WARMINGTON: Canada's spy agency CSIS celebrating sexual diversity this week with Pride

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Just call this the Spy Who Loved Pride Season!

But this is no James Bond movie but real-life Canadian trade craft intelligence gathering.

It seems at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) the focus is not only on assessing threats to the country from terrorists but also “on how to continue celebrating Public Service Pride Week (#PSPW2025) with activities throughout this week.”

For example, during this Pride week, CSIS shared a link on its Facebook page that indicated amongst the workshops there was one called “Science is a Drag, presented by the Gender and Sexual Diversity Network and the Science and Research Integration Network” and “Your Body, Your Rules, Rewriting Beauty Standards Approaching Midlife and Beyond, Together” as put on by My Menopause at Work and “Queer Queries on Queen, Pride Trivia.”

And don’t forget the “Queer Acts of Love and Resistance Live Panel” and the “Pride Potluck Picnic.”

Move over John le Carre. Just call this thriller From Canada With Love. Certainly, in recent times, the Canadian government has been all in on Pride in 2025. In June, Prime Minister Mark Carney and others raised a Pride flag at Parliament Hill, there was also one put up last week at the front door of his Wellington Street office, and altered Canadian flags have been on display in embassies around the world.

On their X account, CSIS boasts: “Back in June, CSIS launched its #PrideSeason celebrations with a few guest speakers” including “talented Two-spirit hoop dancer Makhena Ranken Guerin, the hilarious Canadian comedienne Ava Val, and inspirational public servant David Da Silva for visiting, performing and speaking at CSIS NHQ!”

For background, Makhena Ranken Guerin is “a Two-Spirit hoop dancer with Anishinaabe/Algonquin roots on her mother’s side and French Canadian roots on her father’s side. As a member of the Abitibiwinni First Nation, Makhena is dedicated to preserving and continuing her Indigenous culture for future generations. She has been practicing traditional hoop dance for over 7 years; a medicinal dance that tells a story. Traditionally, this dance was performed with willow branch hoops to the rhythm of traditional drums. Nowadays, dancers often use modern materials and frequently perform to contemporary music.”

In an online bio, award-winning comedian Ava Val wrote, “I’m a MTF trans comic” whose “style is high-energy, physical comedy with a plethora of original voices and characters.”

And a bio say Canadian diplomat David Da Silva “specialized in managing in challenging environments abroad. Postings in the Philippines, Lebanon, Venezuela, Kenya, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Experience in project management, democratic development, human rights, public affairs, digital diplomacy, policy development, crisis management, and security. English, French, Spanish. Basic Arabic and German,” and in an X post in October of last year said “friends, with the end of my term, I am stepping away to take time off. I will return to work in Ottawa in the new year, on new files. I am aware that millions of Palestinians, and others in the region, do not have this luxury.”

Each of these guests of the spy agency seem to have the skills to make a very good agent.

So who knows what’s really going on here? Maybe this was a recruiting exercise — CSIS is pretty good at blending in. For example, on its website, CSIS says “our vision” is “a safe, secure and prosperous Canada, through trusted intelligence and advice.”

Many people responding to their X post seem to think their Pride week support is not fulfilling their mandate.

“Just be an intelligence agency. No one needs CSIS to launch Pride celebrations,” wrote one person.

Another added: “We don’t care about this garbage. And what the hell does it have to do with national security? You people are disgusting disgrace.”

Others asked how the probe is going on who the MPs were who were allegedly compromised by the Chinese government. Others referenced last year’s resignation of CSIS director David Vigneault from the top job after “one of the most challenging and rewarding period in my career” which included the Chinese interference allegations and complaints of sexual violence perpetrated on some of the female staff in sections of the agency he was overseeing.

The federal espionage agency’s page says: “CSIS is at the forefront of Canada’s national security system. Our role is to investigate activities suspected of constituting threats to the security of Canada and to report on these to the Government of Canada. We may also take measures to reduce threats to the security of Canada in accordance with well-defined legal requirements and Ministerial Direction.”

But this week these spies are celebrating with Pride.

jwarmington@postmedia.com