workers — the government at the time granted work-permit waivers to 70 per cent of those who applied. The issue was solvable by new work-permit holders signing a statement that they had no legitimate expectation of becoming Bermudian. That declaration was accordingly included in all work-permit applications

Critics have repeatedly said that scrapping term limits “opened the floodgates to foreigners”. That was a nonsense then and it is a nonsense now. It was very apparent upon taking office that our working population had already began its perpetual decline in terms of births versus deaths and guest workers leaving Bermuda — mainly owing to term limits. It was a perfect storm. Just when we needed people to stay and more people to come in, we slammed the door in their faces. The “anti-foreigner” rhetoric increased and we now pay the price.

In 2016, the simple proposals were that a person who had been in Bermuda for 20 years or more would be entitled to make an application for status and anyone that had been in Bermuda for 15 years or more could apply for permanent residency. Both would have been subject to criminal record checks, good-character verification and no confirmed immigration violations — among other items. I said in 2016 and I repeat it here:

“[the proposals] would help to increase the size of Bermuda’s working population in the face of declining birthrates and a shrinking Bermudian population; it is no secret that Bermuda faces real demographic challenges in the coming years.

“The reality is that we have many more Bermudians who are getting older and fewer younger Bermudians who are able to pay into our social insurance, pension and health insurance systems. Our non-Bermudian population is far younger; those who are ideally placed to benefit Bermuda in the long run are those who have already demonstrated their commitment to Bermuda through their long-term presence. As Bermudians begin to retire, they will appreciate the presence of younger workers who ensure that our social safety net continues to be affordable.

“There are other very pragmatic, immediate benefits. New applications will represent a revenue-enhancing opportunity as applicants pay the substantial fees involved under the legislation. New Bermudians, with their new-found security, could seek to purchase real estate or inject capital into Bermuda companies as directors and shareholders. Assets which will be earmarked to leave Bermuda will be more readily available for investments in the local economy. These contribute to an economic multiplier effect and feed back into positive movement in Bermuda balance of payments and increased government revenue.

“However, more important than the economic imperative, I hope the Bermuda public will agree that this is the humanitarian and right thing to do. I have spoken already about the need to bring us in line with international baseline standards seen in other jurisdictions and established in international law, and I have spent some time with various representatives of community organisations and have heard the issues that exist.”

I stood by my convictions then and I stand by them now.

The crazy thing is that if someone first came to Bermuda in 1990, they would now have been in Bermuda for 33 years and still not have the full rights as a Bermudian! Some of our greatest Bermudians, such as E.F. Gordon and Sir E.T. Richards, were born overseas and made huge contributions to our community. They are quite rightly hailed as Bermudian heroes. There are potentially many more heroes just waiting to be heard.

I truly hope that the existing government programme will be expanded to include status. Cherry-picking my previous suggestions and believing that a permanent resident’s certificate is enough for people is a false economy. The only jurisdiction in the world with such burdensome restrictions on status is North Korea — and even then, you can write to the Supreme Leader for dispensation!

There are dozens of jurisdictions that are begging for human capital, with our most aggressive competitor, the Cayman Islands, being just one. This issue is the main inhibitor to our economic growth as a financial jurisdiction and is detrimental to all Bermudians in our failure to address it.

Per one of the most memorable lines in the film The Shawshank Redemption, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Folks, it is time to do the “good” thing. I hope so.

• Michael Fahy was the Government Senate Leader and Minister of Home Affairs in the One Bermuda Alliance government from 2012 to 2017