Helps was first elected to
Victoria City Council as a city councillor in the
2011 municipal election. She has also worked as a
community organizer and activist, including time in the role of executive director of a community
microlending program. explaining she does not hold any ideology against the Queen, but wanted to emphasise her opinion that Victoria is part of
Songhees and
Esquimalt territory. Helps oversaw the removal of the city's statue of
John A. Macdonald 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. 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". Helps, who is
queer, has also written poetry, and read several of her poems at Wilde About Sappho, a reading event for LGBTQ writers that was held in 2019 to celebrate the 1969 decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada. Helps made a public statement of support for a local cafe while wearing a
drag king look in June 2022, after the restaurant was forced to cancel a
drag show due to threats of homophobic violence. ==References==