The Conversation – Canada – MIL Submissions Engine

March 19, 2026

Planning a trip? Here’s what you should know before taking off

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Frédéric Dimanche, Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University

Geopolitical tensions, rising gas and jet fuel prices and regional unrest are introducing uncertainty for many international travellers in 2026.

The ongoing war in the Middle East has disrupted airspace and tourism across the region, with flights cancelled or rerouted and major hubs like Dubai affected.

Rising oil prices tied to the conflict are already leading to higher ticket fares. Canadians in affected regions have been asked to leave at the earliest opportunity, and many are seeking help from the government to do so.

These challenges follow earlier disruptions closer to home. The American attack on Venezuela prompted the Canadian government to advise Canadians to avoid Cuba — a popular winter destination. This resulted in many returning early or cancelling trips.

In February, civil unrest in western Mexico, particularly in Puerto Vallarta, caused travellers to interrupt their vacations and others to cancel or reschedule flights.

With such disruptions causing anxiety for Canadian travellers, there are many uncertainties as to where it might be safe to travel, whether to cancel travel plans and what travellers should do to lower risks.

Disruptions reshape travel — but don’t stop it

Tourism researchers have long observed that global travel is highly sensitive to political, economic and environmental events. Tourism crises are disruptions that affect consumer confidence, travel demand, transportation networks and the reputation of destinations.

Yet when problems arise in one region of the world, travel does not stop; it often shifts to other destinations. Airlines adjust routes, tour operators move customers to alternative locations and travellers change their plans.

Recent patterns reflect this adjustment. As Canadians continue avoiding travelling to the U.S., industry travel experts have noted increased trips to France, Japan and Mexico.

While most international travel continues safely, Canadians should be aware of current disturbances and practical steps to mitigate risk and travel confidently.

1. Is flying safe?

Flying remains the safest mode of transportation. In times of conflict, countries collaborate with aviation authorities, airlines and air traffic controllers to define “safe corridors” for all civil aircraft to use.

These corridors around regions currently avoided (such as the Middle East and Ukraine) are easy to identify with websites such as Flight Radar. This site also provides an airport disruption map that identifies airports experiencing delays and cancelled flights.

How do planes fly safely through war zones? (Itineris)

2. Will the trip become more expensive?

Kerosene is one of airlines’ highest costs after labour, and fares have already become much more expensive for both domestic and international routes in the past few days.

Airline pricing depends on input costs, demand and network adjustments as airlines reallocate planes to alternative destinations. If travel demand decreases, airlines propose fewer flights to the destination.

It’s recommended to book refundable or exchangeable tickets as early as possible to get cheaper fares, with the flexibility to change them as needed.

3. Will travel cause more stress?

Travellers should prepare for possible longer flight times to avoid dangerous regions, missed connections or cancellations. Currently the Middle East war makes it difficult for Canadians to travel to (and from) the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

Experienced travellers know that travel problems can lead to frustration, anxiety, fatigue and sometimes anger, all exacerbated by other passengers’ behaviours, long wait times at the gate and long customer service lines to rebook a cancelled flight.

Social and news media may magnify anxiety and stress, as travellers share concerns and read about others’ situations.

4. How should travellers adapt to avoid risk?

When disruptions affect a destination, travellers typically cancel plans and find substitutes. They shift to destinations that offer similar experiences with fewer risks.

For example, Canadians who might have chosen Cuba may instead opt for Mexico, the Dominican Republic or Jamaica. These destinations offer similar all-inclusive beach vacations and have strong airline connections with Canadian cities.

Travellers should pay attention to international news, especially in sensitive regions. The current situation in the Middle East remains unpredictable, and travel recovery progress can be promptly suspended.

Consumers react to crises by avoiding the destination and finding substitute destinations, sometimes domestically: risk avoidance and feeling safe remain essential conditions for people to travel.

Practical advice for travellers

Check official travel advisories. Before leaving Canada, consult the government’s travel advisory website for up-to-date information about risks, entry requirements and local conditions.
Book your trip with a travel advisor. Travel professionals can support you before, during and after your trip. They will act as your advocate in a crisis by helping to manage disruptions, rebooking plans and handling emergencies with access to 24/7 assistance.
Register with the Canadian government. Canadians travelling abroad should consider registering with the Registration of Canadians Abroad service. This allows the government to contact travellers during emergencies or major disruptions.
Choose flexible travel arrangements. Try to book flights and accommodations that allow changes or cancellations.
Purchase comprehensive travel insurance. A good policy should cover medical emergencies, trip cancellations and travel interruptions. However, read the fine print; not all policies cover war or political events.
Check airline policies. Airlines should offer flexibility during disruptions, including waiving change fees, providing full refunds if passengers choose not to fly and proactively contacting affected travellers. But previous crises have taught us that getting support or compensation from an airline is not easy.
Finally, plan for contingencies. Travellers should have backup payment methods, keep copies of important documents and allow extra time for flight connections. In destinations experiencing disruptions, bringing small essentials (such as medications or portable chargers) can also be helpful.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Planning a trip? Here’s what you should know before taking off – https://theconversation.com/planning-a-trip-heres-what-you-should-know-before-taking-off-277823

March 19, 2026

Planning a trip in 2026? Here’s what you should know before taking off

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Frédéric Dimanche, Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University

Geopolitical tensions, rising gas and jet fuel prices and regional unrest are introducing uncertainty for many international travellers in 2026.

The ongoing war in the Middle East has disrupted airspace and tourism across the region, with flights cancelled or rerouted and major hubs like Dubai affected.

In February, civil unrest in western Mexico, particularly in Puerto Vallarta, caused travellers to interrupt their vacations and others to cancel or reschedule flights.

Disruptions reshape travel — but don’t stop it

Recent patterns reflect this adjustment. As Canadians continue avoiding travelling to the U.S., industry travel experts have noted increased trips to France, Japan and Mexico.

While most international travel continues safely, Canadians should be aware of current disturbances and practical steps to mitigate risk and travel confidently.

1. Is flying safe?

How do planes fly safely through war zones? (Itineris)

2. Will the trip become more expensive?

Kerosene is one of airlines’ highest costs after labour, and fares have already become much more expensive for both domestic and international routes in the past few days.

It’s recommended to book refundable or exchangeable tickets as early as possible to get cheaper fares, with the flexibility to change them as needed.

3. Will travel cause more stress?

Social and news media may magnify anxiety and stress, as travellers share concerns and read about others’ situations.

4. How should travellers adapt to avoid risk?

When disruptions affect a destination, travellers typically cancel plans and find substitutes. They shift to destinations that offer similar experiences with fewer risks.

Consumers react to crises by avoiding the destination and finding substitute destinations, sometimes domestically: risk avoidance and feeling safe remain essential conditions for people to travel.

