Evidence of meeting #24 for Status of Women in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was online.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Merci beaucoup.
I want to thank all of our witnesses today. You have given us great information. Thank you so much for your time.
We're going to suspend briefly to change over for our second panel.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
We are back for the second panel.
I want to welcome our witnesses who are appearing by video conference.
From the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, we have Witness 1—this is to protect their identities—director general, counterterrorism, and Luc, director general, assessments, at the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre.
Thank you both for being here today.
The witnesses will share their time for the opening statement. Together, they have five minutes.
You may begin.
Witness-Témoin 1 Director General, Counter Terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Good afternoon, chair and members of the committee.
I am here on behalf of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, CSIS. My name is Jean‑Pierre, and I am the director general for counterterrorism.
I would like first to thank the committee for inviting CSIS to appear on this very important issue.
I will take this opportunity to situate anti-feminist rhetoric within the current threat landscape and discuss the pathways to violent extremism and CSIS's efforts to counter these threats.
CSIS takes ideological, religious and political extremist violence very seriously. It continues to analyze, investigate and mitigate threats of violence directed at women, as well as at the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Canada.
Gender and identity-driven violent extremism is a distinct category of ideologically motivated violent extremism, or IMVE. While it continues to pose a significant threat to Canada's national security, much of what happens in the broader threat landscape is criminal, but not related to national security. It can be awful but lawful, meaning that it falls below the threshold to be considered a criminal act or a threat to national security.
CSIS is mandated to investigate and counter threats that meet the national security threshold, as defined in section 2(c) of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act. CSIS assesses whether threat actors have intent and capability to use serious violence, or encourage or inspire others to engage in serious violence. It assesses whether they are motivated in whole or in part by an ideology, and have the objective of affecting societal change outside the political process.
The violent extremist landscape in Canada is complex and there is no one-size-fits-all world view. Not everyone's path of radicalization is the same, nor is it linear.
Extreme anti-feminist rhetoric is a national security issue only when associated with ideological, religious and political extremists who engage in violence in support of anti-gender identity beliefs. These beliefs could stem from misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, religious interpretations, conspiracy theories or a generalized fear of socio-cultural change.
To counter these threats and protect public safety, CSIS continues to vigorously investigate and disrupt threat activities in collaboration with foreign and domestic security intelligence and law enforcement partners.
I will conclude by noting that while CSIS cannot publicly comment on its operational activities or ongoing investigations, I welcome this opportunity for a frank and transparent discussion on the threat that Canada's youth may be facing. I will be happy to answer your questions.
Luc M. Director General, Assessments, Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Thank you, Jean‑Pierre.
Madam Chair and honourable members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
My name is Luc, and I am the director general of assessments at Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, or ITAC.
ITAC is a fusion centre that brings together experts from across the Canadian security and intelligence community. Our mandate is analytic. We provide decision-makers and security partners with rigorous, all-source threat assessments to help safeguard Canadians and advance Canadian interests. We do not conduct investigations or enforcement activities.
ITAC assesses national security threats to Canada and Canadians, including the likelihood of violent extremist attacks. These assessments inform the national terrorism threat level. Our focus is on threats that have progressed to the violent extremism end of the spectrum, where we assess ideology alongside indicators of intent, capability and a willingness to use lethal violence.
From this perspective, anti-feminist ideology is increasingly relevant to Canada's national security landscape.
I want to be clear that ITAC does not assess ideology in isolation, nor do we consider the expression of beliefs—however controversial—to constitute a national security threat. The vast majority of individuals who hold anti-feminist views will never engage in or support violence.
However, our assessments indicate that, in certain contexts, anti-feminist ideology can function as an enabling factor along pathways to violent extremism. These narratives can provide grievance frameworks that legitimize hostility toward women and gender equality, and elements of them are consistent with those observed in ideologically motivated violent extremism.
In some cases, anti-feminist narratives serve as early points of engagement, particularly in online environments, and may intersect with other extremist ideologies, including violent extremist interpretations of religion that promote rigid gender hierarchies. These assessments do not concern religious belief broadly, but rather the use of ideology to justify serious violence.
From a national security perspective, anti-feminist ideology warrants attention when it appears alongside indicators of violent intent. Women, including elected officials, journalists and educators, may be portrayed as undermining social order, which can contribute to environments where harassment, threats and, in rare cases, violence become more likely.
In closing, ITAC will continue to work with its partners across the intelligence, law enforcement, policy and prevention communities to assess emerging trends and provide early warning of violent extremist threats.
Thank you for the time today. We are happy to take your questions.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Thank you so much.
The interpreters have asked me to remind everyone, before we go into our questions, that if you're on Zoom, if you could put yourself on mute when you're not speaking, it would be helpful to them.
We're going to begin our round of questioning with six minutes for Madam Vien.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Hello, Jean‑Pierre and Luc. It makes me a little uncomfortable to call you by your first names. We're very pleased to have you with us today. Our study is coming to an end. I believe you're providing us with a new perspective, one we haven't had since the beginning of our meetings on this topic.
I'm having a bit of trouble understanding something. I don't know which of you two is going to answer me.
How does CSIS work? You monitor, you keep watch, you observe the phenomena happening. When you see something that's concerning, you inform the police. Is that correct? Can you explain that to us quickly, so that we understand it properly? How are you actors in this phenomenon of anti-feminism?
