Conservatives demand government explain how terror suspects immigrated to Canada

Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer says Canadians have a right to know how a man with links to a foreign terror group evaded Canada's screening process to immigrate to Canada and become a citizen.

He is demanding 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.

Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son, Mostafa Eldidi, 26, were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., on July 28 and face nine different terrorism charges, including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

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

In court last week, both men denied the charges but neither has entered a formal plea.

Scheer says the government's silence as to how two people with connections to a terror group successfully immigrated to Canada is unacceptable.

"This is a colossal failure of Trudeau's national security system," he said at a press conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday morning.

"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."

The federal government has so far said very little about the matter.

Conservative MP and public safety critic Frank Caputo has written to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc to ask him to make public all the details of the alleged terrorist plot, Scheer said.

He said LeBlanc is the first witness he wants to call to testify at the committee. 

The public safety and immigration ministers' offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2024.