On 22 July last year, Anette Thomas-Sanford made history as the first woman elected Chief of Dominica’s Kalinago Territory. I catch up with her beneath the karbet at the Kalinago Barana Auté cultural site in Crayfish River, one of the eight hamlets of the 1,580-hectare semi-autonomous region on Dominica’s rugged east coast.
She looks elegant, her sunflower yellow dress glowing brightly in the morning light. I’d suggested a casual meeting rather than anything formal, so when she places a rather ornate and beautiful handmade feather crown on her head, we fall about laughing. It’s perfect.
Anette’s easy-going nature masks a busy and often difficult life, and her slight, almost fragile frame conceals a remarkably strong and resolute character. Now 42, married with three children, she grew up in the hamlet of Sineku at the southern margin of the Kalinago Territory. Her mother died when she was seven years old, and her father — a farmer — did his best to provide for the family.
“My siblings and I were all quite bright when it came to study, but we didn’t have the same access to books and other resources as other kids. So, it was difficult to keep up,” she remembers. “My two sisters dropped out to help in the home, and those of us lucky enough to stay in school took our education very seriously.”
At the time, Sineku was viewed as a relative backwater in the Territory, with poverty and social issues such as delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and drugs ever present. As a result, Sineku people were somewhat stigmatised, which made growing up there even harder.
Today, the social and financial challenges for many Kalinago families across the Territory are similar, though international organisations such as the World Bank and European Commission have at least been able to finance the construction of improved housing.
“When you pass through the Territory, you’ll see better homes than in those days. But beyond the attractive façade, social issues remain,” she explains. “There’s still an inability for many families to make ends meet, pay for their children’s schoolbooks, uniforms, and so on. Poverty is ever present. So, I think the biggest challenge for us right now is how to improve our economy.”
Established by the Kalinago Act in 1903, the Territory currently has around 2,500 permanent residents. It’s administered by the Kalinago Council, Kalinago Chief, and a parliamentary representative. The Kalinago Act determined that all lands within the Territory remain communal, so no individual has the right of ownership. In a contemporary context, this presents problems.
“People in the Territory cannot go to a bank, present their land title, and apply for a loan to send their children to study, kick-start a business, or improve their home. No access to credit means that families here are left behind. It’s a huge challenge for us,” Anette says.
“Discussions are taking place within the communities about amending the Act in this regard, but there are advantages and disadvantages to doing so. I think that perhaps the best solution is to try to create and fund a credit organisation of our own within the Territory,” she continues.
“But, of course, in a similar way to any bank, this would require significant funding, transaction policies, regulation, and so on. But in the event of repossession, land would default back to the Kalinago Council rather than to any outside organisation. In this way, the principle and integrity of shared ownership of Territory land would, albeit in a slightly different way, remain.”
I’d like Dominica and the Caribbean region to recognise and get to know more about the Kalinago people
At school, Anette aspired to become a doctor. But scholarships were hard to come by, so she trained and worked as a nurse. Then came a spell in politics where, despite losing her constituency election, she entered parliament as an opposition senator.
After her party refused to contest the 2022 snap general election, Anette left politics and focused instead on developing projects in the Territory via a non-government organisation. Despite her previous political affiliation, she won the 2024 Kalinago Chief election with 57% of the popular vote.
“I think people have seen enough of what I’ve been doing to understand that I want to help all Kalinago people, and that my work transcends red and blue politics,” she says, referencing colours associated with two of the island’s major political parties.
“With such a small population, I believe such divisive politics is detrimental to our situation and, in the future, I’d like to see the Kalinago Chief in parliament instead of a constituency politician. We’re stronger as a people if we’re together as a people. But it’s not always easy to overcome this. It’s a sad fact that how you vote can influence your personal circumstances.”
The Kalinago Territory is unique in the Caribbean, contributing to Dominica’s complex and fluid cultural identity as a developing, independent nation. Like other islands, most of Dominica’s population is descended from Africans who were enslaved by Europeans. However, a minority are descendants of the Indigenous people who inhabited the island before Columbus arrived.
“I suppose I see myself first as Kalinago, and second as Dominican,” she says. “As Indigenous people, we’re a minority. And I think that to retain our identity, it’s important to stand up for who we are and have a voice both at home and abroad.
“There are Kalinago professionals who are doing well, and the President of Dominica [Sylvanie Burton] is not only Kalinago, but also a woman,” she says. “So, we’re pushing through barriers and must continue to do so. I think it would be great for Dominica to revert to its Indigenous name, Wai’tukubuli, and I’d support anyone who pushed for that — though given all the other challenges we face, it’s probably quite far down my list right now.
“It’s important for us to connect and network with other Indigenous people in the Caribbean and Americas and I’ve already started to do that,” she continues. “I think cultural exchange visits would be especially beneficial to Kalinago people. But we must try to fund this kind of activity by our own means rather than rely on government assistance. I believe there are organisations out there that can help us with this.”
When we were trying to organise our meeting, she hinted that since her inauguration, she’d been so busy that she’d barely had time to relax. Despite her obvious inner strength, I wonder how she plans to balance all the life and work demands over her five-year term.
“It’s true that my life has been pretty hectic lately,” she says. “But I’m learning to organise my time. I try to keep Sundays completely free for my family, and spending quality time with my children helps me to unwind — as does working on our little farm where I’m planting fruits and flowers. When I go there, it’s my quiet time and I can let go all the stresses of the week.”
There’s no doubt that Anette has her work cut out, and negotiating the multitude of hurdles ahead will be difficult. At the end of her term in office, I ask how she hopes the Kalinago Territory will have changed.
“I’m hoping to see infrastructural improvements, but the biggest priority would be to see families more able to provide for and sustain themselves,” she says. “I’d like farmers to be doing well and for the Territory to have new agro-processing enterprises, providing farmers with a market as well as being successful in their own right.
“I’d like us to establish more cross-community cultural activities, such as the enhancement of Kalinago Week, and I’d like Dominica and the Caribbean region to recognise and get to know more about the Kalinago people. We survived, we’re here, and we’re alive. The spirits of our ancestors live within us, and we have a story that is still unfolding.”