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UVic philosophy grad shooting documentary on men's soccer team

Anew documentary will follow the Vikes Men's Soccer team for two years, as they prepare for their season and host the national U sports Men’s Soccer Championship in November 2026.

For the documentary’s director, Raymond Dimmitt — a UVic philosophy graduate — deeper questions are at play than how the team performs at the championship. He says the documentary will explore young players’ identities, posing the existential question: what does it mean to be an athlete?

The project is an intersection of Dimmitt's passions: sports, philosophy, and film-making, with a topic that carries personal resonance. Growing up, he was a keen soccer player before discovering a talent for basketball. Emigrating from the UAE, Dimmitt was eager to play varsity hoops, but this dream was rapidly shot down. Faced with the high standard of play in Canada, Dimmitt was disappointed

when he didn’t make the UVic team.

"My whole kind of idea of what I'm supposed to do was flipped on its head," Dimmitt said.

That identity crisis, realizing how precarious an athlete’s sense of self can be, is at the core of the documentary.

Many of the athletes in the film may be uncertain about their futures after university. One injury, or simply aging out of collegiate sports, can spell an early end to one’s athletic career. Dimmitt remains positive, however, and is careful not to project assumptions of failure.

"As an athlete myself,” he said, “we expect the best.”

Still, it’s inevitable that, for many, varsity sports will not lead to a full-time career. "We have to be able to underline the reality of like, not everyone's going to make it pro,” Dimmitt said.

“But in that same instant, we get this beautiful array of existential dialogue of what it actually means to walk on the lines of the athlete — ‘will I make it pro, will I not? What happens afterwards if I don't? Who am I? What am I defined as?’"

He's not asking these questions alone.

The documentary’s co-writer, Emily Thomson — a fellow philosophy graduate — brings her perspective to the project. A soccer player of sixteen years, Thomson says she personally connects with the players. Having missed out on important games due to injuries, she knows what losing an opportunity can mean to an athlete.

"We're really hoping to capture the essence of what it means to have your

"We're really hoping to capture the essence of what it means to have your identity tied to your athletic career," she said, "and the existential nature of transitioning out of that collegiate athlete realm."

Dimmitt’s documentary concept originated from a joke about filming the interpersonal dynamics of his

recreational soccer team. His friend and UVic varsity player, Yassin Guitouni, brought the idea to the Vikes, who loved it.

It snowballed from there. "All of a sudden, I'm talking to Nick Clarke, the dean of varsity athletics at UVic," Dimmitt said.

The project, which begins filming this summer, arrives as the conversation around soccer in Canada reaches fever pitch. Alongside the U.S. and Mexico, Canada is set to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026, with matches being held at Toronto Stadium and BC Place in Vancouver.

Closer to home, UVic will host eight top competitors for the 2026 U sports Men’s Soccer Championship — the university’s first time hosting in 15 years.

Despite the auspicious timing, the film is not intended to be promotional, nor is it a conventional tale of a team's road to competition glory.

"Nationals is a huge part of it, it’s kind of a peak in the documentary," said Thomson, "but what we keep saying, is 'it doesn't matter if they win,

or lose, or do well or not. It's still a story.’"

Though this will be a demanding two years for the Vikes, Dimmitt says that the team, including Head Coach Larry Stefanek, have been welcoming. Dimmitt wasn’t sure this would be the case.

"From my side, [there was hesitation] for sure,” he said, “I was worried about coming in. I was concerned about being an unbalanced outsider who would come in."

As a “fly-on-the-wall,” Dimmitt wants to maintain team chemistry, but capture vulnerability. "We need to make sure that we are capturing the full picture of things, the rage, the anger, the frustration, the stress. That is such a big part of sport."

Ultimately, the message goes beyond the locker room. Dimmitt said, “Even though it's about soccer, if I'm able to get through to you, even if someone's not even played the sport, if even a sliver of a second you feel a little bit seen, understood, I have completely accomplished my task as a filmmaker. That's my complete goal.”

Photo by Angelo Pontalti. SARAH

Is B.C. falling behind on motorcycle safety?

Some motorcyclists say legalizing lane filtering would improve road safety

LIAM

Commuting by motorcycle is affordable, space-efficient, and fun — but for UVic students like Nathyn Sutton, outdated laws and rising congestion are making motorcycle commuting riskier than it should be.

“It’s just faster, I think, and it’s cheaper in different ways than cars. Actually getting around on campus — it’s a lot easier because there’s more spots open than with cars,” Sutton said. Each day, Sutton rides just a few minutes to campus along McKenzie Avenue, slipping through the city’s increasingly congested roads. While Victoria celebrates its climate-focused overhaul of transportation infrastructure, with more bus lanes, bike paths, and pedestrian corridors, student motorcyclists like Sutton say they’re being left out of the conversation.

Jamie Chartrand of TractionWerks, a high-performance motorcycle training school, echoed Sutton’s sentiment. He believes that despite their practicality, motorcycles continue to be excluded from the province’s transportation priorities.

“I think we’re the forgotten mode of transport,” Chartrand said. Under the province’s current traffic laws, riders wearing full safety gear risk discomfort and potentially heat exhaustion when forced to remain stationary in traffic during hot weather — something that advocates say could be mitigated by legalizing lane filtering: the practice of motorcycles moving slowly between stopped or slow-moving cars, rather than remaining stationary.

“Staying moving is going to cool you down,” Chartrand said. Victoria motorcyclist Shane Michael O’Leary added that riding “even five kilometres an hour … with a visor cracked [is better] than sitting in 30°C heat with the visor all the way open.”

Six UVic

“If it’s a hot day, you don’t want to be wearing a whole leather jacket — way too hot, way too uncomfortable,” Sutton said, “And it can honestly make it more dangerous because you’re more focused on being too hot than on the road.”

That’s where lane filtering comes into focus. In many locations worldwide, including California, France, and Australia, lane filtering is legal and widely credited with reducing collisions, especially the rear-end crashes that can seriously injure stopped motorcyclists.

But in B.C., the practice remains banned.

“If you’re sitting in traffic and you’re at the end of the line, cars are coming up real fast behind you and if they’re [not paying attention] — you can get sandwiched between two [cars],” Sutton said, “It’s not a fun feeling.” Sutton is far from alone. O’Leary was rear-ended while sitting stationary on Blanshard Street, despite taking all the right precautions.

