Alphonso (Alfie) Theodore Roberts was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on September 18, 1937. He attended St. George’s Anglican School and St. Vincent Boy’s Grammar School. Roberts was awarded a scholarship to study at Queen’s Royal College in Trinidad and Tobago where he was selected to play cricket internationally for the West Indies cricket team. He later stopped playing cricket as his interests in politics and education grew over sports. He worked as a civil servant in St. Lucia between the years 1958 and 1962 and moved to Canada at the age of 23 to study at Sir George Williams University in Montreal (Quebec), where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences. He later obtained a graduate diploma in Public Administration from Carleton University.

Roberts was involved in several community organizations in Montreal. Significantly, he was a founding member of the St. Vincent and Grenadines Association of Montreal. He also helped establish the International Caribbean Service Bureau and was a member of the Emancipation 150 Committee, which organized the Emancipation 150 Conference. After working for 20 years at the administration department of SIDBEC, a steelworks company in Montreal, Roberts decided to return to his studies and registered at Dawson College as a full-time mature student in the Political Science program.

Roberts was a political activist. Along with contemporaries like Franklyn Harvey and Rosie Douglas, Roberts organized conferences and events that supported several major political movements in the Caribbean. These events also brought renowned Caribbean thinkers and writers - including C.L.R. James and George Lamming - to Montreal.

During the independence of St. Vincent 1979, Roberts submitted a proposal to the government highlighting the importance of adding the smaller islands to the country’s name. His proposal was accepted by the government, renaming the country St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Alfie Roberts was Married to Patricia Cambridge with whom he had a daughter and two sons. He died in Montreal on July 24, 1996.

Patricia Cambridge was born on November 18, 1939, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She migrated to Canada in the 60s and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Concordia University and a master’s degree in Urban Planning from McGill. Cambridge was involved in several community organizations and for several years she was the coordinator of the St. Vincent and Grenadines Association of Montreal’s annual Pageant and Dance. She was also involved with Project Genesis, a community organization that assists individuals affected by social inequalities. Cambridge worked as an Urban Planner for the Quebec Human Rights Commission, the City of Châteauguay, and the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She also worked as a freelance for the Afro-Canada Citizens Enhancement Society and the Black Community Council of Quebec.

Patricia Cambridge and Alfie Roberts had a daughter and two sons.