Federal government reviewing how Toronto terror suspects arrived to Canada

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says federal departments are reviewing how two men with suspected links to a terrorist group abroad were allowed into Canada.

Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son, Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., last week and face nine different terrorism charges, including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The RCMP announced the charges last week and said that the two men were “in the advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack in Toronto.”

Most charges relate to activities allegedly occurring in Canada, but the elder Eldidi is also charged with one count of aggravated assault outside Canada.

LeBlanc says the Public Safety and Immigration Departments, which work together to screen applicants looking to move to Canada, are working to establish a timeline of events regarding the accused men.

“When you have a circumstance like this, the Department of Immigration and the Public Safety Department will obviously review, as I said, all of the circumstances, particularly the chronology and the timeline of when certain pieces of information may have been available,” LeBlanc said.

The RCMP has confirmed that the father is a Canadian citizen, while the son is not. A spokesperson said Wednesday that the police force is waiting for confirmation on the status of Mostafa Eldidi.

Conservatives are demanding that the federal government tell Canadians what they know about how the elder Eldidi was allowed to immigrate to the country, suggesting that the alleged links should have been uncovered sooner.

“Canadians have a right to know what went wrong. How did this individual gain entry into Canada and obtain Canadian citizenship? Canadians also have a right to know if … there’s anyone else in Canada with similar backgrounds who were granted entry into our country,” Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer said in a news conference Tuesday.

LeBlanc said the government will have more to say about the chronology of events, but warned it would be irresponsible to put out information that could interfere with the criminal investigation and the prosecution’s ability to conduct a successful trial.

Conservatives also demanded on Tuesday that the House of Commons recall its public safety committee to dig into the situation, calling on the Bloc Québécois and NDP to support that request.

On Wednesday, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor sent a letter to the chair that also asked for a meeting to look into the matter.

He wrote that there are “serious questions” about how the elder suspect was able to enter Canada, become a citizen and “remain undetected for many years.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2024.

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press