O’Leary said he was checking his

mirrors “constantly,” and doing everything by the book. When he was rear-ended, he said he had “less than one” second to react. Luckily, he was in full protective gear, but that didn’t stop him from sustaining soft tissue damage and bruising down his left side.

He said he believes legalizing lane filtering “100 per cent” would have prevented his crash.

O’Leary pointed to B.C.’s Vision Zero road safety initiative — which declares that no deaths on the road are acceptable — and criticized the province’s inaction on traffic laws that would otherwise protect motorcyclists.

“I think it’s ignorant,” he said. “Zero deaths on a road … there are so many other things that play into that kind of a goal that [aren’t] realistic that it just seems silly to say, ‘we want zero deaths — but we don’t want lane filtering though.’ That’s not cool.”

Ron Cronk, an instructor with the Vancouver Island Safety Council, took a

UVIC

Land defenders build tiny house in Campus Community Garden

The project is part of an ongoing resistance effort against the PRGT pipeline in Northern B.C.

MANMITHA DEEPTHI VOLUNTEER STAFF WRITER

Between May 16 and May 30, UVic’s Campus Community Gardens (CCG) hosted a community-led project to construct a tiny house.

Organized by the Friends of Gitxsan and Gitanyow, the tiny house project supports Indigenous resistance to fossil fuel expansion in Northern British Columbia. The house will provide a home for Maas Gwitkunuxws (Teresa Brown) of Wilp Gitludahl, who runs a dog rescue and resistance camp on Gitxsan territory, in the planned path of the controversial Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline.

The PRGT pipeline, originally approved in 2014, is an approximately 800 kilometer project designed to move natural gas from Northeast B.C. to the west coast for export. The original route ended at Lelu Island in the mouth of the Skeena River — a crucial stop for wild salmon. Local resistance and environmental concerns halted the project in 2017, and its original backer withdrew.

The project was quietly revived in recent years after the outstanding shares were sold to the Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government and Western LNG. Construction began on Nisg̱a’a treaty lands along the Nass River, reigniting tension and opposition in the area.

In August 2024, Gitanyow hereditary chiefs burned their pipeline agreements and set up roadblocks, while concerns about the project’s cost, lack of full Indigenous consent, and environmental risks persist in both Indigenous and nonIndigenous communities.

Legal challenges against the BC Energy Regulator over its handling of the proposal are also underway.

While only a small portion of the pipeline has been built so far, discussions about consultation and environmental impact continue, and efforts like those of Maas Gwitkunuxws’ camp — and the tiny home project — show that some people are taking concrete action. Savannah Barratt, a volunteer and member of the collective behind the project, told the Martlet that the tiny house is more than just a structure.

“Building a tiny house to block a piece of technology is a representation of that connection, that relationship to territory [and place] … that this is a home, and this is a place of resistance, where people are living their lives.”

According to Barratt, between 150

and 200 people contributed to the project through donations and volunteer work.

Barratt said it was “quite beautiful in some ways” to build the tiny house in an environment like the CCG.

“We grow [strong communities] with food, localization, resilience, and community, but we also grow them with tiny houses and volunteers.… It wasn't just a ‘Hi, can we plop this in the garden?’ It was really about centering community relationships and that those are what make us strong.”

Community engagement played a major role in completing the tiny house build on time. Barratt said that some gardeners would come over and inquire what they were doing, while

Photo by Mike Graeme.

others got involved through other means, and contributed by raising funds, spreading the word, and building the house itself.

“What we're trying to do here is build that community connection, build the kind of stronger community that can stand up when injustice is happening,” she said.

Emphasizing Indigenous sovereignty and leadership was another key aspect. “This project was always based around following Indigenous leadership,” Barratt said.

“This isn't just about, you know, ‘down with the pipeline.’ This is about nations being sovereign and leading on their territory, making decisions about their territory, and [asking] ‘how are we collectively supporting

How to make new friends on campus A guide for incoming students

that?’”

The volunteers organized a number of workshops during the build process, which Barratt described as a means to ground their emotions.

“That ongoing challenge of … [juxtaposing] the beautiful passion of people with the ugly reality of why you're having to do this, and carrying people's emotional energy through that process, was what the workshops really were for,” she said.

“But it was a struggle at times for people to go through this process,” Barratt said. “We don't necessarily want to have to build houses to stand in the way of pipelines. We'd rather just build houses because people want homes."

Regarding future plans, Barratt said that they will be creating a guide on how to organize and build a tiny house, along with talks about how to continue supporting land defenders.

Although the house itself is tiny, Barratt said that it’s part of a much larger issue, and that the work is ongoing.

“If you want to learn about the tiny house, [there’s] also a responsibility to learn about why the tiny house is necessary, and who else has been doing all the work in order to receive [it] up north.”

While the tiny house is already built, and has left the CCG, Barratt still encourages people to pay attention and get involved with the Friends of Gitxsan and Gitanyow.

“If you love art, come do art. If you love spreadsheets, come do spreadsheets,” she said. “If you love making music, there's room for that … It doesn't end just because the tiny house has all its screws [and] all its nails put in.”

Greek and Roman Studies 200 runs Mondays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.

ENSH240: INTRODUCTION TO A MAJOR AUTHOR: TAYLOR SWIFT

English 240 is a variable topics course

Ever wanted to learn about Greek and Roman mythology? This 200 level introductory course is the perfect way to explore these myths in historical and contemporary contexts, including through film and visual arts. Topics may include heroes, the gods, local myths, and the influence of Greek and Roman myth on European culture.

focusing on a single author, and this fall, it's Taylor Swift. According to the course description, this class “will treat Taylor Swift as the major author she is, and treat her song lyrics as serious verse.”

Taking a variety of her songs and albums, students will explore different themes, including gender norms, adolescence, misogyny, and girlhood.

The course runs on Mondays and Thursdays from 4:00 p.m. – 5:20 p.m.

Dive into the horrific and grotesque side of video games in this course offered by the Art History and Visual Studies department. Students will look at independent and mainstream digital games to analyze their use of horror tropes using a variety of theoretical perspectives, including zombies, gendered monsters, body horror, and the Satanic Panic.

