Shelter, Soil, and Sunday Dinners — What Real Education Should Be About

 Shelter, Soil, and Sunday Dinners — What Real Education Should Be About

By Zipolita (Tina Winterlik)

Let’s shake things up.

It’s time to elbow our way into the conversations that matter—because the current system isn’t working for families, kids, or elders like me.

I want to see high school students learning how to build homes. Not just theory—actual hands-on training in how to build a basic shelter or even a beautiful tiny house from the ground up. Everyone should know how to use tools, read blueprints, handle materials safely, and understand sustainable design. We need skills that serve people, not just corporations.

I want school gardens everywhere. I want kids digging in dirt, planting food, understanding the cycles of nature, and growing food with their own hands—not just to eat, but to thrive.

And here's something people forget: we elders have so much to offer. I'm 63, and I’ve got a lifetime of skills and stories—but I’m stuck on the sidelines because I don’t have up-to-date certifications or a piece of paper to prove what I already know. This province is regulated to death. It blocks the very people who could help from doing so.

So here’s my message to Mark Carney or anyone who wants my vote:

I want a home.
I want a garden.
I want a place where my kid can come home for Sunday dinner, or even stay over when they need to.
I want to be part of a community, not just another person buried in a condo tower surrounded by strangers.

And don’t tell me the solution is building more high rises. You want to talk about who’s building those towers? Many are being built by people from Mexico and other countries who came here for opportunity—but the opportunities they came for aren’t being shared. Locals are getting priced out, locked out, and left behind.

We need to rebuild the village, not the skyline.