Calvin Helin: ‘Eco-Colonization’ is hurting First Nation Resource Development

This interview was conducted by Travis Gladue-Beauregard and put to writing by Giordano Baratta.

The National Telegraph interviewed acclaimed author, public speaker, and Indigenous entrepreneur Calvin Helin. As a member of the Tsimshian Nation of British Columbia, Helin has been a staunch defender of indigenous rights and issues, recently speaking out against the ulterior motives of the Wet’suwet’en protest.

On the topic, Helin stated:

“Ideology and money play a large role in what I like to call Big Green. Let me put it into perspective for you through an example. Patrick Moore was one of the original founding members of Greenpeace. As an altruistic youth, he and his fellow Greenpeace members lobbied against things like hydrogen bomb testing in Alaska and other legitimate environmental concerns. However, all of the low-hanging environmental regulations they sought were mostly all adopted by mainstream society. Things soon changed. He became disaffected with Greenpeace when they began making up environmental issues, like wanting a ban on naturally occurring compounds like chlorine—because the environmental movement had realized that scaring people generates a lot of cash from frightened ‘useful idiots’ worldwide.”

“As I said, the movement is equally ideological: the institutions that make up Big Green want to push socialism as a solution to ‘saving the planet.’ They [Big Green] don’t stand for debate, and they will never seek to engage in dialogue with detractors. This is what makes them so dangerous. Of course, remember that the historical burden of argument is on our side, as command model economics have historically and categorically proven to be environmentally destructive. When the [Berlin] Wall came down in Germany, roughly 50% of water bodies in the East were not suitable for human consumption.”

Helin linked the dangers of Big Green on indigenous rights, using the Wet’suwet’en debacle as an example.

“The whole thing has been orchestrated by Big Green from the start. Environmental groups went in and destabilized the community with the media and a network of equally minded groups all across North America. Call them ‘eco-colonialists’ if you will, as they have also engaged in the form of identity hijacking. In British Columbia, the media hasn’t adequately done a good job documenting just how many ‘indigenous’ protestors and protest movements supporting the Wet’suwet’en were not only lying about their indigenous status (although they falsely portrayed themselves as such)—many weren’t even Canadian, but were actually white Americans. Similarly, I’ve spoken with other indigenous chiefs that drove to meet with the Wet’suwet’en chiefs in the BC interior—only to find what can only be called ‘white hippies’ controlling the whole operation. This is cultural appropriation, plain and simple.”

Helin informed TNT why the modus operandi of the Wet’suwet’en protestors was particularly damaging to indigenous resource development.

“Big Green has hijacked the indigenous rights’ agenda to ring their cash registers behind the curtain of altruism. Even worse, it harms us [indigenous people] in the long-term. We need to pursue the middle way of resource development if things are ever going to improve for us. We need a holistic agenda of communities, elected leaders—and if we’re to produce results—revenue. We can’t just wait for handouts and refuse to innovate. This is what the colonists wanted of us—to remain downtrodden ever since the implementation of the Indian Act, fighting amongst ourselves for the crumbs of federal money while things never get better. This is similar to the ‘slavery mindset’ linked with black America—while not physical slaves, the attitudes of dependence are still ensconced in our minds. We’re conditioned to be powerless, to be pushed onto reserves and to think someone else is going to take care of our problems.

“Of course, this is not how our ancestors lived. For example, the Cree were extremely resourceful people, adopting the role of the middlemen in the fur trade, selling them for a mark-up. The Nisga’a of British Columbia have been called the Phoenicians of the Northwest for the extent to which they became traders in fish and whale oil as a source of energy. By returning to the enterprising spirit of our ancestors, we can reclaim our destiny. Big Green, under the guise of ‘environmentalism’ and its socialist ethos, will do everything it can to ensure this does not become the case.”