This online course runs on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:30 p.m. – 5:50 p.m.

When we were young, having friends didn't mean a whole lot. There were people you played tag with, but as we get older, those connections came to mean a lot more. They became more than just our friends; they became the foundations of our support network — almost like family members. They're the people we lean on when we need help getting through our complicated lives. Our friendships can also help us understand our strengths and weaknesses as individuals, and play a significant role in shaping who we are. University can be a transitional period, where students are far away from the friends and support networks they grew up with. Connecting with people in the same stage of life enhances the university experience and can help students cope with living away from home. The 'tricky' part of university friendships is making them. Here are three helpful tips that will make you new friends in a jiffy.

TALK TO PEOPLE

While it may seem obvious, this is often the most uncomfortable part of making friends. If this makes you nervous, however, you should remember that you are all in the same boat. To make meaningful connections on campus,

get out and talk

NICOLAS IHMELS VOLUNTEER STAFF WRITER

Illustration by Sona Eidnani.

SUB vandalized by transphobic graffiti

UVSS says appearance of graffiti at the beginning of Pride Month constitues "premeditated hate crime"

ETHAN BARKLEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

TW: This article contains discussion of transphobia

In an emergency statement released on June 3, the UVSS Board of Directors –– in concert with the Gender Empowerment Centre and the Pride Collective –– stated that transphobic graffiti had been found in the SUB on Monday, June 2.

The graffiti consisted of one message targeting the transgender community as a whole, and another targeting transgender women specifically.

“This was a premeditated hate crime carried out on the first day of Pride Month that the SUB was open,” reads the statement.

This is not the first time transphobic and hateful messages have appeared at UVic. Beau Houle, communications and

Part of

outreach coordinator for the Gender Empowerment Centre, told the Martlet that graffiti is a common way that transphobic sentiments are expressed on campus.

“The graffiti seems to be a popular technique, unfortunately,” they said.

In 2022, the Martlet reported that transphobic messages were found in the Clearihue Building. Similarly, in 2024, the Multifaith Centre was targeted with racist and Islamophobic posters.

Liya Tensae, office coordinator for the Pride Collective, told the Martlet that while anti-trans sentiments are nothing new, they have been trending upwards in recent years.

“Right now, transphobia — blatant transphobia — is on the rise…. Homophobia and transphobia have never really gone away. Sometimes they just take different forms,” they said. “But I think we can see within the last year how very

clear transphobia has become. It's no longer trying to be subtle.”

In an interview with the Martlet, Lindsey Andrew, director of events at the UVSS, said the board will be exploring the possibility of a committee dedicated to responding to transphobia on campus.

“From my perspective.… It seems that around this time every year there's some kind of incident like this…. I'm shocked that there isn't already some kind of committee,” Andrew said.

Andrew told the Martlet that discussion of this new committee will take place at an upcoming Board of Directors meeting.

In a statement to the Martlet a UVic spokesperson said the university “believes that everyone should have the freedom to live their lives authentically,” and that they “believe that Trans+ lives matter.”

The spokesperson said UVic is concerned about the incident and is “supporting those impacted and working with the Trans+

community at UVic and with external partners to explore how we can better support Trans+ safety.”

UVic’s statement also encouraged students who see graffiti or experience other concerns for their safety to report it to Campus Security (CSEC) right away, and mentioned the many Pride Events at UVic in June.

Both Tensae and Houle emphasized that the SUB is still a safe and welcoming space for 2SLGBTQIA+ students.

“The Pride Collective, as well as all the advocacy groups within the UVSS, are staunchly for trans rights.... We love you, and we want you here, and you are so welcome and needed and appreciated on this campus,” Tensae said. “Even as [attacks like these] become more common,

I like to think to myself that there is so much more love than there is hate here, and within this community.”

“I think [it is] very easy to curate a culture

of fear and hypervigilance. And I think that needs to be balanced with the reality … all the amazing things that are happening [in the community], because that is the stuff that actually builds the future,” Houle said.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article appeared online, indicating that the committee would be discussed at the June 9 Board of Directors meeting. There was no discussion of the committee at this meeting, so the article has been edited to reflect that.

In keeping with our mandate to not publish oppressive copy, the Martlet has not reprinted photos of the messages or the messages themselves.

engineering lab building collapses

UVic announces balanced budget without cuts

For the first time in three years, the university has managed to avoid any cuts to their budget, but some uncertainty still looms

NICK CZERWONKA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

UVic announced it is moving forward with a balanced budget for the 2025–26 fiscal year, without the need for cuts or restrictions.

This is the first time in three years that the university has been able to announce a balanced budget without cuts. Both the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years saw four per cent budget cuts across the board.

Additionally, provincial funding has allowed UVic to expand targeted programs that align with government priorities. The Software Engineering, Computer Science, Health Information Science, and Nurse Practitioner programs have been expanded by a combined 175 full-time student enrollments as a result.

international enrolment, or an 11 per cent decrease in domestic enrolment.

Canada’s current turbulent political relationship with the United States also has the potential to affect the budget.

“The impacts of tariffs and counter tariffs are not yet known and will need to be closely monitored,” reads UVic’s Planning and Budget Framework. “These measures could affect the university’s purchasing power in areas such as facilities construction and purchasing supplies…. Trade uncertainty with the U.S. is likely to lead

Early in the afternoon on June 8, part of the currently under-construction Engineering and Computer Science Building expansion collapsed.

At the beginning of the day, columns of rebar and post-tensioning cable stood tall above the High Bay Research and Structures Lab (HBRSL) construction site. Later in the day, the rebar lay toppled over, causing a temporary closure of Ring Road.

A UVic spokesperson told the Martlet that no one was hurt, but Ring Road was forced to close for several hours Sunday afternoon so the material could be removed from the road. The Engineering and Computer Science Building (ECSE) expansion and the construction of the HBRSL began in 2024. Both projects have been in the works since 2019, beginning with a planning phase, followed by design from 2020–2023. The ECSE will have a common atrium with the existing ECS building, and will house an undergraduate design studio, workstations for graduate students, faculty collaborations space, offices, and a variety of labs.

