Heated Rivalry: Immigration, Safety, and Queer Belonging

Explore how Canada’s global image as a ‘queer utopia’ is shaped and challenged through borders, immigration, and popular culture.

Join us for a panel discussion that uses the popular Canadian-produced TV show Heated Rivalry as a cultural entry point to critically examine the image of Canada as a “queer utopia” for refugees, immigrants, and newcomers. Focusing on Canada’s increasingly restrictive border and immigration policies, the discussion will examine how narratives of safety, belonging, and nationhood are constructed, reinforced, and contested through popular culture. Drawing connections between the show, related critical scholarship, and the changing realities of Immigration policy, the panel explores how borders function not only as legal and geographic regimes, but as cultural and affective forces that shape queer intimacy, mobility, and belonging.

Moderator
Dr. Lisa Brunner, Research Associate, UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Panelists
Dr. JP Catungal – Assistant Professor, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, UBC

Dr. Ali Bhagat – Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, SFU

Aleks Dughman Manzur – Co-Executive Director of Programming & Advocacy, Rainbow Refugee