Newcomers are facing discrimination, not reaching Human Rights Commission for help, says MLA

Newcomers are being discriminated against on P.E.I. and they are not going to the Human Rights Commission for help, Liberal backbencher Kathleen Casey suggested in the P.E.I. Legislature Tuesday.

Casey raised the issue to Justice Minister Jordan Brown during question period.

"Many Islanders, including Indigenous Islanders and newcomers, suffer discrimination but for various reasons do not use the services of the Human Rights Commission," said Casey.

"A human rights review panel stated human rights commissions need to invigorate their education mandate. Minister, what is your department doing to ensure the Human Rights Commission has all the necessary tools to carry out their mandate."

Casey would like to see a full-time education officer working at the commission.

Brown said the commission gets $400,000 a year from the province and there will be an increase to the Human Rights Commission budget this year.

The details of the financing would be reviewed later in this session of the legislature when they go through the budget in detail, he said.

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