Media reports alerted CBSA to ISIS video allegedly showing Canadian citizen charged with terrorism

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 on Toronto.

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 on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. 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.

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.

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 that he was a potential national security threat a month later, in June 2024.

Global News reported a tip from French intelligence services alerted the agency to the possible threat.

His 26-year-old son, Mostafa Eldidi, first entered the United States in January 2020 with a student visa before crossing into 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.

Asked why the son was not returned to the United States as part of the Safe Third Country Agreement, Aaron McCrorie, vice-president of intelligence and enforcement at Canada Border Services Agency, said he was permitted to stay in Canada because he had a family member already in the country.

“Even if the family member is a terrorist?” asked Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin.

In July 2024, father and son were arrested and charged in connection with nine offences: participating in the activities of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose, conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated assault. The two men remain in custody awaiting trial.

“The fact that these two individuals are in jail and face serious criminal charges reflects the outstanding work done by the RCMP and their partners,” said LeBlanc.

Conservatives pushed back against what they see as a “false narrative” that the system is working as it should and that the arrest of the two individuals was a success.

“What happened here is we were within a hair’s breadth, minutes, hours, potentially days away of a mass casualty,” Conservative MP Larry Brock told the committee.

“I’m sorry to all the witnesses, you failed in your responsibilities to keep us safe. You didn’t do your job. By the grace of God and good French intelligence, they are behind bars where they should be,” he added, calling on agencies to fire people who “didn’t do their job.”

Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen chimed in moments later to thank the intelligence and public security officials for their “incredible work.”

The NDP and the Bloc said that while they were glad the individuals were arrested and processes were followed, many questions remain on why they were in Canada in the first place and why they were in the advanced stages of a terrorist attack.

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