Proust Questionnaire
Name
: Jennie HelmerWhat do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
To be without a challenge or unexplored opportunity.
What is your idea of earthly happiness?
A plate of fresh nugget potatoes picked fresh that morning.
Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?
Ignatius J Reilly (A Confederacy of Dunces), all of Rohinton Mistry’s characters & Dr Zhivago.
Who are your favourite characters in history?
Rachel Carson for trying to protect the integrity of our planet; Ghandi for his passionate love of life and human dignity.
Your favourite musician?
It changes weekly; yesterday it was Lucinda Williams today it is Arcade Fire, tomorrow Joss Stone.
The quality you most admire in a woman?
The ability to walk many miles in other people’s shoes. The ability to ski beautifully and graciously while 6 months pregnant.
The quality you most admire in a man?
The ability to let go of attachment.
What natural ability would you have liked to have had?
Although fortune has outweighed my expectations by many miles, I would have loved to dunk a basketball, and did I mention I was supposed to have been a rock star?
Your most marked characteristic?
My long coltish legs and my tenaciousness.
What do you most value in your friends?
I used to think it was their sense of style, and now I realize it is their patience, honesty, kindness and loyalty.
What is it you most dislike?
Their sense of style. When they think they’re taller than me.
What reform do you admire most?
Women receiving the right to vote.
What is your motto?
Don’t be at the airport when your ship comes in. Breathe courage into areas of weakness.
Jennie Helmer, a self-described third-generation potato farmer, has been coming to the Pemberton Valley since she was a child visiting her grandparents' farm. For the past three years she has been a full-time resident. Helmer, who is also a registered massage therapist, recently sold her partnership in Pemberton Therapeutic. She continues to work as a paramedic and organic farmer while finishing off a commerce degree at Royal Roads College.
She believes that the current Official Community Plan addresses development issues well. The issue for her is the pace of development over the past few years.
"I feel development has happened so fast because money has been so cheap," she states.
She believes the primary issue affecting development is a surplus of development.
"We have too much and that’s probably not the best thing to keep Pemberton happy and healthy," she says. "Considering a lot of people have invested a lot of money in rental units in the area. The other thing we should focus on is developing with Smart Growth principles. And I think Lisa Griffiths (SLRD) is doing a great job of that. And Dave Allen (Village of Pemberton’s director of services), he’s all over it."
On the issue of boundary expansion, Helmer is mixed. She believes the issue has to be fully explored in a cost-benefit analysis and any change must come about carefully and strategically.
In terms of affordability, she believes it's essential to determine what the community’s needs are and how the village can support these initiatives to address needs, such as low-income housing.
"One of the things Pemberton has never developed is affordable housing, so we’ve created a very unaffordable town."
Of course, a more stable economy would influence what people considered affordable. For Helmer, the vision of a stable, sustainable economy is achievable.
"I would love to see it as a local, living economy, by that, I mean that we have a self-sustaining economy based on Pemberton and what Pemberton is," she says. "We have a farming community and local businesses, how do we bring this together? A couple of the more obvious things are to have local food processing facilities so we’re not sending out raw food. Have meat-processing facilities so we’re not sending out raw meat. Because those are two important things that are leaving this valley and they could be processed and stamped with Pemberton’s name on it."
Helmer thinks the first step in establishing these types of facilities is to create a solid business plan and approaching farmers who may want to buy in to create a value-added market for their products.
"There’s such a demand for local food that it’s amazing," she says. "It doesn’t have to be organic, just local. If we could capitalize on that I think it’s the biggest opportunity Pemberton could jump on. Within three hours there’s Vancouver and they are ravenous for food that’s local."
While such an undertaking would act to stabilize the economy and create new jobs, it would also serve Helmer’s ultimate goal of having Pemberton become the blueprint for a "green" town.
"By green I mean that it’s self-sufficient, it’s eco-efficient and it’s steward of our resources. It’s all the things that we are already, but we’re just a step away form really capitalizing on it, putting it out there and making it Pemberton."
On the issue of recreation, Helmer thinks Pemberton needs either a pool or an arena that fits in the community.
"No more surveys. It’s been surveyed to death. And I think we know we want a recreation facility. We have this land and we have to put something there."
Helmer sees the relationship between Pemberton and Mount Currie as an exciting opportunity.
"What Elinor (Warner) did with the Winds of Change was new and exciting – they came up with some great ideas – now they have to be acted on."