Practical advice for travellers

Check official travel advisories. Before leaving Canada, consult the government’s travel advisory website for up-to-date information about risks, entry requirements and local conditions.
Book your trip with a travel advisor. Travel professionals can support you before, during and after your trip. They will act as your advocate in a crisis by helping to manage disruptions, rebooking plans and handling emergencies with access to 24/7 assistance.
Register with the Canadian government. Canadians travelling abroad should consider registering with the Registration of Canadians Abroad service. This allows the government to contact travellers during emergencies or major disruptions.
Choose flexible travel arrangements. Try to book flights and accommodations that allow changes or cancellations.
Purchase comprehensive travel insurance. A good policy should cover medical emergencies, trip cancellations and travel interruptions. However, read the fine print; not all policies cover war or political events.
Check airline policies. Airlines should offer flexibility during disruptions, including waiving change fees, providing full refunds if passengers choose not to fly and proactively contacting affected travellers. But previous crises have taught us that getting support or compensation from an airline is not easy.
Finally, plan for contingencies. Travellers should have backup payment methods, keep copies of important documents and allow extra time for flight connections. In destinations experiencing disruptions, bringing small essentials (such as medications or portable chargers) can also be helpful.

– ref. Planning a trip in 2026? Here’s what you should know before taking off – https://theconversation.com/planning-a-trip-in-2026-heres-what-you-should-know-before-taking-off-277823

March 19, 2026

From gym to jawline: What looksmaxxing says about modern masculinity

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jillian Sunderland, PhD candidate in Sociology, University of Toronto

Young men and teenage boys are learning to see their faces and bodies as projects to measure and optimize.

On social media platforms like Reddit, Instagram and TikTok, jawlines are dissected, cheekbones compared and percevied “flaws” catalogued. Widely viewed videos and reels help users to rank their faces and identify areas for improvement. They’ll also advise on just how best to bulk up, trim down, make over and become more desirable — and more masculine.

This growing practice of ritualized self-scrutiny, and the litany of “solutions” in service of it, is known as “looksmaxxing.”

These “solutions” range from bizarre but mundane ones like “mewing” — the practice of continuously flattening the tongue against the roof of the mouth to define the jawline — to far more dangerous ones like “bone-smashing,” which involves repeatedly tapping facial bones with solid objects like a bottle or even a hammer in order to force them to sharpen for a defined look.

For scholars who study masculinity and social media like we do, this phenomenon suggests that something about masculinity might require serious critical analysis. Our work examines the rise of male beauty culture, its concomitant demands, the increasing esthetic labour men invest in their appearance and the cultural pressures shaping young men today.

And what we found is that there is a common pattern. As traditional pathways to masculine status such as stable work, home ownership and long-term partnerships are delayed or feel out of reach, the body becomes a locus of control — a site on which to reclaim power and sculpt a new vision of modern manhood.

Appearance becomes one of the few domains where control still feels possible.

Inside the looksmaxxing culture

While some of these practices that young men and boys have become preoccupied with are innocuous enough, the popularity of looksmaxxing does raise concerns.

Self-described looksmaxxers organize their efforts through intensive ranking systems and pseudo-scientific hierarchies. For instance, online guides encourage users to measure facial symmetry, jaw width and “canthal tilt” — the angle of one’s eyes relative to their cheekbones — as if masculine desirability could be quantified through technical metrics.

Others insist that “nothing can upgrade the face faster than reducing body fat” and provide instructions on how to achieve a “lethal face card” — slang for someone who is exceptionally good-looking.

These difficult standards and ranking systems often reproduce deeply rooted hierarchies of race and class by centring the “Chad body” or the archetypal “alpha male” — a white, muscular, aggresively dominant and affluent male.

In recent years, looksmaxxing — initially confined to fringe incel spaces and the broader online “manosphere,” where communities of men debate status through often misogynistic beliefs about women — has been sanitized for public consumption. As the concept entered mainstream digital culture, these pressures increasingly encroach on the lives of young men and boys.

Its organizing logic is simple. In order to reassert power and to reclaim their place as “manly” citizens, meeting specific esthetic standards through a series of grooming tactics is a necessary strategy.

As many young men push back against gender equality and reframe it as producing male disadvantage, looksmaxxing offers a seductive explanation for exclusion: you are simply esthetically deficient, and that can be fixed.

Masculinity in an era of uncertainty

To understand why looksmaxxing has gained traction, we need to look beyond social media and toward the broader conditions shaping young men’s lives.

For much of the 20th century, masculine status was closely tied to the breadwinner model, through which men’s authority and status flowed from stable employment and the ability to provide for their families. That model has steadily eroded.

In much of the industrial world, stable career ladders have given way to a contract- or gig-based economy and less secure employment opportunities. The rise of artificial intelligence has intensified employment anxieties further as young men confront a labour market where entire sectors of white-collar work are unstable.

Other status markers of adulthood have eroded as well. Young people today are less likely to own a home, face higher levels of economic precarity and are entering romantic relationships later, with a growing share of young men reporting little to no dating experience.

As the economic and social foundations of traditional masculinity weaken, the cultural scripts linking men to guaranteed partnership, power and authority have become less certain. These shifts are also unfolding alongside changing attitudes toward gender.

According to Ipsos, nearly one-third of Gen Z men globally agree that a wife should obey her husband, suggesting a resurgence of hierarchical views of gender relations among some young men.

In this climate, looksmaxxing reframes structural barriers as individual shortcomings. Young men are told that recognition and status can be reclaimed through straightforward investments in their appearance. Things like sharpening their jaw, building muscle and cultivating the coveted “hunter eyes” — eyes that are deep-set, almond-shaped with minimal upper eyelid exposure and no white visible below the iris, often associated with intensity and confidence.

The business of self-optimization

Social media platforms and relevant industries — including male skin-care companies — profit from young men’s preoccupation with perfection often with little or no mention of the physical, social, emotional or economic consequences that accompany such appearance practices, let alone the structural issues that underscore them.

Male anxiety is being monetized in the form of supplements, fitness coaching and cosmetic interventions, including multi-step skin-care regimens and intensive injections.

In this appearance-oriented environment filled with brand messaging, masculinity becomes a competitive asset to be purchased. Boys and young men have gradually become a highly profitable demographic, with corporations and businesses doubling down on advertisements and product offerings targeted specifically at them.

According to a leading provider of global business intelligence, market research and consumer insights, the men’s beauty products and skin-care industry globally will be worth more than US$5 billion in 2027.

The question now is no longer whether young men will pay attention to looksmaxxers and invest, but how far they’ll go in pursuit of occupational, social, sexual and economic prestige.

Jillian Sunderland receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Jordan Foster receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. From gym to jawline: What looksmaxxing says about modern masculinity – https://theconversation.com/from-gym-to-jawline-what-looksmaxxing-says-about-modern-masculinity-277130

March 19, 2026

Talk matters: How municipal council debates can enhance democracy

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Karen Bird, Professor of Political Science, McMaster University

Municipal councils rarely dominate national headlines, yet they make decisions that shape our daily lives more directly than any other level of government.