The HBRSL will house equipment for large-scale geotechnical and environmental research, including large lab spaces near ground level, and office spaces on the upper floors. The lab will be equipped with a reaction wall and a shake table to test materials against simulated earthquakes. The high

headroom in the lab spaces is needed to use cranes indoors safely.

Mechanical engineering student Taz Oldaker said he noticed the disturbance when a friend saw a bus backing up around Ring Road. In an interview with the Martlet, Oldaker said the bus was stopped by a “massive pile of rebar” that had collapsed over the road.

“Strong wall structural rebar and post tensioning cables collapsed,” at the site, the UVic spokesperson confirmed in a statement to the Martlet

Structural rebar is steel bars that are used with concrete in order to strengthen structures against climatic conditions.

Post tensioning cables are used in the construction of high-rise buildings — like the High Bay Research and Structures Lab — because they increase the load-bearing ability of concrete structures, allowing longer distances between weight bearing columns, and flexibility in interior layouts.

“UVic is working closely with their project partners,” the statement

continues, “and an investigation into the incident is now underway.”

Although he isn’t aware of project details, Oldaker said that it wasn’t windy the day the structure collapsed.

“It was a clear day,” he said “so it seemed to just completely collapse under its own weight … It made almost no sound [either], because we didn’t hear it.”

Oldaker said it looked to him “[like] they just didn’t consider how weak the structure was before they poured the

concrete.”

Several Reddit users were quick to point out the irony. One user commented that “they used too much structural air.” The irony of the collapse was not lost on Oldaker, either. “I find the whole situation very funny, very sort of …. endearing, almost” he said.

UVic told the Martlet they have begun an investigation into the incident, but they do not foresee changes to the project’s design.

“It is too early to determine how this incident might impact the costs of the project,” a UVic spokesperson told the Martlet.

Both the contractor, Bird Construction, and the architecture firm, DIALOG design, declined to comment on the incident.

Oldaker said that the incident makes him feel less optimistic about the project. “It’s going to take way longer than they say,” he said, “[and] it’s probably going to have problems … if it’s already having problems before it’s even built.”

Although UVic previously projected that the build would finish in 2024, they currently estimate that the project will be finished in 2026.

Oldaker said that his peers in the Civil Engineering program are low on lab space, and much of their work is currently being done outdoors, in tents. He thinks the building expansion will benefit students in the program “as long as it gets built to the quality it’s supposed to.”

Welcome to the Martlet 's first ever caption contest! Got something funny you would like to see as a caption for this image next issue? Send us an email at edit@martlet.ca to enter the contest!

This announcement comes amid a period of financial stress for postsecondary institutions across Canada, as many are either slashing budgets or running deficits that range into the tens of millions of dollars. Vancouver Island University (VIU), for example, recently announced the cancellation of 14 programs and the suspension of six others, beginning in fall 2025, due to budget constraints.

Many of the financial challenges facing Canadian universities right now stem from the significant restrictions placed on international student visas by the Canadian government, which were

reduced by 35 per cent in 2024, and an additional 10 per cent in 2025.

UVic held a townhall meeting focused on the new operating budget on May 20, during which UVic’s Vice-President Academic and Provost Elizabeth Croft attributed UVic’s relative lack of international students — compared to other Canadian institutions — as a factor that has helped UVic avoid the worst consequences of the restrictions.

Prior to the 2024 restrictions, international students made up 21.2 per cent of all full-time post-secondary

students in Canada, while at UVic, they made up just 13 per cent of the student population. At UVic, that number has since dropped slightly to 12 per cent.

Croft stated that the university desires to bring it back up to 13 per cent, but acknowledged that uncertainties around the future of international education in Canada make it difficult to know how attainable that goal is.

Despite these uncertainties, UVic’s ability to create a balanced budget is a positive sign of continued post-COVID recovery. But there are still risks that

could threaten this current framework.

According to the university’s Planning and Budget Framework, enrolment management remains at the top of these risks. Student fees are anticipated to account for 32 per cent of UVic’s $535 million budget, so recruiting and retaining students remains a top priority.

The university has allocated an $11.5 million contingency fund in the event that they do not meet enrollment expectations. This contingency is enough to absorb the monetary loss that would be caused by a 25 per cent decrease in

Photo by Keila Brock.

How the rise of strategic voting shook up

Vancouver Island politics

This electoral philosophy has revealed for many the cracks in our first-past-the-post system

RAAMIN HAMID SENIOR STAFF WRITER

It’s voting day. The polling station is down the street from your house; only a five minute walk away. You’ve done your research, consulted numerous local and national polls — as all voters do — and have decided who you’re voting for.

Your favourite candidate? They have little chance of winning, unfortunately. You’ve opted to go with the candidate statistically most likely to beat the one you really, really don’t want.

Under our current electoral system, this was the experience of many Canadian voters in this year’s federal election. They knew what party they didn’t want forming government, but not everyone felt they had the luxury to vote for who they truly supported.

Canada’s electoral system is as simple as it is complicated. Single-member plurality, more commonly known as first-past-the-post (FPTP), has been the system which our elections are built on. It is the voting system used federally and provincially in Canada. Constituents vote on a ballot, listing candidates from various parties who are running in their constituency.

Under FPTP, the candidate who receives the most votes — which is not always the majority of the votes — gets a seat in the House of Commons and is recognized as a Member of Parliament (MP).

This past federal election, held on April 28 earlier this year, was the most recent example which demonstrates the results of FPTP.

Not only did the federal election in April determine the party which will be representing Canadians on the federal level — a Liberal minority government led by Mark Carney — but it also saw the rise of many voters voting strategically, rather than for their preferred candidate. The combination of FPTP and strategic voting led to major changes in the political makeup of Vancouver Island, and reaffirmed for many the limitations of our current electoral system.

A POLITICAL SHAKEUP

The recent federal election saw Vancouver Island’s political landscape shift dramatically. The only two returning incumbents were Courtenay–Alberni MP Gord Johns (NDP) and Saanich–Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May (Green). Incumbent New Democratic Party (NDP) MPs were unseated by Conservative challengers in North Island–Powell River, Nanaimo–Ladysmith, and Cowichan–Malahat–Langford, while Liberal MPs replaced them in Victoria and Esquimalt–Saanich–Sooke.

