Black Arab Canadian Wins 2024 Ottawa Book Award for Memoir About Islamophobia in CSIS

Winning books were selected by a jury of peers.

Huda Mukbil received the English non-fiction award for her work Agent of Change: My life Fighting Terrorists, Spies and Institutional Racism (McGill-Queens University Press). She is an international security consultant and political activist. She lives in Ottawa.

Jury statement for Agent of Change: My Life Fighting Terrorists, Spies and Institutional Racism:

A quintessential Ottawa story, Huda Mukbil’s journey with CSIS begins when she’s hired to fill a gap in the agency's Arab and Middle East desk—only to be "othered" when she starts wearing a hijab. Despite her exceptional work for CSIS, British Intelligence, and missions she can't reveal, she faces an "old boy's club" mentality. From her experience of discrimination on an Ottawa bus to her role in a class action lawsuit against CSIS, Mukbil tells her story with a powerful mix of raw emotion and precise critique that exposes the failings of Official Ottawa.

Description of Agent of Change from McGill-Queens University Press

In Agent of Change Huda Mukbil takes us behind the curtain of a leading spy agency during a fraught time, recounting her experiences as an intelligence officer for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Mukbil was the first Black Arab-Canadian Muslim woman to join CSIS and was at the forefront of the fight against terrorism after 9/11.

Mukbil’s mastery of four languages quickly made her a counterterrorism expert and a uniquely valuable asset to the organization. But as she worked with colleagues to confront new international threats, she also struggled for acceptance and recognition at the agency. Following the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the rise of homegrown extremism, Mukbil was framed as an inside threat. Determined to prove her loyalty, while equally concerned about the surveillance and profiling of Muslims and revelations of Western agencies’ torture and torture by proxy, Mukbil started to question CSIS’s fluctuating ethical stance in relation to its mandate. Her stellar work on a secondment to MI5, the British Security Service, earned commendation; this shielded her, but only temporarily, from the hostile workplace culture at CSIS. Ultimately, Mukbil and a group of colleagues went public about the pervasive institutional discrimination undermining CSIS and national security from within.

Mukbil’s expertise in international security and her commitment to workplace transparency drove important changes at CSIS. Dazzlingly written, her account is an eye-opener for anyone wanting to understand how racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia undermine not only individuals, but institutions and the national interest - and how addressing this openly can tackle populism and misinformation.

Ottawa Book Award Winner's books are available to borrow through the Ottawa Public Library.

You can also purchase Huda Mukbil's memoir online here

Watch an interview with Huda Mukbil exploring issues of gender based violence and discrimination in CSIS