From land use to transit, policing to public health, councils are where competing priorities collide and where communities see democracy up close.

As municipalities across Canada prepare to elect new councils in the fall, it’s worth asking not only who should represent us, but how those representatives should conduct the public’s business once they take office.

One answer is deceptively simple: councils should strive to deliberate well.

What good deliberation looks like

Legislative debate lies at the heart of democratic governance, but deliberation is more than debate. It is the public, reasoned process through which elected representatives weigh competing claims, examine evidence, listen to one another and adjust their positions in light of stronger arguments.

Good deliberation can be measured in terms of specific criteria, including:

Clear articulation of reasons: Participants explain why they support or oppose a proposal, grounding their arguments in evidence, community needs, or principles of justice — rather than self interest.
Responsiveness: They engage directly with one another’s arguments and stay focused on the issue at hand. When persuasive counterarguments are presented, they show a willingness to adjust, refine, or even rethink their positions.
Respectful tone: Disagreement is inevitable — and healthy — but it must be conducted without personal attacks, sarcasm or dismissiveness. Respectful debate rests on fairness and on recognizing that participants’ interests and arguments are offered in good faith and deserve to be taken seriously.
Decisiveness: Deliberation is not endless talk. It culminates in decisions that are clear, consequential and publicly justified.

American political theorist Jane Mansbridge reminds us that while pluralist democracy is necessarily about competing interests, there is a need to push “beyond adversary democracy” toward a more co-operative model. That can result in people trying to understand one another’s diverse perspectives, search for common ground and justify decisions in terms others can accept.

When these elements are present, elected representative bodies not only make better decisions — they also strengthen public trust. In an era of polarization and disinformation, this kind of democratic practice isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity.

How well do municipal councils deliberate?

Mansbridge based her analysis on an in-depth study of political deliberations in a small Vermont town, where she attended meetings for almost two years and conducted numerous interviews with residents.

Applying her insights to my own research with colleagues on town hall debates in Canada and New Zealand, we argue that these local bodies can be ideal venues for visible, reasoned and respectful deliberation.

Despite different national contexts, the two countries have similar local government structures, including traditional ward-level elections and “weak-mayor” systems, where the mayor has limited formal authority.

Unlike national legislatures, city councils are also generally small, non-partisan and close to the communities they serve — all features that should enhance the quality of deliberation. Yet this potential is not always realized.

The debates we examined concerned the contentious matter of electoral reforms to add Indigenous voices to city council.

In Canada, Hamilton City Council in Ontario and the Halifax Regional Council in Nova Scotia are the only local governing bodies we know of that have formally addressed the issue — albeit in an exploratory manner. But in New Zealand, the question of adding Māori seats on local councils has been much more widely debated.

New Zealand/Canada comparison

For comparative purposes, we looked at the largest New Zealand cities where the Māori population comprise 10 per cent or less of the electorate, approximating the Canadian situation. Two of the councils we studied (Hamilton in Canada and Auckland in New Zealand) voted against motions to explore or instate Indigenous seats, while four (Halifax in Canada and Dunedin, Tauranga and Wellington in New Zealand) approved moving forward on the issue.

We hand-coded hours of debate using the discourse quality index (DQI), a measure widely used to assess speeches in parliament, while also deciphering substantive themes.

While the content of arguments was similar across all six cities, we found the quality of deliberation differed markedly. On a zero-to-one scale, Hamilton’s city council ranked lowest with a DQI of 0.45, while Halifax topped others with a score of 0.68.

Looking at the speeches of individual councillors, we found that those who opposed Indigenous seats used less respectful discourse than supporters (average DQI 0.43 vs. 0.64), including more polarizing interjections.

Examples included members who shouted at or turned their backs to others, refusing to engage. Some resorted to personal attacks, or accusations of racism and anti-democratic maneuvering.

As one New Zealand councillor exclaimed: “We are throwing elected representation to the dogs.” Another in Canada reasoned that Indigenous people were requesting “to sit at the table without being elected… that’s how I understood it” — even though the motion was merely to study options for bringing Indigenous voices to council.

Quality of online public discourse matters too

Deliberation does not end when councillors leave chambers. How elected members communicate with the public — especially online — now also shapes the broader democratic climate around municipal decision making.

Social media has become a fertile environment for incivility, harassment and toxic exchanges, and research suggests some politicians have learned to exploit this dynamic.

At the national level, there is ample evidence from Canada, the United Kingdom and many other countries of the heightened impact that digital vitriol has on women, LGBTQ, racialized and Indigenous candidates and office holders.

But reports from Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere suggest the effects of digital harassment may be even more profound in local politics, where the erosion of local news outlets can heighten communities’ vulnerability to disinformation, out-of-context clips and performative antagonism designed to inflame outrage rather than inform.

According to a recent study in the U.K., online abuse is now the biggest deterrent to people serving as councillors.

In response, some are pushing back. The Elect Respect campaign, initiated by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward of Burlington, Ont., is one recent example: it calls out abuse and harassment directed at women in politics and urges elected officials to commit to “respectful debate” rather than personal attacks.

Similarly, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has developed its Leading with Respect Handguides that provide practical resources for councils to navigate conflict and build a culture of civility in their workplaces. Initiatives like this highlight the growing recognition that the tone of public discourse is inseparable from the health of local democracy.

A call for more deliberative local democracy

Wherever you live, the next municipal election is a chance to think about what kind of council your community needs — not only in terms of policy, but also democratic practice.

When councillors treat one another as partners in problem-solving rather than opponents to be defeated, they help build the mutual respect and shared understanding that Mansbridge argues are essential for democratic legitimacy.

In a time of polarization and growing online toxicity, the quality of our local democratic conversations may matter as much as the policies they produce. Municipal councils across the country have the opportunity to show that talk matters — and that better talk can lead to better democracy.

Karen Bird receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

– ref. Talk matters: How municipal council debates can enhance democracy – https://theconversation.com/talk-matters-how-municipal-council-debates-can-enhance-democracy-278397

March 19, 2026

Kinky caricature no more: How ‘Pillion’ is rewriting BDSM cinema

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ummni Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

_Pillion_ offers something rare in mainstream cinema: a queer kinky love story that neither pathologizes nor punishes its characters, nor ends with a big fat gay wedding. (A24)

Pillion is a love story about connection and self-discovery through submission, pain and bootlicking.

It’s not the first film to favourably portray kink or BDSM (bondage and discipline, domination and submission, sadism and masochism). But sympathetic renditions — like the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomena — tend to feature heterosexual couples.

Based on my research into BDSM in film and popular culture, I see Pillion as marking a striking shift in BDSM cinema: a mainstream romantic comedy that features gay men as complex and utterly endearing kinksters.

Sadomasochism in cinema

Earlier films have often framed BDSM as titillating but deviant, a slippery slope to catastrophe.

