Disaster Plan: Flood, Fire, and Famine - NEED#1: Food
Quebec residents can take public CEGEP for free. What does that have to do with disaster?
Everything.
From the looks of the school system, this was an integrated long term plan to promote cultural development. And most of it is built on Mazlow's Hierarchy of needs.
Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs
At its root, the theory states that the lower on the pyramid the needs are, the more difficult it is to achieve or meet needs higher up when those lower needs are not met. This is fairly obvious when one considers the type of needs on the bottom level.
Some of these are limited by individual circumstances, and some by situational circumstances. And when you are dealing with creating a culture that is resilient and mobile, flexible and adaptable, one has to consider skills.
jFood is a primary need. And not just any food, but good food. Truthfully, good food is not that much more expensive than poor food, especially when one is looking at creating a whole, integrated system. But just taking food itself in isolation, consider this.
Pius Career Centre in Montreal teaches cooking. And not just any kind of cooking. Banquet and fine dining. The classes are two-fold: nights from 5-10pm Monday to Friday, and days, 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday. They also teach in English.
It costs almost $500 to register, $850 for materials and the course is eligible for student loan support. And a child who is 16 years of age or older can take the course.
Just running a simple assessment, it looks like it is possible that a 16 year old living at home might be eligible for student loan support - most of which would be bursary. (The parental income I used was $37,000). I could find no indication that a teenager taking this course while going to high school would not be eligible. (The estimate was about $7000, with almost $5000 being bursary.)
And while this would affect their debt limits later, all they have to do is pay the loan portion as soon as they can and it would be fine. It would reduce their ability to get bursary during later college programs because the bursary limits are about 33 months total, but this is only a consideration if the child cannot wait until taking later programs to apply for supplemental funding.
Sixteen years old is an awkward age.
Parents cannot always be there to supervise. So to have the option to put them in school where the bursary offsets any missed work-time (aka, they can still save for a car or a trip to Europe) is something some parents might find helpful.
The child would go directly from school to cooking school, they would get a chance to socialize on the bus or metro with any of their friends also taking the course, and they would have a chance to meet new people from around the city while learning a trade.
A very lucrative trade if it lets them get a job in the hotels, and then later over in Europe or on a cruise ship. Maybe Disney. Family employee discounts anyone?
Minimum wage in the US is US $7.25, but in Canada it hovers around $15 in all provinces. Even a part-time internship arranged by the school after training would pay the loan portion of the loan assuming the child does not have living expenses to pay.
So what does this do for the child?
Well, they get a trade and education instead of having to work part-time. They get to socialize. They get a trade they can use to pay for travel and adventure after high school or college and during university. They eat well, during a time when they may not have a lot of income and they can help cook great meals for their family.
What does Quebec get?
A population that becomes resilient and independent as far as a basic lifeskill. A skill that helps the students get jobs in the travel and tourism industry at a time when they want to travel. They get to see the world, pay their student loans, save for further education that is loan only, save for a house or a car.
And the locals get a chance to polish their English before they go abroad looking for jobs. This would be ideal for out-of-province people as well. Raising the bar on what people expect in restaurants cannot hurt either - keeping us competitive in the global tourism market.
Obviously, if your child wanted to do this, they would have to have a way to come to Quebec for at least the year before they turn 16 (Grade 10). Otherwise you would have to investigate your provincial loan options. The thing is, it would probably be worth moving the whole family into Quebec to take further education if that was the situation.
Younger children could finish their high school in Quebec. Parents have plenty of educational options to choose from - including that self-same cooking class to start with.
Although maybe take the day class to avoid embarrassing your child.
And the next disaster will have one less thing missing from the bottom of the Pyramid of Needs when your family needs to cope. Food contributes to morale, and cooking would give everyone something to focus on while setting up or settling in. It is emotionally reassuring and a good opportunity to bond.
Amazon Wishlist: Relocating to a Campground or Refugee Camp for an Undetermined Length of Time - I went a bits nuts on this one. Added a lot of shelf stable groceries that would be useful stored in an RV or in plastic containers that can be quick-loaded into a pick-up truck. The assumption for the Refugee Camp list is that you will be able to source fresh food from local sources or delivery from Walmart or Amazon Fresh, but the soup and Cheddar Bay biscuits can be made right away as a morale booster.
There's too much for a small car - especially one that is loaded with people. In that case, the topmost items for the backpack are suitable. I also included both the electric and the manual version of the water filter. You never know, these filter everything, and having the extra filters is a good thing since they are interchangeable between the two systems.
As always, have copies of essential documents on thumb-drives, make sure you have some cash in case they won't take credit cards, and extra snacks are always welcome.