Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar says she is deeply sad­dened by the pass­ing of "her dear friend and sis­ter Hazel Brown." In a press re­lease is­sued this af­ter­noon, the Op­po­si­tion Leader said "Hazel al­ways stood for the op­pressed and those un­fair­ly dis­crim­i­nat­ed against." Our so­ci­ety and lives to­day have all been great­ly im­proved through her con­tri­bu­tions and sac­ri­fices, and her pass­ing is a great loss to our coun­try."  

The fol­low­ing is a press re­lease from the Op­po­si­tion Leader: 

I was deeply sad­dened to learn of the pass­ing of my dear friend and sis­ter, Hazel Brown. I had known Hazel for many years, hav­ing met her when I first en­tered pub­lic life as an Al­der­man in the late 1980s. Dur­ing my time as Prime Min­is­ter, I al­ways val­ued her wise coun­sel and re­spect­ed her for speak­ing up on is­sues that re­quired ac­tion. 

As a gen­der and con­sumer rights ac­tivist, Hazel al­ways stood for the op­pressed and those un­fair­ly dis­crim­i­nat­ed against. She fear­less­ly cham­pi­oned equal rights and worked tire­less­ly to ad­vance women’s rights. It was for her ad­vo­ca­cy and work in this area that I took the de­ci­sion in 2011 to ap­point her as Spe­cial En­voy on Women and Gen­der Equal­i­ty. 

She was a strong ad­vo­cate for the de­vel­op­ment of a Na­tion­al Gen­der Pol­i­cy for Trinidad and To­ba­go to ad­dress the is­sue of dis­crim­i­na­tion against women and girls. 

Our so­ci­ety and lives to­day have all been great­ly im­proved through her con­tri­bu­tions and sac­ri­fices, and her pass­ing is a great loss to our coun­try.  

Hazel was tru­ly a pow­er­house and a cat­a­lyst for im­prov­ing the lives of so many here at home and through­out the re­gion.  

To­day, our na­tion mourns the pass­ing of a true pa­tri­ot, who ded­i­cat­ed her life to ser­vice and the up­lift­ment of her fel­low coun­try­men and women.  

As we re­flect on her lega­cy of ser­vice and ac­tivism, we must seek to ho­n­our her by con­tin­u­ing the work of build­ing a na­tion that she en­vi­sioned; a na­tion in which all cit­i­zens can live pro­duc­tive lives and pros­per. 

I of­fer my sin­cere con­do­lences to her friends, col­leagues, and fam­i­ly, as well as to every­one who has been in­spired by this re­mark­able woman, Hazel Brown. 

I pray that you find strength dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time.