In 9½ Weeks (1986), a male dominant draws a woman into sex games that soon degrade into non-consent and humiliation. In Basic Instinct (1992), an alpha female lures men into bondage and, occasionally, stabs them with an ice pick.

In comedy, kinky characters have often been reduced to caricatures. In Eating Raoul (1982) and One Night at McCool’s (2001), kink is associated with sleaze, pathology and violence. In both films, the so-called “perverts” are killed, their deaths staged as punchlines.

A positive spin on perversity

Later BDSM films signalled a broader acceptance of sexual variety. They usually feature a male dominant introducing a woman to whips and chains, while she teaches him to open his heart.

A woman leaning forward with an envelope between her teeth with a man gazing at her in a business outfit. — *Secretary* from 2002 is one BDSM film that sees partners get married.
(Lion’s Gate Films)

Yet the apparent transgression often resolves in matrimony, as in Secretary (2002) and the aforementioned Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.

More recently, Babygirl (2025) revised the formula: a married woman’s libido is unleashed with a younger man who, among other things, handles her like a dog. Their affair ends, but it ultimately revitalizes her marriage.

While many viewers found these films sexy and affirming, including myself, they arguably buy tolerance through assimilation. Kink is permitted, even promoted, but only when it settles down.

Kink, homophobia and representing gay men

A man with fearful looking eyes in a black and white photo against a red background. — Poster for ‘Cruising,’ starring Al Pacino, from 1980.
(Lorimar Film Entertainment/Warner Bros.)

Kinky gay men have rarely occupied the centre of mainstream film. When they appear at all, it is often as villains.

The infamous male-on-male rape scene in Pulp Fiction (1994) offers a vivid example: the two perps keep a masked, leather-clad “Gimp” on a leash, coding their assault through the esthetics of kink. All three are then murdered by the film’s more sympathetic characters.

By contrast, William Friedkin’s controversial film Cruising (1980) offers a more nuanced portrayal of queer kinky men, even as the narrative is structured around violence.

It follows Steve Burns (Al Pacino), an undercover cop tracking a serial killer who stalks New York’s leather bar scene, a hub of gay BDSM culture. As the investigation proceeds, Burns begins to struggle with his own emerging queer desires. A final murder suggests Burns may now be the killer’s successor, driven by his own sexual ambivalence.

The production sparked co-ordinated, large-scale protests from gay rights groups, who feared it would reinforce homophobic attitudes and even provoke attacks.

Under pressure, the director prefaced the film with a disclaimer that it depicted only “one small segment” of the “homosexual world” and was not meant to represent it as a whole.

A dark film

While a powerful moment in gay activism, the campaign may have also reinforced a respectability politics that distanced “acceptable” homosexuality from leather culture, promiscuity and public sex.

But Cruising had its defenders. As renowned film scholar and critic Robin Wood argued, “the film’s real villain is revealed as patriarchal domination,” visible in the killer’s abusive father and in corrupt police officers whose cruelty and virulent homophobia permeate the film.

Friedkin also shot scenes in real leather bars and cast members of the leather community as extras, suggesting a more complicated relationship with the subculture it portrayed.

However one reads it, Cruising is a dark film. Forty-five years later, Pillion, which also collaborated with the leather community, places many of the same kinky elements in a much brighter light.

Rewriting the script

While Cruising belongs to the erotic thriller tradition, Pillion unfolds as a romantic comedy. Colin (Harry Melling), a guileless, inexperienced man still living with his parents, discovers his “aptitude for devotion” with Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a gruff leather dom biker who prefers wrestling to kissing as first base.

Trailer for Pillion.

The opposites-attract trope fuels much of the film’s humour. After their first back-alley tryst, Ray rebuffs Colin’s attempt to spend more time together and walks away. Colin — perfectly polite, even in rejection — calls after him, “Thank you!” It’s funny not because he’s kinky, but because his dogged niceness captures the familiar awkwardness of a post-hookup goodbye.

The films also confront different kinds of discrimination. In Cruising, homophobia is blatant and often brutal. In Pillion, homophobia is beside the point. Colin’s mother isn’t troubled that her son is gay, for example. If anything, she hopes he’ll find a boyfriend. What unsettles her is the structure of his 24/7 relationship with Ray, a form of BDSM in which dominance and submission extend into everyday life.

That tension comes to a head in a memorable dinner scene with Colin’s parents. Ray coolly calls her reaction “ignorant,” casting her discomfort as a form of kink-phobia.

Intimacy and authenticity

In both Cruising and Pillion, kink becomes the catalyst through which the protagonist discovers new dimensions of his sexuality. In Cruising, that awakening is framed through psychic fragmentation. In Pillion, it becomes a story of connection: to a lover, to a community and ultimately to oneself.

In a break from familiar BDSM film conventions, the relationship neither escalates toward violence, as earlier BDSM narratives often did, nor tidy itself into domestic respectability, as more hetero happily-ever-after versions have done.

Crucially, Colin’s submissiveness is not about growing small or effacing himself. Instead, he becomes increasingly able to articulate his needs and assert his own identity.

The one stereotype Pillion does reproduce, however, is the dominant who hides his feelings. Popular culture often portrays tops as emotionally shut down, whether they’re men or women.

In sinister portrayals such as Cruising or Basic Instinct, dominance bleeds into violence. But even in positive depictions, such as Fifty Shades of Grey and Secretary, the dominant character is initially closed-off or commitment-phobic.

Pillion largely repeats this pattern. Ray keeps Colin at arm’s length, strictly dictating the terms of their relationship before gradually allowing him closer — at least for a moment.

Pillion offers something rare in mainstream cinema: a queer kinky love story that neither pathologizes nor punishes its characters, nor ends with a big fat gay wedding. Instead, it combines the sweetness of a romantic comedy with the sexiness of the leather scene, capturing the poignancy of two imperfect people grappling toward intimacy.

Ummni Khan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Kinky caricature no more: How ‘Pillion’ is rewriting BDSM cinema – https://theconversation.com/kinky-caricature-no-more-how-pillion-is-rewriting-bdsm-cinema-276592

March 19, 2026

The West has long characterized Iran’s oil as a prize to be claimed

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ian Wereley, Adjunct Research Professor, Department of History, Carleton University

With the recent outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf, the focus of international attention has returned to one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints: the Strait of Hormuz.

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through this narrow strait. Its closure, alongside U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil infrastructure — including the strategic export hub on Kharg Island — has raised fears of a protracted conflict as fuel prices soar.

Most news coverage and analysis has focused on the immediate threats posed by missiles, drones and mines, and the global implications of the strait’s closure.

But beneath these headlines lies a much deeper story.

For more than a century, Iran has occupied a powerful place in the western imagination, characterized as a volatile region that sits atop one of the world’s largest oil reserves.

Working within the energy humanities sub-field, my research and teaching focus on the early history of oil in Iran and the development of western oil cultures during the early 20th century.

