CBSA was unaware of ISIS video

Panel of MPs told man passed security screenings despite alleged appearance in propaganda clip

- MARK RAMZY

Canada Border Services Agency executive vice-president Ted Gallivan and interim director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Vanessa Lloyd last week in Ottawa.

A man accused of planning a terror attack in Toronto with his son arrived to Canada in 2018 and passed several security screenings during which his alleged appearance in a violent ISIS propaganda video was never raised.

Canada Border Services Agency said it did not find the video until it was flagged by media reports after Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son, Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested and charged last month with participating in terrorism activities in July in Toronto and York Region, a parliamentary hearing was told Wednesday.

The revelation comes as the Public Safety and National Security Committee probes how the pair facing terror charges were admitted to the country and how the elder Eldidi obtained citizenship amid questions about the integrity of Canada’s immigration screening processes.

On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc defended the government’s processes and lauded law enforcement agencies for thwarting the attack as he appeared alongside border, police and immigration officials to answer questions about the alleged terror plot.