Anette Sanford

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Anette Sanford
Senator of the House of Assembly of Dominica
In office
10 February 2020 –6 December 2022
Personal details
Born
Anette Thomas

April 1983 (1983-04) (age 41)
Sineku, Kalinago Territory, Dominica
Political party United Workers' Party
Spouse Claudius Sanford

Anette Thomas-Sanford (born April 1983) is a Dominican nurse and politician. She served as a Senator in the House of Assembly from 10 February 2020 to 6 December 2022 for the opposition United Workers' Party.

Contents

Early life

Anette Thomas was born to a farming family in the Kalinago Territory village of Sineku in April 1983. She was the seventh of eight children; her mother died when Thomas was seven years old. Thomas later married Claudius Sanford. [1]

Sanford graduated with an associate degree in nursing from Dominica State College, and studied health administration at St. Lawrence College, Ontario. She later completed a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Edinburgh via distance learning. [1] In 2018, she launched a six-month program to train professional caregivers for the elderly, children, and the disabled; [2] [3] seventeen students completed the program in its first offering. [4]

Politics

After working as a registered nurse for ten years, Sanford decided to run in the 2019 elections for Chief of the Kalinago Territory. [5] She was the only female candidate; if she won, she would become the first female chief since the colonial era. [6] She took part in the election debate held on 18 July 2019. [7] In the election on 22 July 2019, Sanford lost by three votes to Lorenzo Sanford. [8] This result was also affected by rejected ballots: nine ballots for Sanford were rejected, while only three were rejected for Lorenzo. [9] Although all candidates were officially nonpartisan, Lorenzo had been endorsed by the local branch chairman of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP). [10]

In August 2019, the Salybia constituency candidate for the opposition United Workers' Party (UWP), Worrel Sanford, decided to withdraw. [11] Sanford then accepted the UWP nomination as its candidate for the 2019 general election. [12] She also praised the UWP's proposal to give the Kalinago Chief a seat in the House of Assembly of Dominica. [13] At the official launch of her campaign in November, Sanford revealed that DLP officials had offered EC$120,000 and a job promotion if she would withdraw. [14] [15] She lost to the incumbent DLP candidate Cozier Frederick [16] by 265 votes. [1]

Sanford was chosen as one of the UWP's four Senators for the new parliamentary term, taking the oath of office on 10 February 2020. She became the first female Kalinago Senator. [17] [18] She joined the UWP's COVID-19 committee to educate the public. [19] During Nurses Week (11–17 May 2020), Sanford announced that she would donate half of her Senator salary to the Dominica Nurses Association to support its work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Dominica. [20] She also started a Backyard Garden Initiative in the Territory to help residents during the downturn in tourism. [21] In the interest of transparency, Sanford pushed for regular audits of Kalinago Council finances; before 2020, the Council had not been audited for a decade. [22] [23]

In 2021, Sanford co-founded a non-governmental organization called Kibe'kuati to support community development projects in the Kalinago Territory. [24]

Sanford participated in the united opposition boycott of the 2022 Dominican general election. [25] At the November 2022 UWP delegates conference, Sanford contested the election for deputy political leader. The other candidate, Clement Marcellin, was running for both the leader and deputy leader positions. Marcellin defeated Sanford for deputy leader (142 to 54), but lost the leader election (79 to 123). [26] In September 2023, Sanford was nominated by parliamentary opposition leader Jesma Paul-Victor as a candidate for the 2023 Dominican presidential election. [27]

She was elected Chief of the Kalinago Territory in July 2024. [28]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Crask, Paul (7 December 2020). "Anette Sanford - What Matters To me". Another Dominica. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "Nurse launches programme to empower individuals in Kalinago Territory". Dominica News Online. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  3. ↑ "Personal Support Worker Program gets underway in Kalinago Territory". Dominica News Online. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  4. ↑ "17 from Kalinago Territory now qualified to provide personal care". Dominica News Online. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Female candidate for Kalinago Chief promises to improve economic, cultural and political life of her people". Dominica News Online. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "Female candidate for Kalinago Chief promises to set up financial facility in Territory". Dominica News Online. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "Election candidates for Kalinago Chief debate each other tonight". Dominica News Online. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  8. ↑ "BREAKING NEWS: 22-year old wins Kalinago Chief election by 3 votes". Dominica News Online. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  9. ↑ "Anette Sanford promises to work with new Kalinago Chief". Dominica News Online. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  10. ↑ "'Join me' - new Kalinago Chief to supporters and rivals". Dominica News Online. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "Kalinago Territory: Trouble in political camps". Dominica News Online. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  12. ↑ "UWP names Annette Thomas-Sanford as its Salybia candidate". The Sun Dominica. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  13. ↑ "New UWP candidate to use 'grassroots movement' to bring change to Salybia constituency". Dominica News Online. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  14. ↑ "Anette Sanford to DLP: 'I won't be purchased'". Dominica News Online. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Anette Sanford speaks out on alleged $120,000 DLP offer". Dominica News Online. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  16. ↑ "Three women along with Clemo chosen to be senators by the opposition UWP". Dominica News Online. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  17. ↑ "Speaker Joseph Isaac makes grand entrance". The Sun Dominica. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  18. ↑ "Political leaders". Kalinago Archive. 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  19. ↑ "United Workers Party forms committee to educate public on COVID-19". Dominica News Online. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  20. ↑ "Anette Sanford donates 50% of parliamentary salary to DNA". Dominica News Online. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  21. ↑ "Anette Sanford announces backyard garden competition winners; seeks to restore confidence in subsistence farming". Dominica News Online. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  22. ↑ "Kalinago Chief announces audit of Kalinago Council finances amidst allegations of misappropriation of funds". Dominica News Online. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  23. ↑ "Kalinago protesters demand explanation for Council funds alleged missing". Dominica News Online. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  24. ↑ "About Kibe'kuati". Kibe'kuati. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  25. ↑ "Senator Anette Sanford was live". Facebook. Starting at 12:57. 16 November 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  26. ↑ "Dr. Thomson Fontaine is the new political leader of the United Workers Party". Dominica News Online. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  27. ↑ "Opposition leader Jesma Paul Victor nominates Anette Sanford as her choice for Dominica's presidency". Dominica News Online. 21 September 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  28. ↑ "Anette Sanford calls for unity after historic win; promises to deliver". Dominica News Online.
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