Tinee Furbert, a 39-year-old mother of two with an extensive background in healthcare, has been unveiled by Opposition leader David Burt as the new Progressive Labour Party appointee to the Senate.

With Renee Ming now the Opposition leader in the Upper House and serving with Kim Wilkerson, the PLP has an all-female Senate team, which Ms Furbert called “a happy day for women”.

“We represent males as well,” she added. “We have sons, brothers and uncles.”

It was also occasion for Mr Burt to congratulate Ms Ming on taking the Senate leadership, calling her “a great advocate for the East End” and a proponent of the public education system.

Ms Ming has served in the Upper House throughout the PLP’s time in Opposition, while Ms Furbert fills the position left by the resignation of Marc Daniels, former Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, who stepped down on November 5.

“Senator Furbert represents the Bermudian spirit at its best; one that treats strangers as friends and believes we all deserve the same chances in life,” Mr Burt said in the formal announcement at Alaska Hall, calling her the completing member of a parliamentary team that had “humbled itself during its time in Opposition”.

“The PLP is now even more dedicated to reforming our education system, diversifying our economy and preventing the further disenfranchisement of neglected segments of our society.”

An occupational therapist, Ms Furbert has worked in both the island’s hospitals, and has served on boards such as the National Accessibility Advisory Council, which she chaired.

Sister-in-law to PLP MP Wayne Furbert, she has also been closely involved in the party, including serving as deputy chair from 2013 to 2014.

She pledged that her role would be “one of action and critical thinking”, saying that some in the community faced “roadblocks” that had to be eased, and voicing “deep concern” over a lack of employment opportunities linked to educational access.

In a nod to the parliamentary debate over a living wage, Ms Furbert added: “There are many hard-working people who still can’t make a living based on their salaries.”

PLP appointees to the Senate often go on to the House of Assembly, and some have suggested Ms Furbert, who lives in Hamilton Parish, might be under consideration as an Opposition candidate for the nearby St George’s South — a constituency taken by the One Bermuda Alliance in 2012, but which has a history of narrow electoral margins.

Asked if she had aspirations to run as an MP, Ms Furbert said she “can’t speak at this time whether I have ambitions in Parliament” — but she acknowledged that the Senate could be “a training ground — and I look forward to the experience”.

Ms Furbert has advised the Human Rights Commission, and during questions from the media yesterday she remarked that many do not use the HRC to the best of their ability.

Questioned for her stance on same-sex marriage, Ms Furbert said the issue had gone to a referendum, adding: “I stand with the people and their decision.”

Educated in rehabilitation services at Springfield College, Massachusetts, Ms Furbert began her career as an occupational therapist at Meridian Manor, a Connecticut nursing home, followed by the acute adult and adolescent psychiatry united at the state’s Manchester Memorial Hospital. In addition to her hospitals work, she was served on the Department of Health’s community rehabilitation unit.

Ms Furbert is a clinical consultant and therapist for Medical House Limited, and is the founder of Icando Therapy Services. She has chaired the Bermuda Government Council for Allied Health Profession, belongs to the Bermuda Affordable Standard Health Benefit Committee, and is a founding member of the group Bermuda’s Working Women.

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