The discovery that reshaped an empire

The story begins in May 1908, when drillers financed by the British-Australian entrepreneur William Knox D’Arcy struck oil in the rugged foothills of the Zagros Mountains in southwestern Persia, known after 1935 as Iran.

The discovery reshaped the region and the global oil industry. In 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company — the precursor to British Petroleum (BP) — was established to exploit the newly discovered oilfields.

Within a few years, the company constructed a 200-kilometre pipeline network and a vast oil refinery and export complex on Abadan Island in the Persian Gulf. The refinery remains the largest in Iran.

From Abadan, tankers transported oil through the Strait of Hormuz to global markets, eventually powering ships, vehicles and industry across Europe.

Iranian oil quickly became central to British imperial strategy. In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, the British government acquired a controlling stake in BP to secure fuel supplies for the Royal Navy, which had recently transitioned from coal to oil under First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

Churchill later described the discovery of Iranian oil as a remarkable windfall for Britain: “Fortune rewarded the continuous and steadfast facing of these difficulties…and brought us a prize from fairyland far beyond our brightest hopes.”

From that moment onward, oil from Iran became deeply intertwined with the industrial and military power of the British Empire.

Imagining Persia and petroleum

After the war, BP shifted its focus from military supply to mass consumption, launching an elaborate marketing campaign to shape how British audiences understood Iran and its oil.

During the 1920s, British newspapers carried thousands of advertisements depicting Persian landscapes, history, culture and natural resources.

Among the most striking was the 12-part “Persian Series” in 1925, which paired evocative artwork with stories of British engineers operating in remote and challenging environments to provide fuel for the modern world.

Scenes of jagged mountain passes, desert caravans and ancient religious sites in Iran were juxtaposed with narratives of western technological mastery.

These messages extended beyond print. At the British Empire Exhibition of 1924-25, attended by more than 27 million visitors, BP constructed a full-scale replica of a traditional Iranian caravanserai, combining stylized cultural imagery with displays of modern oilfield equipment.

Persian symbolism was also embedded in the built environment created by BP. The company’s London headquarters, Britannic House (completed in 1925), featured sculptures of Iranian figures in traditional dress, their bodies displayed as captured loot from a distant resource frontier.

In the 1930s, BP further expanded their audience through films about life in Iran, screened for free at trade shows and fairs.

A narrative of commercial conquest

My PhD research describes how BP’s representations of Iran normalized the idea that western societies like Britain depended on energy drawn from the Middle East, and that controlling those resources was necessary and justified.

BP’s interwar marketing campaigns did more than promote its brand of gasoline. They helped construct a broader cultural understanding of Iran, its people and its oil resources.

The Zagros Mountains became the setting for a vast storytelling project about technological and cultural conquest in the Middle East.

Oil was presented as an exotic prize held captive beneath inhospitable landscapes, captured by western oil companies cast as heroic pioneers, and brought back for the enjoyment of British motorists. Oil development was marketed not as exploitation, but as an inevitable component of western modernity.

Meanwhile, Iranians appeared only at the margins, either as labourers or collateral damage in the larger drama of oil. “Gone are the captains and kings,” proclaimed one BP advertisement. “Their citadels are crumbled to dust.”

A century later, the great game for oil continues in Iran

In his 1978 book Orientalism, Palestinian literary scholar Edward Said observed:

“Always there lurks the assumption that although the western consumer belongs to a numerical minority, he is entitled either to own or to expend (or both) the majority of the world’s resources. Why? Because he, unlike the Oriental, is a true human being.”

That presumption has shaped western attitudes toward oil-producing regions for more than a century. In Iran specifically, it has led to a repeating cycle of conflict over its oil resources, with Iranian leaders often characterized as dangerous, unpredictable and greedy.

In 1953, the United Kingdom and the United States conspired to overthrow Iran’s elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, after he nationalized Iran’s oil industry.

In the 1920s, the perceived dangers associated with Iran were largely environmental: mountains to cross, deserts to traverse and infrastructure to build.

Today, the dangers are far more complex and geopolitical in nature, with risks focused on nuclear proliferation, religious conflicts and disruptions to global markets.

Yet, the underlying logic of the current war with Iran remains strikingly familiar: western military might is being marshalled to eliminate threats and capture the oil western leaders seek to control.

Ian Wereley previously received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

– ref. The West has long characterized Iran’s oil as a prize to be claimed – https://theconversation.com/the-west-has-long-characterized-irans-oil-as-a-prize-to-be-claimed-278379

March 18, 2026

The case for combined events: How decathlon and heptathlon training could solve a crisis in youth sport

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kurt Michael Downes, PhD Candidate, Kinesiology, University of Windsor

When the World Athletics Indoor Championships get underway in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland, on March 20, be sure to tune in to the men’s seven-event heptathlon and the women’s five-event pentathlon.

The move indoors means there are fewer events compared to the men’s decathlon (10 events) and women’s heptathlon held at outdoor events like the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last fall and the Olympics, but these events deserve the spotlight — and not just for the incredible athleticism.

The real lessons these events offer have less to do with medals and extend far beyond winning and losing. Instead, this sport setting provides an opportunity to reimagine how we develop athletes. What if the blueprint for building better athletes isn’t about doing multiple sports, but instead about doing multiple events?

Each year, North American sport is confronted with the same problem: Growing numbers of children are pressured by parents, coaches and leagues to commit to a single sport. Before they even reach their teens, kids are “encouraged” (and by encouraged we mean pressured) to spend more time specializing in their sport to gain a competitive edge. Yet, research suggests the opposite is true: Studies consistently link early specializaton to burnout, higher rates of overuse injuries and sport dropout.

Interestingly, this paradox suggests the very pathway thought to build champions often pushes promising athletes out of sport. An alternative may be found in track and field’s combined events. The decathlon and heptathlon require athletes to run, jump and throw across a slate of events, unlike single-sport specialists.

The advantage is that the combined events allow athletes to develop every major athletic quality: speed, power, endurance, agility and strength. When you add both linear and rotational movements, you get one of the most complete athlete-development systems in sport.

In essence, the combined events represent a more updated and advanced version of the Long-Term Athlete Development Plan, a program designed to outline appropriate stages of athletic growth, build on fundamental movement skills and develop sport-specific competency while reducing injury and burnout.

As such, we ask whether a run-jump-throw system based on the combined events model could be the answer to early specialization in youth sport.

The problem of early specialization

Early sport specialization often refers to year-round participation in a single sport, a trend now common across youth athletics. Examples include young hockey, basketball and soccer players who are pushed toward club or academy teams with daily programs to stay competitive and ensure the “right” people can see them play.

These clubs and academies come with hefty tuition, major travel expenses and logistics, and they may even require kids to leave home and find room and board.

But even outside these commitments, young athletes and their families often feel the need to hire extra personal skills trainers, find additional practice time, compete on multiple teams and more throughout the year in order to keep up with their peers and squeeze every ounce of performance out of their young bodies in and out of season. Once involved in a youth sport at a competitive level, there is no time (or money) for other sports.

