Book Review: Agent of Change

I have ordered a couple of Canadian books, the latest is Agent of Change, written by a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agent of colour, who spent years working for them. Huda Mukbil is an amazing woman, who fought to change the Canadian spy agency. The culture of this spy agency arose from a white male dominated, RCMP-retiree group. It was based in police and military attitudes. It's is a darn good read.

Mukbil was the first Black Arab-Canadian Muslim woman to work for the agency. The men were afraid of her. These men blocked her from any significant jobs with seniority. She hit the glass ceiling, blocked by men jealous of her expertise and competence. She was an asset, highly vetted (herself and her family and friends, as CSIS does), who worked hard to sussed out terrorists. 

She speaks four languages, and understood her culture. She gave lectures to CSIS colleagues, adding to their knowledge and understanding of 'the other.' After beginning to wear her hijab, she faced further bigotry. When managers began to come down on her, they forbade her to go to mosque. 

She was seconded to MI-5 in England, through a request by the Five-Eyes Agency (Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, UK) as they recognized her knowledge, expertise in Counter Intelligence, languages, cultural knoweldge, and skills. You can read some of her story here: Veil of Secrecy: The Muslim Canadian spy who took down London extremists. 

I have read a number of books by women who faced that glass ceiling, i.e., THE RED WALL: A Woman in the RCMP. Also, Donovan, Kelly; Police Line – Do Not Cross.These whistle blowers pave the way for future members. It opens the eyes of we white people who fear that which we do not understand. I taught in multicultural schools. It isn't difficult to learn and understand others. Should you choose to.

📚My Book Review page. I do love reading! Publishers used to send me books to review. Those days are gone. 

This is the weather for reading indoors! The garbage is out. When I arose, I checked the temperature and it was -17 ℃. I went back, hoping by 7 a.m. it'd be a tad warmer. NOPE! It had gone down a degree.