Conservative MPs have asked Canada’s public safety committee to reconvene to probe how a Toronto man arrested last week for allegedly plotting an ISIS attack in the U.S. got into the country.
The four Conservative members of the committee want it to meet immediately to hear from Immigration Minister Marc Miller, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Canadian Jewish groups.
In a letter to the committee chair on Monday, the MPs said the arrest marked the second time this summer that Canadian security agencies had disrupted an ISIS-related terrorism plot.
“This again raises serious questions about the government’s ability to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country, and demands the committee’s immediate attention,” they wrote.
“The pattern of ISIS affiliated terrorists entering and residing in Canada is deeply troubling. The Minister of Immigration must be transparent and inform Canadians on how and when the latest ISIS terrorist entered Canada.”
The letter, obtained by Global News, was signed by MPs Frank Caputo, Doug Shipley, Dane Lloyd and Glen Motz.
The RCMP arrested Muhammad Shahzeb Khan in Ormstown, Que., on Wednesday as he was allegedly about to cross the border to carry out a mass shooting at a Brooklyn, N.Y., Jewish centre.
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The 20-year-old Pakistani ISIS supporter was taken into custody just over a month after the RCMP arrested a father and son, Ahmed and Mostafa Eldidi, for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack in Toronto for the so-called Islamic State.
After Global News reported the elder Eldidi had appeared in an ISIS execution video before immigrating to Canada, the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security was recalled to look into how security screening failed to detect his past.
The Conservatives now want the committee to examine Khan, whom the U.S. alleges planned to carry out what he called the “slaughter” of Jews on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel.
The federal government has so far declined to answer questions about how Khan got into Canada.
“We cannot comment on active investigations or individual cases,” an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson said on Monday.
“IRCC works closely with partners, including the Canadian Border Services Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Security Intelligence Service.”
But Jewish groups said the RCMP told them at a briefing Friday they were investigating a student visa.
“The government is again trying to hide this information, citing the same false excuses they used before they were forced to reveal information on Eldidi,” the four MPs wrote.
They countered that the Privacy Act allows the government to release information when “public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs any invasion of privacy that could result from the disclosure.”
“Media reporting suggests that, according to Jewish community groups briefed by police, this individual may have obtained a student visa in order to enter Canada,” the letter said.
Khan was arrested on an extradition warrant filed by the U.S., which has charged him with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, ISIS.
“We are seeing a very disturbing trend of increased terrorist activity in this country, which is heightening safety concerns in the Jewish community at a time when it is already dealing with antisemitic attacks on its schools, synagogues and community centres,” said Michael Levitt, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
“Alarmingly, this latest incident once again raises questions about the rigorousness of our immigration process and vetting protocols. These questions must be answered by our government leaders and law enforcement before a tragedy occurs on Canadian soil.”
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