Friday November 20, 2026

John Pyrik will present on: Foreign Political Interference

Summary: Arguably the most famous instance of foreign political interference was “Vive le Québec libre!” uttered by French President Charles de Gaulle in Montreal, Quebec on July 24, 1967, but when Russia meddled in the 2016 US election, the issue again came to public attention. In Canada, the issue has been examined by a Special Rapporteur, two review bodies (NSICoP and NSIRA) and a public inquiry. CSIS calls it an existential threat to Canadian democracy. With a provincial looming, it is timely to have a discussion on the seriousness of the threat and what is being done about it.

Bio: John Pyrik is a former intelligence officer with experience in counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence investigations. He also worked for FINTRAC, Canada’s anti-money laundering agency, and the Privy Council Office. He retired in 2017 after 27 years in government. He now lives happily in Parksville where he rarely has to fight traffic, deal with red tape, or shovel snow.