Officials from the Canada Border Services Agency were not aware that a man who is now facing terror charges was allegedly featured in an ISIS video when his immigration application was approved.
That’s according to testimony heard at a House of Commons committee meeting on Wednesday.
Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., and face nine terrorism charges including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The RCMP announced the charges on July 31 and said the two men were « in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack in Toronto. »
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc provided the public safety and national security committee with a detailed timeline of the pair’s immigration file during his testimony, after calls from opposition MPs for more information on the men.
The elder Eldidi has been the subject of particular scrutiny after Global News reported that he allegedly appeared in an ISIS video in 2015, and still went on to obtain Canadian citizenship.
The Canadian Press has not independently reviewed the video.
During questioning by opposition members of the committee, Ted Gallivan, executive vice-president of the Canada Border Services Agency, said the agency obtained the video on the dark web after seeing media reports.
« I can confirm through a review of the treatment of these individuals that that video wasn’t available to the CBSA and officials who were screening the individual, » Gallivan said.
According to the government’s timeline, the elder Eldidi arrived in Canada in February 2018 and made a refugee claim in June of that year.
He became a citizen in May 2024, and was arrested at the end of July.
Aaron McCrorie, vice-president of intelligence and enforcement at CBSA, said the version of the video the agency obtained had only been available for two years.
The timeline provided by the federal government suggests there were risk indicators flagged on the father’s immigration file, though no details about the nature of those risks have been disclosed.
CBSA and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service conducted two comprehensive security screenings on the father and returned favourable recommendations both times.
The son was screened once and was also given a favourable recommendation.
Both men were born in Egypt.
The son, who is not a Canadian citizen, was first rejected for a study permit in July 2019.
He then entered Canada in February 2020 on a U.S. student visa and applied for asylum. He obtained refugee status in July 2022.
Over the course of four hours, Conservative MPs on the committee hounded officials and the minister over the fact that the father in particular was able to enter Canada, accusing the government of a « colossal failure. »
However, LeBlanc said he was « satisfied » that the government acted when it became aware that the men posed a threat.
« I am very proud of the work that the RCMP and CSIS did in thwarting this particular case, » he said.
LeBlanc said CSIS became aware of the threat posed by the two men in June and the minister was briefed on July 24.
In response to questions about what federal agencies could have done to block the Eldidis from coming to Canada, McCrorie defended the screening process.
« We make decisions based on the information that was available at a given moment of time. Can we do a better job of collectively gathering some of that information? I don’t know. We need to determine that, » he said.
CBSA, CSIS and the Immigration Department have launched a review to determine whether they should make any changes to better detect individuals like the alleged terror suspects.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said he plans to look into whether the father should have his Canadian citizenship revoked.
The son’s Facebook page shows that he changed his profile picture to the Canadian flag in June 2021 and wrote, « Fight for this flag till I die. »
An individual commented on the post in Arabic saying, « you’re going to get citizenship, don’t worry. »
« You understand everything, » Eldidi responded.
The Canadian Press reached out to the individual who made the comment but has not received a response. The comment on Eldidi’s post has since been deleted.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 28, 2024.