At first glance, practice and competition in a single sport seems like a surefire plan for success; with a “more hours equals better” mindset, how could it not? Unfortunately, research tells a different story. Studies consistently show that early specialization is not the most effective pathway to high performance, and a singular focus on one sport instead becomes a risky gamble in long-term athlete development.

Kids who focus on one sport routinely face repetitive overuse injuries, ranging from stress fractures to tendinitis and the loss of motivation to participate in sport.

What’s most concerning is that youth sport dropout rates average roughly 35 per cent per year, and early specialization is consistently linked with even higher dropout risk driven by less play, more pressure and an unbalanced developmental path.

Enter the combined events

Since reports suggest early specialization limits an athlete’s growth, we suggest looking to one of sport’s most multifaceted disciplines as the remedy. In track and field, the decathlon and heptathlon demand a broad skill set that spans the full range of athletic abilities.

Over the course of two demanding days, combined-event athletes sprint, hurdle, jump, throw and run. Scaled-down developmental versions also exist, offering age- and skill-appropriate movements instead of early mastery of a single sport.

This diversity can also align with what sport scientists describe as windows of trainability: periods when young athletes are especially primed to develop speed, agility, co-ordination and endurance. Training across multiple disciplines ensures these important windows of development are not missed.

The difference with early specialization is undeniable. While a young soccer player may log thousands of contacts with the ball by age 12, an athlete in youth combined events is learning to hurdle, jump, throw and pace distance runs. This variety builds broad physical literacy, spreads stress across the body and reduces the overuse injuries common in single-sport pathways. It provides the range, balance and adaptability youth athletes need in order to avoid the pitfalls of early specialization.

An outdoor sports events with a young woman landing a long jump in the foreground — Scaled-down developmental versions of combined events exist, offering age and skill-appropriate movements instead of early mastery of a single sport.
(Pexels/Chris I)

Why it matters for kids in sport

Ultimately, the combined events are the antidote for early specialization. Training across the sprints, jumps, throws and distance events keeps kids moving in different ways and across different planes. It avoids the monotony and repetitive stress that pushes so many away from sport.

Long-term athlete development models, which are the gold standard of athlete development across sports, promote broad skill development. Here’s why there’s such a strong case for the combined events:

Fewer injuries: Combined-event training spreads physical stress, lowering the risk of overuse injuries. Research shows that early specialization increases injury risk, while variety builds resistance..
Stronger foundations: A mix of running, jumping and throwing helps develop comprehensive physical literacy through a wide mixture of skills, which in turn allows athletes to grow healthier and reach higher levels in sport.
More fun, less burnout: Keeping practices fresh with new challenges increases motivation. It reduces burnout and keeps kids engaged in sport..

For parents, coaches, schools, clubs and policymakers, the combined events have a format that can be easily delivered and easily integrated into youth sport. As an example, a youth athlete playing soccer (the most highly participated sport in Canada for ages five to 17), can become more athletically proficient during the off-season.

The goal is not to replace soccer. Instead, introducing the principles of combined events can enhance performance and enjoyment. First-step acceleration helps with breakaway speed, jumping develops power for change of direction and throwing builds muscular co-ordination and trunk strength. The combined events’ weekly rotation through sprints, jumps, throws and endurance work is supported by science.

Burnout to balance

Early specialization can look like a shortcut, but it often leads to injuries, burnout and kids leaving sport. The path meant to create champions can end careers before they start.

Combined events offer a better way, blending power, endurance, technical skill and adaptability.

The science is clear: broad experiences in childhood lay the best foundation for long-term success. Most kids won’t become decathletes or heptathletes, but the message is simple: variety matters, but only when it’s balanced, intentional and developmentally appropriate. The right mix of skills develops better young athletes and keeps them engaged.

Kurt Michael Downes receives funding from the Coaching Association of Ontario (CAO). He is the President and Head Coach of the Border City Athletics Club (a not-for-profit organization) and serves on the boards of Family Fuse and Resilient Kids Canada (both not-for-profit organizations).

Kevin Milne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The case for combined events: How decathlon and heptathlon training could solve a crisis in youth sport – https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-combined-events-how-decathlon-and-heptathlon-training-could-solve-a-crisis-in-youth-sport-270263

March 18, 2026

OpenAI’s safety pledges in the wake of Tumbler Ridge aren’t AI regulation — they’re surveillance

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon, Assistant Professor in Health Ethics, Simon Fraser University

In a span of two days following news that the Tumbler Ridge perpetrator’s ChatGPT account had been flagged prior to the shooting, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon and British Colombia Premier David Eby.

He secured commitments on both sides: reporting threats directly to the RCMP, retroactive review of previously flagged accounts, distress-redirect protocols, access to the company’s safety office for Canadian experts and an agreement to work with B.C. on regulatory recommendations to Ottawa.

He also agreed to apologize to the community of Tumbler Ridge, where 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar killed eight people and wounded many others before dying of a self-inflicted wound. Months prior to the shooting, Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account had been flagged for scenarios involving gun violence. The account was banned, but not reported to law enforcement.

OpenAI’s new commitments are significant gestures. But they resolve a narrower question than the one Tumbler Ridge actually raised. As I argued earlier, the core problem was not a reporting failure. It was a governance vacuum.

What’s changed since? OpenAI has agreed to make the same type of unilateral determination it made before, but to act on it more aggressively, routing the result directly to the RCMP. That is not a fix. It is the same unaccountable architecture with a faster trigger.

The human-in-the-loop fallacy

Consider what we now know about the internal process. The shooter’s account was flagged. Human moderators reviewed the interactions. Some advocated escalating to law enforcement. Other humans, guided by the company’s own opaque thresholds, decided against it. The breakdown was not mechanical. It was institutional.

“Human in the loop” is one of the most repeated reassurances in AI safety discourse. The Tumbler Ridge case exposes its limits. Humans in the loop are only as accountable as the institutional structure around them. When that structure is a private corporation with no legally binding reporting obligations, no transparency requirements and no external oversight, the human in the loop is simply a more sympathetic face on an unaccountable system.

OpenAI has since announced that its thresholds have been updated. But updated by whom, according to what criteria, subject to what review? These remain internal decisions, invisible to the public and unreachable by Parliament.

The surveillance substitution

There is a deeper problem that receives almost no attention. The proposed settlement does not regulate AI. It regulates users.

The entire apparatus being constructed (internal threat identification, flagging, direct RCMP referral) is oriented toward monitoring what people say to AI, not toward how AI systems are designed, trained or constrained in their responses.

True AI regulation asks whether a model might facilitate or amplify harmful ideation through its interaction patterns. It asks how the system is built, what it’s tested for and what obligations attach to its deployment.

The current arrangement asks none of these questions. Instead, it builds a pipeline from private AI interactions to law enforcement, administered by a corporation, governed by proprietary policy.

