Dame Lawrence Laurent, SLMM, MBE dedicated her working life to the service of her country as Educator, Parliamentarian, Ombudsman, International Public Servant and cultural enthusiast.
She began as a teacher in St Lucia’s leading high school for girls, the St. Joseph’s Convent, teaching there for sixteen years before being appointed as the local counterpart in the establishment of a major new Comprehensive Secondary School where she became its Vice-Principal and then it’s Principal.
She was later chosen to be Secretary General of St Lucia’s National Commission for UNESCO and served as Regional Chairman. Some of her successes in promoting the Organisation’s mandate were the arranging of Science Fairs, the introduction of UNESCO Clubs and the re-activation of UNESCO’s Associated Schools’ Project. At the same time, she was St Lucia’s National Correspondent to the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation, now the International Francophone Organisation (OIF).
Dame Lawrence served for five years as a Parliamentarian and is a life member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
In 1996, she was appointed Ombudsman, the first woman to hold that position in the Caribbean. She has been at the forefront of the establishment of several regional Human Rights organisations, such as the Network of National Institutions of Human Rights in the Americas, the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen and the Caribbean Ombudsman and Human Rights Association of which she was the Founder.
She is a cultural enthusiast and had been an active member of the Creative and Performing Arts Society, as a performer, director, producer and playwright.
Amongst her numerous other interests, she was the founder of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Council in St Lucia and a member of various organisations including the Archaeological and Historical Society, the National Research and Development Foundation, the St Lucia Crisis Centre, the National Council of Women’s Club, the Folk Research Centre, and the National Trust. For her outstanding and wide-ranging contribution and her dedicated service, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of St Lucia in 2016