When Survivors Become the System: A Reflection on Work, Loss, and Housing Ethics
By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
In one of the job search classes I took last year, I met a woman who had an incredible — and heartbreaking — story.
She was a doctor in the Philippines, but like so many internationally trained professionals, she couldn’t get licensed here in Canada. Still determined, she built a life: she got a job at ICBC and worked there for 9 years. Then came COVID, and everything changed.
Her parents passed away overseas. She went back to the Philippines to grieve, to help, to reset. But when she returned to Canada — the country she gave so much to — she couldn’t find work. Not even with a long history at a government corporation.
At first, I really liked her. We had a connection — we’d both faced job struggles, systemic nonsense, and painful setbacks. I admired her resilience.
But then, something shifted.
She started promoting real estate and Airbnb investments in the Philippines. Selling land. Pitching condos. Talking about “opportunities” for Canadians to buy property “cheap” in her home country.
And suddenly, it hit me:
This is how we lose each other. This is how good people become the system they were once hurt by.
💭 The Bigger Picture
- How many brilliant, hardworking immigrants are blocked from using their skills in Canada?
- How many people, forced into survival mode, end up becoming agents of the very system that oppressed them?
- And what does it mean when we turn homes — sacred spaces — into short-term profit machines?
I don’t say this with hate or judgment. I say it with heartbreak.
I couldn’t watch it anymore, so I blocked her.
Not because I didn’t care — but because I do. Because we need to start having these hard conversations. About dignity. About housing. About survival. About how we treat newcomers — and what we ask them to become.
🌱 What I Learned
Not everyone who starts as a victim stays on the side of justice.
And not everyone who “makes it” wins.
Sometimes, the price of survival is becoming part of the machine.
And me? I want to stay on the side of those fighting to change it.
💬 Questions to Reflect On
- Have you ever watched someone lose their way after hardship?
- What does survival look like in a broken system?
- Can we build an economy where people don’t have to profit from exploitation to survive?
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