Sarah Flood-Beaubrun (born 8 January 1969) is a

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

n lawyer and politician. Beaubrun is the former representative for the constituency of

Castries Castries is the capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean. The urban area has a population of approximately 20,000, while the eponymous district has a population of 70,000, as at May 2013. The city stretches o ...

Central in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gover ...

. Beaubrun lost her seat in the

2021 Saint Lucian General Election General elections were held in Saint Lucia on 26 July 2021, having been constitutionally required by 12 October 2021. Voters elected all 17 members of the House of Assembly. The result was a victory for the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party, w ...

dubbed a landslide victory for the

Saint Lucia Labour Party The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) is a social democratic political party in Saint Lucia. It currently holds 13 of the 17 seats in the House of Assembly. History The party was established in 1949, backed by the Saint Lucia Workers Cooperative U ...

Education

Flood-Beaubrun who is a mother of two was educated at the

Castries Comprehensive Secondary School Castries Comprehensive Secondary School is a secondary school located in Vide Bouteille, Castries, Saint Lucia. The school opened in 1974. It was donated by the Canadian government. Notable alumni * Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, former Minister of Home ...

and

Sir Arthur Lewis Community College Sir Arthur Lewis Community College is the only community college in the island country of Saint Lucia. The college was established in 1985 and is named after Saint Lucian economist and Nobel laureate Sir Arthur Lewis Sir William Arthur Lewis ...

in St. Lucia and subsequently at the

University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 millio ...

where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB-Hons). She did post-graduate Law at the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Augu ...

, 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).

Political career

She was elected as a Member of Parliament in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

to represent the Castries Central constituency, beating the then sitting Prime Minister, and was subsequently re-elected in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. The election of Flood-Beaubrun and

Menissa Rambally Menissa Rambally (born 1976) is a Saint Lucian politician who represented the Castries South East constituency for the Saint Lucia Labour Party, until she was defeated in the general election A general election is a political voting electio ...

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". Flood-Beaubrun 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. Flood-Beaubrun again contested and won the Castries Central seat on the United Workers Party ticket in the 2016 general election. She was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly on 12 July 2016. Beaubrun would go on to lose her seat in the

Leadership

In her various capacities as a Minister from 1997 to 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. Following the general election in December 2006, Flood-Beaubrun was historically selected as St. Lucia's first female Speaker of the House of Assembly effective 9 January 2007.

Other Office

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.

Advocacy

Flood-Beaubrun has established a strong reputation in St. Lucia, the Caribbean and internationally as a persuasive defender of human rights and dignity. She has spoken in various Caribbean forum on these issues and their relation to good governance in the region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flood-Beaubrun, Sarah Living people 1969 births Speakers of the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia Alumni of the University of Hull Alumni of the University of Westminster Government ministers of Saint Lucia Interior ministers of Saint Lucia Health ministers of Saint Lucia Saint Lucia Labour Party politicians 20th-century Saint Lucian lawyers Saint Lucian women lawyers United Workers Party (Saint Lucia) politicians Women government ministers of Saint Lucia Female interior ministers 20th-century Saint Lucian women politicians 21st-century Saint Lucian women politicians 21st-century Saint Lucian politicians