Vancouver Island now has a much wider array of representation, from six NDP and one Green MPs in 2021 to one NDP, one Green, two Liberals and three Conservatives in 2025.

Laurel Collins, the former NDP MP for Victoria, lost her seat of almost six years to Dr. Will Greaves, an associate professor of political science at UVic and now Liberal MP.

The drastic shift in Vancouver Island’s political makeup has sparked discourse about strategic voting and the FPTP electoral system.

“The story we saw on Vancouver Island was that folks overwhelmingly did not want Conservatives to get elected, which might come as a surprise,” said Prym Goodacre, a recent graduate from UVic, in an interview with the Martlet “But actually,” she said, “the story is that the vote was split nearly down the middle between the NDP and the Liberals”

Goodacre has been involved in local politics in Victoria for about four years. During the last City Council election in 2022, she made a series of posts on her Instagram account to inform others about candidates’ platforms, so they could make an informed decision about who to vote for.

“People started … looking at my Instagram stories,” she said. “I kept on doing that because I had a lot of fun with it, and people seem to like it.”

In this past federal election, Goodacre noticed those who would normally vote for the NDP voted instead for the Liberal party “because they were worried about the Conservatives getting elected.”

This resulted in a number of losses for the NDP, losing 18 seats in the House of Commons — seven of which went to Liberal candidates — and, due to dropping below the required 12 seat threshold, even losing official party status.

The vote for Liberal candidates over NDP candidates on Vancouver Island was seen as strategic by some voters, as a way to prevent the Conservatives from winning enough seats to form government.

“That is a reflection of the fact that there are many Conservative voters on Vancouver Island,” said Greaves.

He said that in all three Conservative ridings on Vancouver Island, Conservative candidates got the most votes, but fell short of the majority of the votes. In these three ridings, the highest vote share won by a Conservative candidate was Aaron Gunn, MP for North Island–Powell River, with 38.7 per cent. Tamara Kronis (Nanaimo–Ladysmith) and Jeff Kibble (Cowichan–Malahat–Langford) earned 35.5 per cent and 37.2 per cent of the vote, respectively.

“More progressive parties … were supported by the majority of the voters in those ridings, but they split the vote,” Greaves said. “We see … the shortcoming of the first-past-the-post system at work in the three ridings that Conservatives won on Vancouver Island.”

Many Canadians — not only on Vancouver Island, but across the country — used strategic voting to make a choice for their country. Goodacre told the Martlet that this choice was an “unfortunate necessity that first-past-the-post forces onto voters.”

Strategic voting is an informal practice often used to vote for individuals in an effort to eliminate other candidates. When voting strategically, people often overlook the person running in their constituency, and look ahead towards the government that they want formed in Parliament. It often means overlooking their preferred candidate as well, in favour of one they may not like, but think has the best chance of avoiding a result they do not want.

In the view of some Canadians, it is the only tool they think they have when trying to stop a candidate from winning.

In this past election, people used voting resources, such as the websites Smart Voting and VoteWell, intended to inform citizens what the strategic or ‘right’ vote in their riding was to prevent a Conservative victory. But a lot of these resources did not take local polling data, or the strength of individual candidates, into account, leading many voters to receive misleading information.

“It was a real struggle to let these folks know that actually in a lot of these ridings [on Vancouver Island], the strategic voting choice was the NDP or was the Greens,” said Goodacre.

Vancouver Island having one Green and six NDP ridings before the federal election led to a greater diversity of perspectives represented in the House of Commons.

“But that was clearly not a very accurate representation of the actual political views of the people living on Vancouver Island, who are not universally NDP-supporting with a small side of Green,” said Greaves. He said that the current ridings’ results more accurately represent the diversity of political views on the island.

The benefit of electoral reform is that it would avoid this ‘either-or’ scenario — preserving both diversity of perspectives in Parliament, and ensuring the diverse range of views within communities are represented, too.

This year, in part due to the prevalence of strategic voting, both the NDP and the Greens lost seats, leading to a greater consolidation of seats under what many see as the two ‘main’ parties in Canada — the Liberals and the Conservatives.

“The NDP suffered from a move in the direction of strategic voting for the Liberals by NDP supporters, in an effort to secure … the end goal, which was a not notConservative government,” said Dr. Penny Bryden, a professor of Modern Canadian History at UVic.

On top of strategic voting, Goodacre said that the NDP put out an uninspiring campaign, and failed to meaningfully distinguish themselves from the Liberal party.

“A lot of that comes back to failures of party leadership,” said Goodacre.

For some voters, like Kate Smith, a second-year engineering student at UVic, voting strategically can help inform who they will vote for in a given election. “I think that’s a super valid strategy,” she said.

But for others, it leads to unfortunate complications in the election process.

“Voters often vote [strategically] out of fear that a disliked party will win,” said Constance More, an affiliate of FairVote Canada — a non-profit movement for electoral reform — in an interview with the Martlet “They have to struggle to determine which party is actually favoured to beat that other party.”

Ann Remnant, another affiliate of FairVote Canada, told the Martlet that strategic voting emphasizes a negative approach to political engagement in place of a positive one.

“[A voter’s] little piece in politics is about stopping someone, and not expressing what we actually want,” said Remnant.

And even then, often there is little guarantee that voters will see the party they want forming government.

“It’s easier to calculate what a strategic vote looks like in terms of your own MP … then it is to calculate the national picture, Greaves said, because it’s “complicated, and [there’s] a very high level of uncertainty because of the other 343 ridings across the country."

In this year's case, strategic voting ended up being “disastrous” for the NDP. This was not because its supporters did not like the candidates anymore, but because a vote for the Liberal party was seen as being strategic.

A TWO-PARTY SYSTEM?

While Canada is ostensibly a multi-party country, the Liberal party and the Conservative party are often perceived to be the ‘main’ parties in the country, and were considered to be the two main voting options this past election.

“A lot of folks see this as a two-party system,” said Goodacre.

Smith told the Martlet that the Liberals and Conservatives are considered to be the two “main fish,” and the Greens and NDP are supposedly the two minor parties.

Since the founding of the NDP in 1961, Canadians have acknowledged the presence of the party and seen it as a viable option to vote for at all levels of government, but it has been largely relegated to forming provincial governments, and participating in coalitions at the federal level.

