Former NDP Leader Pam Barrett was thorn in side of Conservative government
EDMONTON – Pam Barrett, former leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party and a long-time trade union activist, has died. She was 54.
Barrett, a champion of social justice and a feisty opponent of then-Premier Ralph Klein’s Conservative government, died late yesterday from cancer of the esophagus.
“She was a strong advocate for women’s rights and for the rights of working people,” said AUPE Vice-President Sandra Azocar, who is chair of the union’s Women’s Committee.
“Pam was for many years an active trade unionist and all of us will miss her,” Azocar said today.
“She was a thorn in the side of the government,” she concluded. ““Her commitment to the labour movement, to the rights of all people and to our province made Alberta a better place.”
NDP leader Brian Mason said in a statement that Barrett would be remembered “for her fighting spirit.”
“She was always standing up on behalf of the little person in Alberta, the person who was passed by,” Mason said. “Albertans who were there will never forget her defense of the legal rights of individuals who had been involuntarily sterilized by the government; she forced the government to back down and it was her finest hour.”
Barrett began working on social justice issues in the early 1980s at the Alberta Federation of Labour. She was later a researcher for then-NDP leader Grant Notley and ran for the NDP in 1986, serving two terms as Deputy House Leader.
Barrett left politics in 1993 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, but returned as Leader in 1996, retiring from politics for good in 2000.
Plans for a memorial service have not yet been finalized, an NDP spokesman said.