Hard-working middle class parents are doing neither their children nor society a favour by raising them with a sense of entitlement.

In fact, they are creating a "spoiled and undisciplined new generation" that could be headed for an economic crisis.

That is one of the arguments made in a new book by Richmond writer Calvin Helin.

A First Nations lawyer, writer and lecturer, Helin will be launching his new book, The Economic Dependency Trap (Orca Spirit Publishing), Oct. 16 at the River Rock Casino.

Peter C. Newman, Helin's editor, is among the special guests expected at the book launch. Maori leader Te Taru White and Manitoba Grand Chief Morris Shannacappo are also among the guest speakers.

In what he calls a "declaration of undependence," Helin criticizes the entitlement mindset that creates welfare states that, he says, have become unsustainable.

"In the last 70, 80 years, our society has swung from a society that emphasized self-reliance to a society that emphasizes government reliance," he told the News in a recent phone interview.

Some of Helin's assertions have a Thatcheresque ring to them.

"In a wealthy society, people who are temporarily down on their luck and motivated to improve their lives warrant social assistance," he writes in the preface of his book.

"However, governments cannot and should not be expected to provide lifelong sustenance and material assistance to employable people."

Helin, a member of the Tsimshian First Nation, gained national prominence with his book, Dancing With Dependency, which challenges Canada's First Nations governance models.

Helin was just 12 when his grandparents sent him from his home in Port Simpson to Vancouver to go to school, where he ended up earning a degree in law.

He is critical of the current reserve system and the Indian Act, which he believes has made First Nations too reliant on government handouts.

"My ancestors weren't lying on the couch eating potato chips expecting a welfare cheque," he said.

After writing Dances With Dependency, Helin said he realized that the same economic dependency that has kept First Nations people from becoming more self-reliant is in evidence elsewhere in the world.

He points to Greece as a current example of what happens when a sense of entitlement by a citizenry exceeds the state's ability to pay.

He said German citizens can hardly be blamed for not wanting to bail Greece out when its citizenry and government have been living beyond their means.

"Twenty per cent of the Greek population is paying taxes, and they are able to retire at age 58, whereas Germans -- who are being asked to foot the bill for them -- have to work till 65," Helin said.

The newest trend in economic dependency is generational, Helin said. The so-called Y generation is the first ever to live on credit at unsustainable levels, and he blames his own generation - their parents - for having created that sense of entitlement.

"This is the first generation that has had access to this kind of credit," he said. "None of our grandparents would ever do the crazy stuff that we do because they couldn't get credit and they were just too prudent. They realized you've got to put it back.

"It's developing a generation who have never had to work for anything, and they're just given all this material stuff and it's developing a generation of people who expect everything right now, feel entitled to things, and when they don't get it, they can't cope."

The Oct. 16 book launch starts at 6:30 at the River Rock. Admission is free.