Currently, two Canadian provinces — B.C. and Manitoba — have majority NDP provincial parliaments and are run by NDP Premiers. They have, however, been unable thus far to form a federal government.

Bryden said that because of the NDP’s undeniable presence in Canada’s political landscape, the country’s multi-party system can be viewed as a three-party system. “Although … this last election totally upended that expectation.”

For those who did not want a Conservative government, strategic voting was successful, as it resulted in Mark Carney winning the election and forming a government. But for the NDP and their supporters, it produced calamitous results.

So, why did Canadians choose to ignore other parties when voting this past federal election?

“It has to do with mirroring the situation in the United States,” said Bryden. “We’ve internalized an American model … we impose that model on Canada and think then about two parties.”

The political structure of the United States is designed for a two-party system, including the way their elections are held.

Even though the US also uses FPTP, it does so under a vastly different political and electoral system than we use in Canada.

“Part of it is inhaling the American political reality, rather than thinking about the Canadian political system,” said Bryden. She said that Canadians are influenced by American media, not just news, and they see the American and Canadian systems as inherently the same.

Not only this, but continued use of FPTP in Canada encourages a system similar to the US.

“First-past-the-post delivers polarizing results, moving us more to a two-party system, despite having a breadth of party choices on the ballot,” said More.

In Remnant’s view, FPTP is created for a two-party system and leads to less diversity in the House of Commons.

ELECTORAL REFORM

FPTP remains controversial today, and many are campaigning for electoral reform.

“There’s a constant … chatter about the need for electoral reform,” said Bryden. According to Bryden, electoral reform is easy to talk about politically, but not as easy to implement.

“The only ones who ever want to change the system aren’t in power, and that’s not a position that enables [change],” she said.

The last time electoral reform was championed by a party leader was by Justin Trudeau, during his 2015 campaign for Prime Minister. However, after winning the election, he quickly dropped electoral reform.

“Once he won a majority, that became a non-issue,” said Bryden. Electoral reform has been a challenging issue to get through, in part because candidates and parties aren’t incentivized to change the system that brings them favourable results, and also because of the variety of options available.

According to an EKOS poll released in January 2025, 68 per cent of Canadians support introducing proportional representation — an electoral system that reflects voters’ choice in the proportion of seats that a party gets in an elected body. If a party gets 30 per cent of the votes, for example, they get 30 per cent of the seats.

Currently, under FPTP, a party can win a majority in government with far less than half the popular vote, so long as they receive more seats than any other party. Advocates for electoral reform argue this does not reflect what Canadians actually want. In ridings where a voter’s preferred candidate has little chance of winning, they may feel their vote “doesn’t matter,” and may be discouraged from political engagement as a result.

Another popular type of electoral reform is the introduction of ranked-choice voting — a method where voters rank a number of candidates in order of preference. If their first choice candidate doesn’t win, their ballot isn’t “wasted” — it applies to the next candidate on their list. Ranked-choice voting is used in a number of jurisdictions in the United States, in both primary and major elections, and was recently used in Australia’s federal election.

“Ranked-choice and proportional representation both encourage voting, get people feeling that their voice actually matters in politics, and more accurately represent what the Canadian population wants,” said Goodacre. And, unlike FPTP, proportional representation is not complicated. People vote for their favourite candidate or party, and aren’t required to think strategically, or to research the most-likely-to-win candidates in a given election.

Proportional representation also makes smaller parties stronger, and empowers them in a way that FPTP does not.

Proportional representation strays from a two-party system and could allow Canada to thrive in its multi-party system, where parties like the NDP and the Greens would not fall victim to strategic voting, allowing their supporters to feel represented in parliament.

FairVote Canada promotes a citizens assembly to make decisions about how to proceed with the process of reforming our electoral system.

Remnant told the Martlet that the biggest barrier is the lack of information about the electoral system, which continues to benefit the politicians who gain power through FPTP. She said that education about Canada’s electoral system should start in schools.

“We’ve done to politics what we did to math… it’s almost cool not to understand these things, and we’re really doing ourselves a disservice [by doing] that” Greaves told the Martlet that it’s one thing to support electoral reform, and another to know which kind of reform would be best for Canada’s electoral system. In order to change the electoral system, Greaves said, Canadians first need to understand how FPTP works.

According to Greaves, the best type of electoral reform for Canada would be a

ranked ballot system, to elect the candidate who is the most desired in a community. Historically, changes to the franchise — the right to vote — have been slow and modest and usually take place to someone else’s advantage — whether that be politicians or citizens. Bryden said that big changes, such as lowering the voting age and extending the right to vote to women, took place when it was politically necessary or beneficial to politicians.

Bryden said that electoral reform — towards proportional representation — will be more likely if it becomes politically advantageous or necessary, as the result of some kind of crisis or challenge to the current status quo.

Even an incremental change to proportional representation from FPTP could accurately reflect who Canadians want in parliament. Remnant suggested having a supplemental ballot for every fifth ballot that went out for voters to have a chance to vote in a proportional representation system.

Critics say FPTP is a “demoralizing” and “dissatisfactory” system. However, with proportional representation, or a ranked-choice system, Canadian voters could have a better chance of making their voices heard in Ottawa.

NEWS NEWS OPINIONS

A brutally honest convocation survival guide for future graduates

Nervous about graduation? Don't worry, we'll tell you what the lead-up emails won't

Graduation! It’s somewhere on the horizon for many UVic students. No matter how much you love pulling allnighters at the library with pumpkin scone crumbs on your t-shirt, spamrefreshing Brightspace in a feverish sweat, and stealing forks from the Cove, these days won’t last forever.

It’s worth celebrating all our hard work as we move on from this era of our lives, though sometimes celebration and anxiety are unseemly friends. But don’t worry! I’m here to provide all the tips and tricks I can to make your graduation as easy as possible, because hey, that amount of clapping is loud and scary.

PAY UP

The first tip is an easy one. Make sure you give the university some money. No, tuition doesn’t count. You may know that your CAPP report says you’re ready to graduate, but how are they supposed to know that? Give them some money, and maybe they’ll take a peek for you.

