The new interim director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service authored a report maligning concerns about gender ideology as a domestic security threat.
While serving as deputy director of operations, Vanessa Lloyd, now the first woman to lead Canada’s spy agency following the resignation of David Vigneault, previously led a 2023 public report by CSIS titled “Mission Focused: Confronting the Threat Environment.” The report identified the anti-gender ideology movement as a significant extremist threat to Canada.
It claimed violent threats posed by the anti-gender movement would persist into the coming year, specifically referencing the 2023 attack at the University of Waterloo by international student Geovanny Villalba-Aleman. Villalba-Aleman entered a gender studies class with a weapon and injured two students and a professor.
“CSIS assesses that the violent threat posed by the anti-gender movement is almost certain to continue over the coming year and that violent actors may be inspired by the University of Waterloo attack to carry out their own extreme violence against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or against other targets they view as representing the gender ideology agenda,” the report states.
True North reached out to CSIS for comment and a spokesperson for the agency stressed that their mandate was to investigate threats of serious violence while respecting rights.
“CSIS is charged with investigating activities that seek to use serious violence to pursue a political, religious or ideological objective, or violent extremism. Unfortunately, Canada has seen a rise in the threat posed by violent extremism, particularly Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism,” said CSIC spokesperson Eric Balsam.
“IMVE includes gender-driven, xenophobic, anti-authority and other grievance-driven violence. CSIS assesses that only a small portion of adherents to any movement are willing to engage in serious violence. CSIS’ latest Public Report outlines specific examples of gender-driven violence whether the Toronto Spa Attack or the Waterloo Attack.”
The document emphasized that while violent rhetoric alone does not necessarily lead to physical violence, the combination of such rhetoric with other extreme worldviews makes incitement more likely.
“CSIS assesses that exposure to entities espousing anti-gender extremist rhetoric could inspire and encourage serious violence against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, or against those who are viewed as supporters of pro-gender ideology policies and events,” the report concluded.
This isn’t the first time CSIS has indicated that the agency was closely monitoring the activities of activists and groups associated with the parental rights movement, especially those opposing radical gender ideology.
Earlier this year, documents from the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, responsible for preventing terrorist activities in Canada, lumped the “Freedom Movement” in with extremist organizations including QAnon and neo-Nazi groups.
“Anti-2SLGBTQl+ narratives remain a common theme in violent rhetoric espoused by white nationalists, neo-Nazis, the Freedom Movement, and networks such as Diagolon and QAnon,” the report noted.
Despite CSIS’s focus on monitoring such rhetoric, the report did not address the violence often faced by those protesting against gender ideology. Notable incidents include physical attacks and intimidation against parental rights protesters, such as the case involving teenage activist Josh Alexander in Calgary.
