Speakers of the House of Assembly
The Speaker is the head and overall manager of the House of Assembly in Dominica. He runs the assembly and ensures that all members follow protocol in debates of national importance. He is a member of parliament who gets elected to become the Speaker. As the overall head of the House, he is only expected to vote if there is a tie in votes cast, so his own vote may determine who wins or losses a debate when there is a tie or equal number of votes.
Below is the list of individuals who have served as Speakers in the Dominican House of Assembly:
- Louis Cools-Lartigue
Sir Louis Cools-Lartigue was the Speaker for the Legislative Council, the body of lawmakers that changed its name to House of Assembly in 1967. He later became president in June 1979.
- Fred Degazon
Fred Degazon was appointed Speaker of the House by the Dominican House of Assembly in 1977. Following the independence of 1978, the House of Assembly elected him as president of the country in January 1979.
- Marie Davis Pierre
Marie Davis Pierre was the first woman Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica. She served as Speaker from August 1980 to December 1988. She wrote and published the book Parliamentary Practice and Working Methods of the Dominica House of Assembly in 1975. She later wrote the Standing Order of the House of Assembly in 1986.
- Crispin Anselm Sorhaindo
Crispin Anselm Sorhaindo was the fourth president of Dominica from 1993 to 1998. He worked as a Clerk of the Executive and Legislative Councils – the legislative body that later became the House of Assembly. In 1988, he was elected as the Speaker of the House of Assembly and he served in that capacity till 1993 when he was elected as the country’s president.
- Neva Augustina Edwards
Neva Augustina Edwards was the Speaker of the House of Assembly from 1993 to 1995. Born in 1931, she is a lay preacher with the Methodist Church and a former civil servant with the government.
- Alix Boyd-Knights
Alix Boyd-Knights was the longest-serving Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica. She was Speaker of the House of Assembly from 2000 to 2019.
- Joseph Isaac
Joseph Isaac is the current Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica. The former Roseau Central Member of Parliament took over from Alix Boyd Knights who stepped down in 2019 following four terms in office as Speaker of Parliament.
- Pershing Albert Rock Waldron
Pershing Albert Rock Waldron was the second Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica. Born on April 4, 1945, Waldron became the Speaker of Parliament in January 1979 under Prime Minister Patrick John and left the position in June 1979 having spent only six months in office. However, he was elected as the opposition leader in the House in October 1980 and he resigned in January 1981.
- George Austin Winston
George Austin Winston was a Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica from 1968 to 1970.
- Eustace Hazelwood Francis
Eustace Hazelwood Francis was Speaker in the House of Assembly from October 1970 to March 1977. He was regarded as one of former Prime Minister Patrick John’s “Dynamic 21”. In March 1975, Francis contested against Ronald Armour on the platform of the Dominican Labour Party (DLP) and won the election.
Eustace Hazelwood Francis later became an attorney general.
- Eden Bowers
Eden Bowers was a Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica from June 1979 to August 1980.
- Osborne G. Symes
- Osborne G. Symes was a Speaker of the House of Assembly in Dominica from August 1995 to April 2000.