Director General, Counter Terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
I'm Jean‑Pierre. First of all, I'm responsible for the counterterrorism program at CSIS. Essentially, CSIS, as compared with ITAC, which I will let Luc speak about, is responsible for investigating, analyzing and then communicating its analyses concerning threats to Canadian security. Mainly in the field of terrorism, the vast majority of the time, our investigations are of interest to law enforcement agencies, primarily the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We work with all municipal and provincial law enforcement agencies across the country, as well as with international law enforcement agencies.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Perfect.
Of course, all this has ramifications. Information in the media and on platforms travels. It has no borders.
What are you currently observing when it comes to anti-feminism? Is this a phenomenon that's new to you? Do you say to yourself, “My God, there wasn't that much of it before, the phenomenon was somewhat isolated, whereas now, it's something more serious”? You seem to want or be able to draw links to extremism and terrorism. Did I understand correctly?
Director General, Assessments, Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Thank you for the question.
I'm Luc. In my opinion, anti-feminist ideology has existed for a long time. I think you've heard experts in the past who explained the history of all this.
In my opinion, the big change in recent years is really the merging of anti-feminist ideology with other ideologies. Essentially, we've noticed the trends that have emerged in recent years. It's really the merging of different ideologies.
Conservative
Director General, Assessments, Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
There are xenophobic ideologies or anti-government ideologies, for example. All these ideologies blend together to become what's called a “merged” ideology, which ultimately leads to the extremist attacks we see being—
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Thank you. Excuse me for interrupting, but I have very little time.
So far, have you referred many cases and files to law enforcement agencies? Does it represent 10%, 50%, 60% of your agents' workload? Are your men and women well trained to understand the phenomenon of anti-feminism?
Director General, Counter Terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Thank you for the question.
Yes, I'd say that, over the last 15 years, there have been more and more cases that we're referring to police. However, as I initially mentioned, the vast majority of these activities don't fall under our mandate; rather, they fall in the criminal realm. As soon as we have information that reaches the threshold of criminality, we ensure that the RCMP or the appropriate police department is informed.
With respect to training, yes, our staff receives training, but, as I mentioned, it's not like we're conducting a criminal investigation into violence against women. It's part of a mixed ideology that, to a certain extent, has increased in recent years and that motivates our targets with respect to religious or ideological extremism.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
I'd like you to tell me one thing, gentlemen. I asked the previous panel this; I don't know whether you heard it. This phenomenon may be bigger than we think—
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
It's okay. In fact, the question I asked is this: People are on social media, on the platforms, so should parliamentarians, intelligence experts and police consider that the next step could be physical violence in the streets?
This morning, we're discussing the issue of terrorism, among other things. Could we fear a certain violent outbreak? Is that something you foresee?
February 10th, 2026 / 12:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Give a brief response, because we're at the end of the member's time.
Director General, Counter Terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Yes.
There are only a few cases. It's important to understand that the vast majority of Canadians are not individuals of interest to the service. We're talking about a small number of individuals in the country who are willing to act based on ideology.
Conservative
Liberal
Shaun Chen Liberal Scarborough North, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
First I would like to thank the witnesses.
I'd also like to thank the people at CSIS for the great work they do each and every day to protect Canada and uphold our national security.
Today we heard from other witnesses who talked about the rise of anti-feminist ideology globally. To what extent is gender-based violence in Canada inspired by transnational networks? How does CSIS collaborate with security and intelligence agencies in other countries to counter gender identity-driven violence and other forms of ideologically motivated violent extremism with a transnational nexus?
Director General, Counter Terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Madam Chair, from a CSIS perspective, certainly we work with allies, not only in the Five Eyes but allies all over the world in combatting this threat. Perhaps my colleague Luc wants to add something to this.
Director General, Assessments, Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Certainly. From an ITAC perspective, we work collaboratively on the international sphere with Five Eyes as well as the far broader global sister agencies that ITAC has. We work domestically very closely with a variety of partners to really understand the issue of anti-feminism. That is one of the issues of IMVE, ideologically motivated violent extremism. There are many other factors that we look to understand with our partners.
Through our mandate, which is to do the assessments of threats, threats of a violent extremist nature, we're able to inform those partners—prevention and operational partners—by working very closely with them.
Liberal
Shaun Chen Liberal Scarborough North, ON
As a member representing Toronto, I can tell you that my constituents and the people of our city were shocked, as indeed were Canadians across the country, to see the Toronto van attack in 2018 and the Toronto spa attack in 2020. We all know about the École Polytechnique attack in 1989. These are extremist attacks, and witnesses in our study have described the links between such events and the rise in anti-feminist ideology. The spa attack case represented the first prosecution in Canada involving incel ideology. The accused young person pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder. The judge found that these offences met the definition of terrorism under the Criminal Code and sentenced him as an adult to a term of life imprisonment.
In cases of gender identity-driven violent extremism, has CSIS observed common factors or warning signs, including behaviours or indicators, leading up to an attack?
Director General, Counter Terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Essentially, each case is different within the terrorism landscape, unlike, I would say, 15 to 20 years ago. Individuals are influenced by a multitude of different factors, a lot of them personalized. As my colleague referenced, it's a merged influence that motivates them to conduct an attack. There's not really one specific common trait amongst all these attacks, except a deep hatred, obviously, of women.
Luc, did you want to add something?