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By James Peters

Helen Barnett, née Kerr

Beloved longtime Kamloops politician dies

Dec 11, 2025 | 10:24 AM

KAMLOOPS — A longtime local politician in Kamloops has died.

Helen Barnett, formerly known as Helen Kerr, passed away on December 1, according to an obituary submitted to CFJC Today.

Barnett served on Kamloops council for two consecutive two-year terms between 1980 and 1984.

Her council tenure was sandwiched between two stints on the Kamloops-Thompson Board of Education. She sat as a trustee from 1972 to 1978 and from 1988 to 1993.

In addition to elected office, Barnett was a passionate volunteer, serving on the board of the Kamloops 1993 Canada Games Society and chairing the 1995 BC Summer Games for Athletes with a Disability.

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Her family says she died at Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Hospice House due to complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 86.