20 Years Later: Still No Justice for Students Scammed by Private Colleges in BC

 20 Years Later: Still No Justice for Students Scammed by Private Colleges in BC

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

In the early 2000s, I enrolled in a private college program in Vancouver through SINA Executive Training. The course promised to teach web design and how to build an online shopping cart—skills that were in high demand at the time. Like many others, I was encouraged to join through an employment support program. The government covered part of the tuition, but I still had to cash in $5,000 from my RRSPs to pay the rest—totaling around $11,000.

I believed I was investing in my future. But what I got was a scam, emotional abuse, and no accountability.

One of the instructors, named F*, harassed me constantly. The environment was toxic and unsafe. I tried to hold on, but eventually I had to get a doctor’s note for my mental health due to the harassment. Instead of receiving support, I was kicked out—dismissed by the very people who promised to help me succeed.

I didn’t finish. I didn’t graduate. There was no certificate. No celebration. Just shame, frustration, and deep disappointment.

Then the Dot-Com crash hit. Jobs dried up. No one was hiring web designers. I’d lost my money, my employment insurance, and eventually my apartment. With nowhere left to go, I made the difficult decision to leave Canada and go to Mexico to try to heal.

But I carried that pain with me. And I’ve carried it for over 20 years.

Recently, I saw in the news that Granville College and Pacific Link College—both based in BC—have been ordered to refund students for misleading practices. And while I’m glad those students are finally being acknowledged, I can’t help but ask:

What about the rest of us?

What about those of us who were robbed by private colleges long before social media or widespread public complaints? What about the ones who were pushed into these programs through government employment programs and promised a future that never came?

We were set up to fail, and then abandoned.

This isn't just about me. This is about a pattern of systemic abuse in BC's private education sector that has gone unpunished for decades. And it’s about government complicity through EI-linked training programs that force vulnerable people—like single parents, unemployed workers, or newcomers—into unsafe, low-quality "career training" with no real protections.

I am speaking up now, because I won’t stay silent any longer.

Too many of us have suffered in silence. And it’s time to demand:

• A full public inquiry into private training institutions in BC.
• A restitution fund for students scammed before regulations were enforced.
• A full review of EI-funded training programs and how they pushed people into financial ruin.

If this happened to you too, you are not alone.

Let’s unite our voices. Let’s demand justice—not just for the students getting refunds now, but for those of us who were left behind.

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✍️ Written by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
Survivor, Artist, Advocate
📍Vancouver & Beyond
  @zipolita

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