Prince Edward Islanders formed their first rights association in 1971.  Before the Prince Edward Island Civil Liberties Association (PEI CLA) there had been no rights association in the province; a committee had been formed to celebrate the anniversary of the UDHR and did not develop into an independent association as had been the case in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland.  The new organization was founded in reaction to the use of the War Measures Act and helped found the Canadian Federation of Civil Liberties and Human Rights Associations.  One of its founders and future president was Norville Getty, a senior civil servant in the Department of Development, and the remaining directors were predominantly professors from the University of Prince Edward Island.  The group began with a small membership of 50 and had 100 by 1972.  Among its earliest successes was a report on the poor state of the prison system which led to the building of a new provincial prison in Sleepy Hollow, just outside of Charlottetown.  Perhaps the most enduring success of the PEI CLA by 1982, however, was convincing the government to establish a permanent human rights commission in 1975.  Although the province had enacted human rights legislation in 1968, it lacked a full time commission to enforce the legislation.  Since its founding the PEI CLA had also been an active member of the Federation and remained so until both organizations became moribund in the 1990s.