Pat Wallace served on Kamloops city council for 31 years from 1980 to 2018 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

PAT WALLACE

Wallace remembered as ‘fearless champion’ by political colleagues, friends

Feb 13, 2023 | 4:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — If you ask anyone who worked with her — or was on the other side of the political spectrum — they would tell that Pat Wallace was one tough cookie.

Whatever she believed, she was going to tell you about it and advocate for it.

“She was a very intense person a lot of the times, which was good because her mind was on what she was doing,” remembers Claude Richmond, a former MLA for whom Wallace worked at his constituency office. “When she got an idea about something, she just pushed straight ahead with it. She was a real go-getter.”

Long-time Kamloops politician Terry Lake, who worked with Wallace for two terms, added, “She was a fearless champion for what she believed in for the community. I think she was a populist before that became a political term. She always knew what people in the community were thinking and she was passionate. Once she took at viewpoint, she was passionate about it.”

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Wallace died at the age of 90 on Saturday at her home in Brocklehurst.

She served on Kamloops city council for more than 30 years before retiring in 2018. She was known around the council table as being sharp and quick-witted.

Terry Lake worked with Wallace during two terms — first as a councillor, then as the mayor. He remembers as a first-time councillor being put in his place by Wallace.

“She said something in a debate and I did one of those eye rolls and a little bit of a laugh, and she just looked directly at me across the horseshoe and said, ‘Do I amuse you?’ And all of sudden I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I’ve offended her.’ I felt like crawling under the table.”

In between her time in a council seat, she took a run at the mayor’s chair in 1986, losing to John Dormer. She also worked with former Kamloops MLA Claude Richmond, who says she was a champion for Kamloops and B.C. as a whole.

“She loved B.C. and she loved Kamloops very much,” he said. “She was always looking out for what was best for everybody, which is great because that’s one of the reasons you go into politics — to serve the people — and she always had that in mind.”

Wallace was a trailblazer in many ways, a strong feminist who fought for the rights of women in politics at a time when some didn’t believe they belonged.

Tina Lange worked with Wallace during four terms on council and credits her long-time colleague for staying in politics.

“My first term on council, Pat and I were the only two female councillors. City hall was very male-dominated, there’s no question. I found it tough,” Lange said. “But Pat, she ruled. She never let that stand in her way, and so she was an incredible role model for me and somebody I could have as a friend, being the only two women on there for a full three years. She was an amazing woman and was a real force.”

In 2019, she was recognize for all that work, named to the Freedom of the City.

“You love to serve the community and when you’re on council you still do that, but you do it in a different way,” she told CFJC Today after she received the award. “Both non-profits and the city have been so meaningful. I have a hard time differentiating one being better than the other.”