LOOK THE PART

Second, dress to impress. This is your big day. You shouldn’t be shambling across the stage in cargo shorts and flip-flops, and your dad probably has dibs on the family formal wear anyways. Do better. Be better.

HELP THE SPEAKER OUT

Third, make sure you have a name that’s easy to pronounce. Trust me, look at mine. Nothing ruins graduation like your faculty’s dean butchering your name in an auditorium full of your loved ones and peers, and for some of us, it’s almost guaranteed to happen. If you’re concerned — like I was — consider changing your name to Smith, Johnson, or maybe Baker. Those are nice and easy, and the dean will thank

you for it. They might even give you an extra degree.

GIVE THOSE HANDS A BREAK

Fourth, don’t think you have to clap for everyone. I let my fellow humanities graduates peer pressure me into clapping for every single person that walked the stage, and quite frankly, I resent them for it. My hands hurt a third of the way into the ceremony. Also, let’s be honest, you are going to

see some people you probably don’t like very much. Remember that person who totally one-upped you in a first year discussion group, making it super obvious to everyone that you didn’t do the readings, and had no clue what you were talking about? Yeah, they’re graduating too. Don’t follow the crowd, be your own person. Boo them.

RUN!

Fifth, the second the ceremony ends, you need to flee the Jamie Cassels Centre

like you’re under attack. Everyone and their 14 siblings are going to be standing around, shoulder-to-shoulder, just taking up space. If you wait for too long, you might get stuck in there forever. Leave etiquette at the door, get aggressive if you have to, and seize those gaps with your elbows out. And sure, you might step on some toes, so to speak, but it doesn’t matter. What are they going to do, withhold your degree? Too late.

PAY YOUR BARBER A VISIT

Sixth, either get a haircut before the ceremony, or leave your graduation cap on until you’ve done the mental preparation necessary to see what you look like after wearing a weird hat for two hours. I, like a fool, was too lazy to see a barber before my graduation. My horrifying hat hair has now been enshrined forever in the family photos on my parents’ mantle. I looked like Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men Don’t be me.

If you want your graduation experience to be silky-smooth, make sure to follow this guide very closely. Or don’t. No matter how the ceremony goes, you will be exiting university an older, wiser, more confident, and (hopefully) a kinder individual than you were when you first showed up. Look forward to it, celebrate it, and be grateful for the people who are there to celebrate it with you.

UPCOMING FILMS

RAE DAWSON OPERATIONS MANAGER

Allyship is becoming increasingly important to the survival and wellbeing of 2SLGBTQIA+ people across the globe. As anti-transgender and antiqueer legislation is on the rise in both Canada and the United States, being an ally can no longer be just a buzzword — something it never should have been in the first place.

True allyship must be steeped in tangible, everyday actions, because queer and transgender people exist every day, and in every space. While the importance of being an ally is often discussed, how to be an ally to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is harder to pinpoint.

Ways to exercise allyship are as diverse as the 2SLGBTQIA+ community itself, from waiting in line with your friend as they get their name changed on government documents to donating monthly to local queer organizations. However, there are a few ways that everyone can show up for the queer community all year round, not just during Pride Month.

Attending Pride this summer? Ditch the corporate Pride merch and create a unique, one-of-a-kind look with pieces from local queer and transgender artisans. Victoria’s arts scene is teeming with talented local 2SLGBTQIA+ makers that can be found at every farmers market, clothing sale, craft fair, and many more events.

In a world where money is power, giving your money to local queer- and transgender-owned businesses instead of big box stores is conscious allyship — especially when many big businesses who profit off of Pride merch, like

Amazon, end up donating their money to anti-transgender and anti-queer politicians.

As you are attending Pride events, reflect on how you are situating yourself in queer spaces. An all-too-familiar story for queer spaces goes like this: a fun, safe, and accessible queer-centred venue becomes popular. Then, straight cisgender women begin to attend the venue, because it is a safe place for them to have fun — away from overbearing straight, cisgender men. While it is important for everyone to have a safe ‘third place’ to party in, this

straight, cisgender patrons invite their non-2SLGBTQIA+ friends, and the space begins to fill up with them, instead of queer people. Then, the final death knell: the straight, cisgender men flock to the venue in search of straight, cisgender women, the venue is no longer safe for queer patrons, and what was once a beloved queer space becomes just another straight bar.

If you are thinking of going to a queercentric space in search of your own comfort as a straight, cisgender person, don’t. If you don’t have any queer people in your party, you should consider if a queer or transgender person.

Once you’re done at Pride, it’s not time to take off your shoes yet. The first Pride was a riot, and a protest for queer and transgender rights. True allyship must extend beyond just the Pride parade — it means attending protests and rallies, too. The legal rights of queer and transgender people only exist because of countless individuals who showed up to let the world know that their lives matter.

Oftentimes, it is non-white queer and transgender individuals who have been on the front lines, fighting for

It No Mind’ Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. Non-white queer and transgender individuals are more likely to experience harm than their white counterparts, due to the intersection of race and sexuality.

A 2020 study found that 25 per cent of Black queer individuals reported experiencing law enforcement discrimination, almost double the number reported by white queer people (13 per cent). If you are a white ally, showing up to protests doesn’t just help support the goal of queer and transgender rights, but also helps keep the most vulnerable people at those protests safe. Busy during the protest? That’s fine! Get out your phone or computer, open up your email, and get in touch with your Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of Parliament (MP) to advocate for initiatives that support queer and transgender people. Let these representatives know that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is important to you. Even better, let them know specific initiatives that you disagree with, and think are harmful to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. These are just a few ways —

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

From indie darlings to mainstream marvels, queer cinema isn’t just about sexuality and identity — it equally captures themes surrounding resilience, joy, and self-discovery.

Whether you’re craving a slow-burn romance, a slapstick, foul-mouthed comedy, or an immersive tearjerker, this is your queer cinematic syllabus. From cult classics to household names to hidden gems, this list of recommendations solidifies that representation matters, and has never looked this bold or excellent.

MODERN LOVE, MODERN LENS (2010S 2SLGBTQIA+ ESSENTIALS)

Moonlight (2016)

With the rare ability to capture even the most minimalist of moments with profound sensitivity and tenderness, the 2016 Best Picture winner Moonlight is a pivotal moment of 2010s queer cinema.