I call this the surveillance substitution: a governance vacuum gets filled not with democratic regulation, but with corporate surveillance of users. It is not regulation of AI. It is regulation of the people who use AI, conducted by the AI company itself, with the police as the endpoint.

The civil liberties implications are substantial. Research on compassion-sensitive AI, including my own work on how AI systems should respond to users in vulnerable states, consistently shows that people disclose distress to chatbots precisely because the interaction feels private and non-judgmental.

If that space becomes a monitored channel where concerning disclosures trigger law enforcement referrals based on opaque corporate criteria, the most vulnerable users may stop disclosing. The chilling effect on help-seeking behaviour has not been studied, and it has not been discussed in any of the public negotiations following Tumbler Ridge.

Rational strategy, absent framework

It’s important to be precise about what OpenAI is doing. The company is not acting in bad faith. It is behaving as a rational private entity in the absence of a regulatory framework, offering the minimum viable response to political pressure while preserving as much operational autonomy as possible.

Look south and the logic becomes clearer. In the United States, the relationship between AI companies and government power is being forcibly renegotiated. The Pentagon has sought AI models with safety guardrails removed for military applications. When Anthropic resisted, OpenAI moved to fill the gap. In that context, the U.S. government commands and AI companies comply.

In Canada, the dynamic is inverted: OpenAI is not being commanded. It is volunteering concessions designed to pre-empt the kind of binding legislation that would actually constrain its operations. Support broad norms with no immediate legal force; resist specific domestic obligations that carry real consequences. This is how regulatory capture begins: not with corruption, but with convenience.

Canada has genuine leverage here: an unusual cross-party consensus that something must change, public attention that has given AI governance a human face, and a provincial government that understands the stakes.

But leverage evaporates. If the federal government accepts OpenAI’s pledges as a sufficient response, it normalizes corporate self-regulation as the baseline. Future companies will cite this arrangement as precedent. The window for legislation narrows.

What durable governance requires

The response that Tumbler Ridge demands is not more efficient surveillance of users. It is a regulatory architecture that addresses the systems themselves.

That means binding legislation with legally defined thresholds for when AI companies must refer flagged interactions to authorities: thresholds defined by Parliament, developed with mental health professionals, privacy experts and law enforcement, not inherited from a company’s terms of service.

It means an independent triage body so that flagged interactions are assessed by professionals equipped to distinguish ideation from intent, accountable to public law rather than corporate liability. And it means model-level accountability: regulatory attention that moves upstream from users to systems. How are these models designed to respond to escalating disclosures of violent ideation? What testing obligations apply? What auditing requirements exist?

These questions are absent from the current political negotiations, and their absence defines the limits of what the current pledges can achieve.

OpenAI’s commitments following Tumbler Ridge are the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one. Canada holds good cards. The question is whether it plays them, or lets the other side set the rules while the table is still being built.

Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. OpenAI’s safety pledges in the wake of Tumbler Ridge aren’t AI regulation — they’re surveillance – https://theconversation.com/openais-safety-pledges-in-the-wake-of-tumbler-ridge-arent-ai-regulation-theyre-surveillance-278364

March 18, 2026

Evangelical holy war: Why some Christians think Trump will end the world

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Matthew Burkholder, PhD Candidate, Theological Studies, University of Toronto

Soldiers in the United States Armed Forces have lodged more than 100 complaints with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) stating that their commanders are using extremist religious rhetoric to describe the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.

According to some complaints, American military commanders have told their troops the attack on Iran is a holy war, and that U.S. President Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

In a recent interview with Democracy Now!, the MRFF’s president, Mikey Weinstein, said the foundation was “inundated” with calls from soldiers indicating that commanders across the armed forces “were euphoric” because the war would serve as a way to “bring their version of weaponized Jesus back.”

The comments are among other violent religious rhetoric to come from U.S. officials. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, caused a diplomatic row when he suggested Israel had a biblical claim to take over much of the Middle East.

The language also comes as some American officials have sought to characterize the Iranian government as fanatical. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran was run by “religious fanatic lunatics.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said: “Crazy regimes like Iran, hell-bent on prophetic Islamic delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons.”

Meanwhile, American televangelist John Hagee recently claimed that Russia, Turkey, “what’s left of Iran” and “groups of Islamics” would soon invade Israel and be destroyed by God.

Democracy Now video: Whistleblowers speak out about religious extremism in military amid war on Iran.

American evangelicalism

During my PhD in Christian theology, I’ve asked why some American evangelical religious movements, which have gained increasing visibility and power through President Donald Trump’s MAGA politics shaped heavily by white Christian nationalism, embrace violent interpretations of what theologians refer to as “eschatology” (a theology of end times).

While the term “evangelical Christian” is notoriously difficult to define, historian David Bebbington, who focused on these movements in the United Kingdom, delineated four broad charactersitics: a strong belief in the Bible, the death of Jesus for sins, a conversion experience and social activism.

My own research specialization is how modern Protestant Christians, including evangelical Christians, understand the significance of Jesus’s death, also referred to as the atonement, and its relationship to the end times.

Seeking Armageddon

Rhetoric about wars being religious, and Trump being divinely anointed and about to cause Armageddon, is deeply disturbing and has catalyzed condemnation from Christians in the U.S. and beyond advocating non-violent and diplomatic foreign policy.

Violent U.S. religious rhetoric being amplified with the U.S.-Israel war against Iran is associated with beliefs that once Israel is restored as a nation and the temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt, Jesus will return and judge humanity.

Christians adhering to these views read the Biblical Book of Revelation, with its vivid symbolic apocalyptic language, as making literal claims about history. They maintain their inspired and authoritative Biblical interpretation allows them to know that conflicts in the Middle East initiate God’s final act in history, with Trump seen as the dominating and aggressive man who can help usher in God’s violent judgment of his enemies.

Interpretations of Jesus’s death and violence

It’s relevant to consider how some Christian beliefs about Jesus’s death correlate with a willingness to support or justify violence.

Protestant Evangelical theologians, such as J. I. Packer and John Stott, argue that Jesus’s death primarily “paid the penalty” for human sin. They emphasize that God’s holiness requires a payment for this sin. In this framework, God orchestrates the violent death of Jesus to satisfy God’s penal justice to forgive humanity.

Non-evangelical Christians, on the other hand, like 19th-century Congregationalist Horace Bushnell and contemporary Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver, understand the death of Jesus as an example of God’s love.

In this interpretation, Jesus doesn’t endure violence to pay a debt to God. Instead, the death of Jesus is more akin to that of a martyr’s tragic death. These theologians reject violence as a condition for forgiveness.

A 2012 debate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) about a hymn demonstrates this tension, with a proposed change of hymn lyrics from “on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied” to “the love of God was magnified.” Ultimately, the authors rejected the proposal.

But the conflict demonstrates that Christians are passionate about their different interpretations of Jesus’s death.

