Friday, July 13, 2012
Richmond Review · Page 3
Author nets accolades for self-help book Calvin Helin began helping aboriginal people, but broader life purpose has since crystalized by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter
Calvin Helin is author of two books aimed at providing people with the knowledge to break free from dependency.
Some warned Calvin Helin he was wading into dangerous waters by putting his ideas to paper. Publishers, in turn, scoffed. But his ideas would hit the mark. Helin borrowed $100,000 to publish his first book Dances With Dependency, a volume with strategies to eliminate welfare dependency and help eradicate poverty among First Nations. It is now a seven-time bestseller and continues to be one of the most influential books on indigenous issues. He wrote about corruption, the need for electoral reform and the desire for change. Aboriginal people, he said, were made purposely
dependent on the federal government as a means of controlling them, their land and resources. The bold ideas kept flowing in his second book, The Economic Dependency Trap: Breaking Free to Self-Reliance, which recently earned a gold medal at the 16th annual Independent Publisher Book Awards. “I started off by writing my first book just as an effort to help out aboriginal people,” said Helin. “My life purpose has since crystalized— to help people help themselves by providing the knowledge for them to do so through my books.” Helin is a 30-year Richmond resident and member of the Tsimshian Nation. He accepted his Independent Publisher Book Award, known as an IPPY, on June 4 in New York City. It’s the fourth award his book has garnered. “At the end of the day, it is nice to receive awards of acknowledgement, but it is most gratifying to know that my books are making a difference in the lives of people who read them.” Helin, also a lawyer and an entrepreneur, reveals in The Economic Dependency Trap the strings attached to handouts at every level, from households to the global economy. He presents a plan for transforming economic dependency into healthier out-
The Economic Dependency Trap: Breaking Free to Self-Reliance recently won a gold medal at the 16th annual Independent Publisher Book Awards.
comes throughout society, from minority groups to middle-class populations. His newest book, The Empowerment Mindset: Success Through Self-Knowledge, is due out in July as an ebook. The volume aims to take readers on a journey of selfdiscovery so they can transform unfulfilled lives to ones that reflect happiness, success and empowerment.
Advocates hopping mad over rabbit treatment City says rabbit holes in Minoru Park pose tripping hazard by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter Fur is flying in Minoru Park where a recent move by parks workers to fill in rabbit holes has raised the ire of a local rabbit advocacy group. Bandaids for Bunnies accused the city Tuesday of “burying rabbits alive” by packing soil into holes around an equipment shed at Latrace Field. “One can only imagine how many dead rabbits are under the shed given their decreasing numbers as noticed by local residents,” said the group on its Facebook page. City spokesperson Ted Townsend said city crews routinely fill holes in the park because they pose a “significant tripping hazard.” “We have a legal responsibility to address that in the interest of public safety, and this particular area gets a lot of use in the summer,” said Townsend, adding holes around the shed were filled with loose soil, which wildlife is able to burrow through. But rabbit rescuers were angered by the move and twice dug new holes for the rabbits—once removing wooden boards that covered the fresh dirt. Townsend said the city doesn’t know who placed the boards on the rabbit real estate, but suggested someone might have done so
to assist in the moving of equipment stored in the shed. Anyone who digs new holes would be damaging public property and would potentially be liable if anything happened as a result, he added. “Our policy is not to try and interfere with the rabbits. We just let them live out their natural life cycle.” In 2010, Richmond banned the retail sale of rabbits in an effort to control large populations of the abandoned pets—many of whom make homes in Minoru Park, Richmond Nature Park and the Richmond Auto Mall property. “This issue is basically caused by people abandoning rabbits in our parks and open spaces, so everybody needs to be responsible in the care of rabbits, and not just abandoning them when they decide they no longer want them as a pet,” said Townsend. Cindy Howard, who runs Richmond-based Bandaids for Bunnies with Krystal Grimm, doesn’t agree with the city’s practice of covering holes, which she said can lead to the death of the animals. “We were out there (Minoru Park) this morning and one of the rabbits is pregnant and is going to have babies at any moment. She will probably go under that shed, because that’s part of her home, and have the babies there,” said Howard. “Newborn babies cannot dig themselves out.” Bandaids for Bunnies formed last fall, and currently has 47 rabbits in its care. The group offers the animals up for adoption through its website, bandaidsforbunnies.com. Howard wants the city to create a sanctuary for the rabbits to live safely—as Delta has done—and crack down on so-called “dumpers.”
Cindy Howard photo Rabbits peek out from under a shed at Minoru Park earlier this year. The holes have since been filed by city parks workers.
“They need to start taking a stand with the people that cause the problem,” she said. “We’ve literally had people call and say, ‘I just saw someone open their car door and let out two rabbits.’” In Delta, rabbits in the municipality’s civic precinct have been captured, sterilized and released in an island park across town. On Vancouver Island, University of Victoria
recently relocated more than 900 rabbits to sanctuaries and declared its campus rabbit free in spring 2011. Richmond City Hall is in the midst of developing an urban wildlife strategy. Due sometime this year, the strategy is expected to offer council recommendations on how to deal with out-of-control wildlife populations.