Sarah Flood-Beaubrun

Sarah Flood Beaubrun (born January 8, 1969) is a Saint Lucian lawyer and politician. She is married with two children.

Flood Beaubrun was educated at the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in St. Lucia and subsequently at the University of Hull where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB-Hons). She did post graduate Law at the University of Westminster leading to a degree of Utter Barrister and was called to the Bar of England and Wales (1995) and the Bar of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (1995).

She was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997 [1] to represent the Castries Central constituency beating the then sitting Prime Minister, and was subsequently re-elected in 2001. The election of Flood Beubrun and Menissa Rambally in 1997 and 2001, according to Cynthia Barrow-Giles, "transformed the St Lucia lower House of parliament from a virtual 'all boys camp' to a more gender integrated elected parliament".^[1] Flood Beubrun served as Minister of Health, Human Services, Family Affairs and Gender Relations in the SLP administration during the first term and during the second term as Minister of Home Affairs and Gender Relations.

In her various capacities as a Minister from 1997 -2004, Flood Beaubrun oversaw the construction of the first new correctional institution in St. Lucia for over 100 years, the complete upgrading and revamping to international standards of the main intake area of the islands primary medical institution, the establishment of the 1st women’s support center for abused women, the creation of the 1st Mother to Child HIV prevention of transmission program in St. Lucia, plus other programs. Under her focus and leadership she brought a completely new concentration on the appallingly ignored issue of mental health treatment and incarceration of the mentally challenged in St. Lucia. This focus and spotlighting subsequently led to the establishment of a new mental health institution in St. Lucia.

Recognizing that there were fundamental philosophical differences between herself and the St. Lucia Labour Party Administration of (Prime Minister) Dr. Kenny Anthony, Flood Beaubrun left the SLP government in 2004 after publicly criticizing her former cabinet colleagues over a bill purporting to permit the legal termination of pregnancies in special circumstances. She argued on three fundamental points (1) that the human rights of the unborn child are ignored in the process of the abortion process (2) that the legislation in the Criminal Code that was being revamped was poorly written and flawed, so that abortions could effectively be performed in all circumstances and (3) and that the legislation was written and being passed in the House of Assembly under a veil of secrecy.

She went on to join the Organization for National Empowerment, a fledging third party that had amongst its founder members former SLP stalwart Peter Josie.

Flood Beaubrun continued to serve as an Independent member of parliament until tendering her resignation in January 2006. This was done in response to flawed legislation being presented by the SLP with regard to the allocation of scrutinizers in the election process which favoured the ruling party over the opposition. This triggered a by-election held on 13 March 2006, which was won by independent candidate Richard Frederick.

Following the General Election in December 2006 which resulted in the defeat of the ruling St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) (and Prime Minister Kenny Anthony) and the reinstatement of the United Workers Party under the leadership of Sir John Compton, Sarah Flood Beaubrun was historically selected as St. Lucia's first female Speaker of the House of Assembly effective January 9, 2007. Flood Beaubrun in September 2008 was subsequently appointed Deputy Permanent Representative for St. Lucia at the United Nations in New York and was succeeded in the role of Speaker of the House of Assembly by another woman, Rosemary Husbands-Mathurin

Flood Beaubrun has established a strong reputation in St. Lucia, the Caribbean and internationally as a persuasive pro-life advocate and supporter of the family as a fundamental building block of society. She has spoken in various Caribbean fora on these issues and their relation to good governance in the region.

References

1. ^ Barrow-Giles, Cynthia. "Poltical Party Financing and Women's Political Participation in the Caribbean - Chapter III" (pdf). Idea International. http://www.idea.int/publications/pp_caribbean/upload/Grass_Chapter3.pdf. Retrieved 9 September 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Flood-Beaubrun, Sarah
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Date of birth	January 8, 1969
Place of birth	St. Lucia
Date of death
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