Former Human Rights Commission executive officer and United Bermuda Party (UBP) Senator Neville Darrell said he will be representative of his party's more sensitive approach to social equity issues should he be voted in.

Sen. Darrell, a former Salvation Army officer who has spent 22 years in public service both in Bermuda and in Canada, will take on Bermuda Industrial Union vice-president Chris Furbert in the new single seat constituency of Warwick West.

Married with two adult sons, Sen. Darrell only joined the UBP in January 2002 when he put his name forward to contest the Pembroke West by-election. Only a few weeks later, he was appointed Senator following the resignation of Mark Pettingill.

This will be the first time the 55-year-old told has ever run for public office, and he told The Royal Gazette he had increasingly felt compelled to get involved over the last two years "as I entertained where the country was going".

Sen. Darrell, who was raised at Khyber Pass, Warwick and educated at Northlands and the Berkeley Institute, was posted to the Salvation Army church in Somerset following graduation from William Booth Memorial College in Toronto.

He moved back to Canada, where he worked in Winnipeg as the director of counselling at a men's rehabilitation centre and also gained a degree in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Manitoba.

He also worked for the Ontario Government to set up Greater Toronto's first young offender residential programme and then as a human rights officer with the Ontario Premier's Human Rights Task Force.

He said: "I think the Progressive Labour Party's record is very public. As I've been out meeting people, there is a strong sense of disappointment among many people. They had high hopes in 1998 and many folks feel let down by the style of government, which is remote, entrenched and self-serving. That is what I have heard from other people. When you go out knocking on doors, you have to listen."

He added: "In 1998, the people sent the UBP a message and I think we got it. We had to be more inclusive and we had to look at equity issues differently. I bring a strong background in that to the party and the dialogue with the people of Bermuda has continued. There is a clear sense of vision in terms of moving forward."

* The Royal Gazette was unable to contact BIU vice president Chris Furbert, who is running in this seat for the PLP, before he left on a trip overseas shortly after his candidacy was officially announced last week.