Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the ISIS terror plot by a Toronto father and son that was foiled by the RCMP a “serious situation,” and said his government will release more information on the incident at a later time.
“This is obviously a very serious situation that the minister of public safety is ensuring there are a full follow-up and understanding on exactly how this happened,” Trudeau told reporters in Napanee, Ont., during an unrelated funding announcement on Aug. 12.
“I know investigations are ongoing, and the minister will share all that we learned in the appropriate moment.”
The RCMP
arrested suspects Ahmed Eldidi and his son Mostafa Eldidi in Richmond Hill, Ont., on July 29. The two men are facing nine different terrorism charges, including conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the terrorist organization ISIS, also known as the Islamic State or Daesh.
According to a July 31
release from the RCMP, the two men were in the “advanced stages of planning a serious, violent attack in
Toronto.” The RCMP said their arrest means there is no further threat to the Canadian public. When Trudeau was asked by reporters whether he knew how the two men were able to immigrate to Canada, he said the government is conducting an investigation and will share that information with Canadians upon completion. He added that Canadians “need to have confidence in their immigration system” and in the “millions of people who have come here over the past years to build a better life for themselves.”
Conservative MPs have criticized the federal government for allowing the
men to enter and become citizens of Canada, with House leader Andrew Scheer calling on Aug. 6 for the House public safety committee to reconvene to investigate the matter. Scheer said Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc would be the first witness called to testify at the committee, followed by officials who oversee immigration applications.
Conservative MP Frank Caputo, who serves as his party’s public safety critic,
has also written a letter to LeBlanc requesting that the details surrounding the terrorist plot be made public “so that Canadians can get answers.”
In March, the RCMP also laid two terrorism charges against a security guard accused of throwing Molotov cocktails and firing gunshots inside Edmonton City Hall. In his manifesto, suspect Bezhani Sarvar mentioned several issues such as Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, inflation, and multiculturalism.
