LeBlanc said there was ‘no way’ for the border security agency to access the gruesome 2015 ISIS video
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Border Services Agency only became aware of a gruesome ISIS propaganda video allegedly showing the Canadian man accused of plotting a foiled terrorist attack this summer after media reported its existence.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc reiterated to the House public safety committee on Wednesday that he ordered a review of the immigration screening process after two men, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi and his son Mostafa Eldidi, were allowed into Canada years before being arrested for allegedly being in the advanced stages of planning a violent terrorist attack.
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One of the questions emerging after the arrest of the father-son duo by RCMP in July is whether immigration and security officials knew of a 2015 ISIS propaganda video allegedly showing the senior Eldidi dismembering a prisoner when they granted him Canadian citizenship in 2024.
On July 31, the RCMP announced a total of nine charges against both men, including participation in the activities of a terrorist group and conspiracy to commit murder namely on behalf of ISIS. Ahmed Eldidi was also charged with aggravated assault for events dating back to 2015.
Speaking to the committee Wednesday, CBSA executive vice-president Ted Gallivan said the border agency only found out about the video after it was reported by Global News in the days following the arrests.
“The CBSA, subsequent media reporting, went and obtained an instance of this video from the dark web. It’s part of the review we’re asking ourselves, you know, questions about the procedures,” Gallivan said.
LeBlanc said there was “no way” for the border security agency and Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) to access the gruesome 2015 ISIS video while doing security screenings of both men.
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The father was screened in 2018, 2021 and 2023 by either CSIS or CBSA, whereas the son was screened in 2020. In all cases, a document provided to the committee by the government says the screening resulted in a “favourable recommendation.”
“Those decisions were made with the information that (CSIS and CBSA) had available to them at that time,” LeBlanc said. “That’s why we’ve asked — (Immigration Minister) Marc Miller and I — for them to review a process that may be able to yield access to certain information in a different way.
“We recognize the understandable questions that Canadians had when they learned following the RCMP news release of these arrests. I think it is reasonable for the government and for Canadians to ask how could this sequence of events… take place and what can we learn from that sequence of events to ensure the very best measures are in place,” he added.
Documents produced by IRCC for the committee shed light on the immigration status of both men.
IRCC says that it approved a temporary resident visa for Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, in January 2018 before he entered Canada via Toronto the next month.
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Eldidi was then granted refugee status in February 2019, became a permanent resident in September 2021 and was granted Canadian citizenship in May 2024. CSIS only became aware of the potential national security threat posed by him a month later, in June 2024.
Global News reported that the threat he posed came from a tip from French intelligence services.
His 26-year-old son, Mostafa Eldidi, first entered the United States in January 2020 with a student visa before entering Canada at a land border and making an asylum claim. He was granted refugee status in July 2022 but never got permanent resident status, according to IRCC.
In July 2024, father and son were arrested and charged in connection with nine offences, including terrorist activities on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
National Post
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