The film chronicles the life of Chiron, a young black man, from childhood to adulthood in drug-ravaged Florida, all while struggling to understand his sexuality.

Beauty, empathy, and humanity leak into every scene, allowing the film to exude authenticity and inviting audiences to deeply resonate with Chiron.

Moonlight catapults itself into mastery through devoted performances by its cast, brilliant direction, and a naked, unglamorous portrayal of sexuality.

“sexual redirection” school, where she must learn to be straight, this cult classic is tactful and ahead of its time.

Paris Is Burning (1990)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

The tension around the film is all about the gaze — according to director Céline Sciamma — and Portrait of a Lady on Fire unfolds as a blazingly brilliant romance that utilizes its slow-burn narrative to heighten the importance of every word, glance, and touch. This French film observes a young woman commissioned to paint a bride day-byday, and a spark in their relationship blossoms into a glorious fire. The unspoken nuances are brought to life through meticulous visuals and a gradual building of dynamics. With sharp

Boasting a broad scope of 2SLGBTQIA+ characters, and a message on learning to love yourself, this film somehow doesn’t feel manufactured, due to its campy aesthetic and empowering energy. Delightful, visually impressive, and boasting tasteful music choices, But I’m A Cheerleader thrives on demonstrating pride, and the absurdity of conversion camps.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) One of the best romance movies of all time. Period. This staple, heart-breaking, queer tragedy for the ages is crafted

An essential viewing in queer filmmaking, and a critical work of art, Paris Is Burning follows the 80s drag scene in New York, and its documentation of the queer scene during that period is fundamental (like reading). A multi-layered exploration of African-American and Latino subcultures serving as a microcosm for fame, celebrity, and glamour — during a time when members of the community were rarely offered a part in mainstream culture. Paris Is Burning will leave you breathless, mesmerized, devastated, inspired, and above all, surrounded by love. Family is whatever you want it to be. Love is whatever you want it to be. Living is whatever you want it to be.

with heartbreaking (and heart-melting) on-screen relationships. It has everything you need in a modern queer comedy; an Avril Lavigne needle drop, cars being blown up, a hysterical, improvised monologue, and girls kissing to “Party 4 U” by Charli XCX.

The Wedding Banquet (2025)

A remake of the 1993 Ang Lee classic rom-com, this heartfelt 2025 story starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone paints a simple yet magnificent portrait of modern queer romances, dealing with issues like navigating IVF and isolation from one’s family. A touching depiction of the dynamics and contemporary complications of being in mature queer relationships, The Wedding Banquet manages to be both deeply humane and outrageously ridiculous, all while glistening with charm.

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

An outstandingly original psychological horror doubling as an exploration of the transgender experience, I Saw the TV Glow delivers a captivating slow burn which follows the journey one character takes upon discovering their identity doesn’t correlate with what appears on the outside. It’s sizzling execution and thought-provoking creative direction will haunt you late at night and linger long afterwards. Director Jane Schoenbrun’s artful portrayal of the queer and trans experience in I Saw the TV Glow leaves you with bittersweet nostalgia and the urge to give protagonist Owen (Justice Smith) the world’s biggest hug.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

Modern yet timeless, and bleak yet ravishing, All of Us Strangers follows lonely writer Adam (Andrew Scott) whose family trauma is rekindled upon meeting his new neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal).

Led by immensely heartbreaking and nuanced performances, this melodrama is easily one of the most gorgeous, haunting, and layered portraits of queer loneliness and yearning on screen. Eerily lustful and inescapably raw, All of Us Strangers is a tear-jerking romance with an emotionally compelling narrative that rarely is executed with such allure and authenticity for queer films.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

New exhibition 'Everything is Special' showcases queer and Trans+ materials

Visit Legacy Maltwood Gallery in the UVic library for a glance into queer and Trans+ life and activism

“Everything is Special,” a new exhibition at the Legacy Maltwood Gallery on McPherson Library’s lower level, displays rare, one-of-a-kind editions and special queer and Trans+ materials that range from fine art to unpublished documents.

UVic’s Chair in Transgender Studies is the only position of its kind in the world, and coincidentally, UVic is home to the world’s largest Trans+ archives. This unique dynamic makes UVic a hub for resources and education for queer and Trans+ histories.

“Everything Is Special” displays a blend of local and international queer and Trans+ items. Featured in the exhibition are copies of the Queeries a past UVic student newspaper for 2SLGBTQIA+ readers.

Other interesting elements include

an Andy Warhol index book and a painting of Harvey Bernard Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. A striking stained glass window shines in the middle of the space, recovered from the historic Everywoman’s Books — a non-profit feminist bookstore established in Victoria in 1975.

To learn more about “Everything is Special,” the Martlet spoke with Michael Radmacher, Transgender Archives Metadata Librarian at UVic Libraries and co-curator of the exhibition about what it brings to the public eye.

“There is a long history, since time immemorial, of gender-diverse folks being in existence. So that’s in part what it’s showing — the breadth and the depth of it all.”

Radmacher worked with Heather Dean, Christine Walde, Lara Wilson, and Caroline Riedel from the UVic

Legacy Art Gallery, UVic Special Collections, and University Archives to curate the exhibition.

Due to the variety of sources, Radmacher highlighted how the materials have been put “into relationship” in ways that “typically, you wouldn’t see.” The art, documents and materials themselves are rare, and the collective effort from the curation team to “queer [the] rigid, curatorial methodologies” is distinct from the traditions that commonly govern the curation of materials.

“Everything Is Special” is free for the public, and will run from June 2, 2025 to Jan. 11, 2026, during regular McPherson Library hours.

The exhibition is part of the Victoria Arts Council Queer Island Festival of the Arts, which over two dozen organizations are participating in this Pride Month.

The involved organizations are hosting all kinds of events, from queer art installations and exhibitions, drag performances, and film screenings, to poetry readings, and 2SLGBTQIA+ pottery date nights.

On June 28 there will be a panel discussion led by Kegan McFadden at Intrepid Theatre, to review the events of the month and reflect on the festival as a whole.

Radmacher explained that these organizations and artists create a “unified force” that sends a clear message: “we have critical mass. We have volume.”