Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo has called on cit­i­zens to re­flect on the na­tion’s jour­ney since achiev­ing Re­pub­li­can sta­tus in 1976, urg­ing uni­ty, pride, and faith in the coun­try’s fu­ture.

In her Re­pub­lic Day ad­dress, the Pres­i­dent re­mind­ed cit­i­zens that be­com­ing a re­pub­lic was more than re­plac­ing the British monarch with a lo­cal­ly cho­sen Head of State. It was a de­c­la­ra­tion of self-con­fi­dence, a com­mit­ment to self-de­ter­mi­na­tion, and a step to­ward full own­er­ship of the na­tion’s des­tiny.

“Be­com­ing a re­pub­lic was a reaf­fir­ma­tion of our con­fi­dence in our­selves, our in­sti­tu­tions, and our peo­ple. It was a re­minder that we pos­sessed the met­tle and the mox­ie to tru­ly go it alone,” Pres­i­dent Kan­ga­loo said.

She ac­knowl­edged that while ques­tions about the na­tion’s readi­ness per­sist­ed in 1976—and even to­day—his­to­ry has shown that Trinidad and To­ba­go’s leap of faith was the right one.

High­light­ing the coun­try’s re­silience, the Pres­i­dent praised Trin­bag­o­ni­ans for ris­ing to chal­lenges with courage and de­ter­mi­na­tion.

“For Trinidad and To­ba­go has al­ways been small in size and pop­u­la­tion, but abound­ing in vi­sion, spir­it, re­silience and faith … we are ‘small, but over­whelm­ing in worth,’” she said, quot­ing ca­lyp­son­ian Sniper.

Pres­i­dent Kan­ga­loo al­so cel­e­brat­ed the achieve­ments of T&T’s cit­i­zens on the glob­al stage, not­ing that the na­tion has pro­duced world-renowned aca­d­e­mics, sci­en­tists, artists, en­gi­neers, mu­si­cians, and ath­letes.

“We have ex­port­ed ex­cel­lence in every sphere of hu­man en­deav­our,” she said.

She ex­pressed pride in the na­tion’s uni­ty and col­lec­tive spir­it, par­tic­u­lar­ly in times of cri­sis, and urged cit­i­zens to con­tin­ue work­ing to­geth­er, set­ting aside dif­fer­ences when it mat­ters most.

“It is my hope that this Re­pub­lic Day serves as a re­minder of who we are in­trin­si­cal­ly and what we can be­come when we as­pire, work, and come to­geth­er as one na­tion,” Pres­i­dent Kan­ga­loo said.