VICTORIA – Gwen Barlee, a defender of wild animals and advocate for enhanced endangered species legislation in British Columbia, has died.

The Wilderness Committee, where Barlee worked, said she died Thursday.

She was 54.

 

The daughter of former NDP cabinet minister and B.C. historian Bill Barlee, who died in 2012, Barlee grew up in Penticton.

Gwen was national policy director at the Wilderness Committee since 2001 and the organization said in a statement she was an invaluable member of the leadership team, guiding many environmental campaigns