Lisa Helps

Lisa helped create and was the Executive Director of Community Micro Lending, a local non-profit where people can lend directly to others in the community. She ran successfully for Victoria City Council where she was a councillor for three years. In 2014, deciding that she could do more as mayor than councillor to help Victoria unleash its potential, she successfully ran for mayor.

Council agendas are hundreds of pages a week; reading for my comprehensive exams prepared me for the heavy load. But more than this, I know the importance of research-driven policy making. And I also know that things are often not what they seem on the surface – everything has a history! Critical thinking and the ability to ask probing questions continue to serve me well.

"I did an undergrad in History and Women’s studies and a Master’s in Canadian History at UVIC. I went on to begin a Ph.D. in History at the University of Toronto, getting past my comprehensive exams to the ABD (all but dissertation) stage. I had written an introduction and two chapters to my dissertation, when another path opened before me. It was my Ph.D. research that created this path.

My research looked at housing, homelessness and the governance of poverty in San Francisco and Victoria between 1930 and 1970. While reading through old Victoria newspapers, I came across a 1931 headline, “Citizens Relief Fund Surpasses $50,000.” I thought, “What was this citizens fund and who had $50,000 in the Depression?”

Like a good historian I followed my curiosity through the pages of old newspapers. I found that in Victoria in the 1930s citizens pooled their money to help each other out. If a man needed work boots, if a woman needed a sewing machine, the fund provided.  I was doing this research in 2008 with current newspaper headlines predicting, “Next Great Depression on the Horizon.” Inspired by Victorians from the past, I worked with others to create Community Micro Lending, a local non-profit where people can lend directly to others in the community  (http://www.communitymicrolending.ca/).  I soon found that I was writing more grant applications than dissertation chapters and followed my passion and a community need.

While I was the Executive Director of Community Micro Lending I also ran successfully for Victoria City Council where I was a councilor for three years. Then in 2014, deciding that I could do more as mayor than councilor to help Victoria unleash its potential, I ran for mayor.

Council agendas are hundreds of pages a week; reading for my comprehensive exams prepared me for the heavy load. But more than this, I know the importance of research-driven policy making. And I also know that things are often not what they seem on the surface – everything has a history! Critical thinking and the ability to ask probing questions continue to serve me well."