Lisa Helps (born April 6, 1976) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, with her inauguration taking place on December 4, 2014. She narrowly defeated incumbent mayor Dean Fortin in the 2014 municipal election."Lisa Helps elected new Victoria mayor"

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

, November 16, 2014. She is the second woman, after

Gretchen Brewin Patricia Gretchen Mann Brewin (born December 23, 1938), known as Gretchen, is a Canadian politician. Brewin was born in Ottawa, Ontario to mother Marjorie Mann and Walter Mann on December 23, 1938. Gretchen has one sister, Susan Mann (Canadian ...

, to be elected mayor of the city. Helps did not run for a third term in office in the 2022 British Columbia municipal elections, and will be succeeded as mayor by

Marianne Alto This is a list of mayors of Victoria, the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The mayor leads Victoria City Council, the city's governing body, and is elected to a four-year term. The current mayor is Marianne Alto, who was ...

Career

Helps was first elected to

Victoria City Council The Victoria City Council is the governing body of the City of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The council consists of the mayor plus eight councillors. A deputy mayor is appointed monthly Monthly usually refers to the scheduling of somethin ...

as a city councillor in the 2011 municipal election."First-term Victoria Coun. Lisa Helps will take run at mayor's job"
''

Victoria Times-Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily C ...

'', January 1, 2014. She has also worked as a

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

and activist,"A 'People-Centred' New Mayor for Victoria"
''

The Tyee The Tyee is an independent online daily news source primarily based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in November 2003 as an alternative to "corporate media". Articles in The Tyee focus on politics, culture, and life. The Tyee was f ...

'', November 19, 2014. including time in the role of executive director of a community

microlending :''This article is specific to small loans, often provided in a pooled manner. For direct payments to individuals for specific projects, see Micropatronage. For financial services to the poor, see Microfinance. For small payments, see Micropayme ...

program. Her mayoral campaign revolved heavily around a proposal to launch a more ambitious plan to deal with the issues of

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

and

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affo ...

in the city and was also boosted by voter frustration over delays in the

Johnson Street Bridge Four known bridges have spanned the narrows between the Inner Harbour and Upper Harbour of Victoria, British Columbia, connecting Johnson Street on the east shore with Esquimalt Road on the west shore. The current bridge is Canada's largest sin ...

construction project and a controversial

sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...

plan that has been a dominant issue in the city's municipal politics for several years. At her inauguration ceremony as mayor, held on December 4, Helps declined to recite the traditional, though not legally required,

oath of allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...

to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, the

Canadian monarch The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the found ...

, explaining she does not hold any ideology against the Queen, but wanted to emphasise her opinion that Victoria is part of

Songhees The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation (lək̓ʷəŋən often called the Songhees or Songish by non-Lekwungens) are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria a ...

and

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de ...

territory. Helps was criticized by monarchists. In June 2017, the city of Victoria created the Witness Reconciliation Program and the City Family. The latter is a group composed of Mayor Helps, several Victoria city council members, and people appointed by the

and

Nations' Councils. The City Family's objectives are to guide Victoria on how the city can respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)'s five calls to action intended for municipalities, and also to realize the TRC's awareness mandate on a local scale and to promote reconciliation in general. Helps oversaw the removal of the city's statue of

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

from the front of Victoria City Hall, which took place three days after the city council voted for it on August 8, 2018. The decision was taken after one year of consultation and the support of the City Family. Helps was re-elected to a second term as mayor of Victoria in the 2018 municipal election."Lisa Helps re-elected for second term as Victoria mayor"
CTV Vancouver Island, October 20, 2018. In 2021, Helps spearheaded the cancellation of Canada Day celebrations after the Mayor and council concluded that marking the day would be damaging, citing "The history of our country’s genocidal relationship with First Nations".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helps, Lisa 1976 births Mayors of Victoria, British Columbia Politicians from London, Ontario Women mayors of places in British Columbia Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians