Helen Forsey

Writer and activist Helen Forsey grew up in Ottawa in a very political family; her Newfoundland-born father was a well-known labour researcher and constitutional expert who later became a senator.  Helen studied agriculture at McGill and then worked in Ecuador with CUSO before returning to Canada and starting a family. After eighteen years with international voluntary organizations, she moved out of the city to live communally and farm part-time. For the past two decades, she has been freelancing and doing research, translation and editing for various farm, environmental and women’s groups.=

An ardent feminist, Helen has long been involved in issues of peace, environment, and social justice, as well as in the political and constitutional arena. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the CCPA Monitor, Newfoundland Quarterly, Ottawa Citizen, Rural Delivery, Canadian Woman Studies, This Magazine, the Hill Times, and Communities – Journal of Co-operative Living.  Her books include Circles of Strength – Community Alternatives to Alienation (editor); For the Love of the Land – The Story of the Ontario Farmers’ Union, 1952-1969 (co-author); The Caboose at the Cape – A Story of Coming Home; Eugene Forsey – Canada’s Maverick Sage; A People’s Senate for Canada – Not a Pipe Dream! and Unsettling Mixture – An Activist’s Writings.

A mother and grandmother, Helen divides her time between a rural intentional community in eastern Ontario and her little Newfoundland Railway caboose on the coast of the Northeast Avalon.