Divine violence in atonement

Researchers have shown that penal atonement beliefs predict a negative association with a sense of responsibility for reducing pain and suffering in the world. This is not surprising when violence is incorporated as redemptive into theological frameworks.

I make a connection in my PhD dissertation between accepting divine violence in the atonement and divine violence in eschatology. Of course, this topic is far more complex and nuanced. Nonetheless, Christians are always going through a process of interpretation and negotiation when it comes to sacred texts.

For example, is Jesus the warrior Christ of Revelation 19 riding a warhorse to go into battle against his enemies or the teacher of peace in Matthew 21 who commands his followers to love their enemies just as God perfectly does?

Biblical interpretation and political beliefs

For those who see violence as a tool for redemption, they are more apt to subvert Jesus’s nonviolent teaching with images found in the Biblical book of Revelation. For those who see violence as incompatible with Christian ethics, they will interpret this allegorically, and with humility, paying attention to signs of God not just in their own lives and “insider” group. These two approaches will also inform political beliefs as well.

Consider a recent social media post by Reformed Baptist theologian and pastor John Piper. The post simply quotes Leviticus 19:34:

“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Piper was quickly labelled “woke” and pushing an “irresponsible” theology by Trump supporters. American theologan Russell Moore noted years ago:

“Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — ‘turn the other cheek’ — to have someone come up after to say, ‘Where did you get those liberal talking points?’”

A more responsible evangelical theology

I argue Christians should not believe in a God of violent death, but life. Violent atonement and eschatology portrays a God who is not above revenge and a God who leaves most of humanity hopeless.

We are left asking a series of disturbing questions if God is indeed about to end the world with violence. Why does the tone of this theology resemble the tone of empire, which crushes enemies instead of building bridges with them? Why does Jesus, as One Person of the One God, expect his followers to love their enemies — if God the Father ultimately does not?

All Christians in the U.S. and beyond need to reject violent theology as incompatible with the love of God that was magnified on the cross.

Matthew Burkholder is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

– ref. Evangelical holy war: Why some Christians think Trump will end the world – https://theconversation.com/evangelical-holy-war-why-some-christians-think-trump-will-end-the-world-277617

March 18, 2026

Indigenous-led renewable energy projects offer benefits that reach far beyond reducing carbon emissions

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ian Munroe, Research Associate, Sinton Lab, University of Toronto

The number of renewable energy projects that are fully or partly Indigenous-owned is growing quickly in Canada, and our new research suggests that their benefits reach far beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The number of such projects on traditional Indigenous territories and reserve lands jumped by more than 300 per cent between 2009 and 2020. Nearly one-fifth of the country’s electricity-generating infrastructure involved First Nations, Métis and Inuit partners or beneficiaries as of 2022.

Yet little is known about the impacts of these renewable-energy projects within the participating communities beyond the physical footprint of the construction.

We aimed to fill this information policy gap in response to a request from two organizations that work extensively with First Nations, the Clean Energy Association of British Columbia and the New Relationship Trust, which obtained funding from Natural Resources Canada to conduct research.

Together we conducted a study to paint a more complete picture of these broader impacts, interviewing knowledge-holders in 14 First Nations in British Columbia involved with 36 planned or operational Indigenous-led renewable energy projects.

We found that these projects employ “placed-based” approaches, often with a high degree of community engagement early on, and revenues often allocated to support their own culture, governance, ecology, support services and economy.

Transformational change

a solar panel with wind turbines in the far distance with the setting sun — The world is entering a new era in which energy independence will be more important.
(Unsplash/Alexander Mils)

We found that when First Nations’ worldviews are centred and community control is enabled, broad social and cultural benefits result, providing greater self-determination.

As part of our research, we interviewed knowledge-holders from the West Moberly First Nations near Peace River, B.C. The nation has used wind-project revenues to support cultural camps and youth programs. As one knowledge-holder there told us:

“We are involved in it, and we are engaged in it. We are co-owners. And I know our Elders feel really good about hearing that. Knowing that we are not just sitting on the sidelines, while other people fill their pockets in our territory. And our community is doing that kind of stuff more and more. There is a connection there, right, because you are involved. More money is flowing to the community.”

In the Fraser Canyon region, the T’eqt’aqtn’mux (Kanaka Bar Indian Band), which has been affected by wildfires in recent years, has used proceeds from solar projects to reduce fire hazards and protect homes.

In the case of the Skidegate Band Council, we heard that revenues from a two-megawatt microgrid solar project would go toward funding Tll Yahda Energy, a partnership with the Old Massett Village Council to develop renewable energy projects in Haida Gwaii.

While these results demonstrate that a broad range of positive outcomes can flow from Indigenous-led renewable energy projects, the social and cultural impacts remain neglected in conventional energy practice.

An alternative to traditional energy planning

The Indigenous-led projects we heard about stand in contrast to typically used top-down decision-making, favoured by governments.

This approach is often characterized by public consultation that occurs after the decision of where to site the project has been made, often leading to local rejection of the project, and sometimes cancellation.

The bottom-up nature of the approaches we heard about hold important lessons that can enable widespread acceptance of energy transitions.

This is particularly relevant in B.C., where the provincial government is encouraging renewable energy projects to create economic opportunity and counter external economic shocks, including tariffs from the United States.

an aerial view of a group of solar panels — Indigenous-led approaches can support communities and aid progress toward decarbonization goals.
(Unsplash/Anders J)

This policy push extends to the province’s more than 200 First Nations, with a 2025 procurement call that requires at least 25 per cent First Nations ownership of a project.

The B.C. government must also meet its obligations under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), which aims to bring provincial legislation into agreement with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The UN treaty requires that state parties enable self-determination and obtain free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples for projects that impact their lands or resources. Indigenous-led renewable electricity projects in B.C. could help meet requirements under DRIPA to provide pathways for First Nations to improve their economic and social conditions without discrimination.

The Indigenous-led approaches we studied provide a vehicle to support Indigenous communities and make progress toward the province’s decarbonization goals. They also hold valuable lessons for developing policy in other jurisdictions like Ontario, where the provincial government has pledged to boost support for the growing number of Indigenous energy projects.

The world is entering a new era in which energy independence will be more important. Our findings about Indigenous-led projects illustrate a radically different approach to growing the Canada’s renewables industry in a way that can provide energy and facilitate transformational social and cultural change.

Christina E. Hoicka receives funding from the Canada Research Chair Secretariat, the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, CANSTOREnergy project NFRFT-2022-00197, New Frontiers in Research Fund Global NFRFG-2020-00339, funding from Natural Resources Canada Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities Program, Capacity Building Stream funding program, all of which supported this research. The research was conducted in partnership with the Clean Energy Association of British Columbia and the New Relationship Trust.

Anna Berka and Ian Munroe do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Indigenous-led renewable energy projects offer benefits that reach far beyond reducing carbon emissions – https://theconversation.com/indigenous-led-renewable-energy-projects-offer-benefits-that-reach-far-beyond-reducing-carbon-emissions-276612