Lunch with Calvin Helin discussing "The Economic Dependency Trap"

Over forty years ago my parents moved to a small native reserve in northern Alberta to teach in a one room schoolhouse. They taught as best they could, but spent much of their time helping the kids survive the abuse and extreme poverty rampant in the community. Forty years later that generation has grown up, but not much else has changed.

A few years ago I met native lawyer Calvin Helin who opened my eyes to the scope of  harm caused by government-sponsored poverty. He wants to change these circumstances, and if anyone can, I'd place my bets on him. With a gentle spirit and a passionate intellect, this six times best-selling author of Dances with Dependency: Out of Poverty through Self-Reliance, has become quite the force as an outspoken advocate for aboriginal empowerment.

I've asked him to join me for lunch at the Vancouver Club to discuss his latest project The Economic Dependency Trap, and sign some copies of his book. I hope you'll join me, but do come prepared to be swept up in his revolution!


The Economic Dependency Trap:
Breaking Free to Self-Reliance
From urban public housing projects to impoverished reservations, middle class suburban neighbourhoods to Bay Street, economic dependency has become a serious pandemic. Just what is economic dependency? It is the inability to become financially self-reliant, because government programs aren't just a temporary help - they're a permanent crutch. Today, economic dependency has become a way of life for millions of North Americans.

In the US, approximately 20 percent of the population relies on the government for daily housing, food, and health care, and one in six Americans is now being served by at least one government anti-poverty program. Most troubling of all, one out of every five children is now living in poverty.

But Calvin Helin - attorney, entrepreneur, and recognized authority on poverty, not only wants to expose this reality, he wants to reverse it.
  

"Calvin Helin's epic study of dependence and the physical, mental, as well as spiritual harm it spreads among its victims is a revolutionary document. A leading First Nations lawyer, the son of a fisherman, and very much a self-made intellectual and reluctant advocate, Calvin speaks for his people from the heart and from the gut. The collected wisdom in this book will lift the burden and let the sunshine in."           - Peter C. Newman

 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Vancouver Club
UBC Room, 3rd Floor
11:45 am  Registration & casual sandwich buffet
12:15 pm  Serious intellectual stimulation
1:30 pm    Back to work!
$45.00      
REGISTER NOW* Advance registration only - this link will also take you to the Bon Mot Book Club site - please note this is a separate event from that series :