A father and son hockey fans from Markham Ontario, (near Toronto) got a surprise on New Year’s eve when they were about to board an Air Canada flight to attend the National Hockey League “Winter Classic” game in the US.
The young boy’s name is Syed Adam Ahmed, and Air Canada officials told the father his son was listed as DHP or “Deemed High Profile”, in other words, a security risk.
This is not the first time the family has had problems crossing the border. In a Huffington Post news story, Adam’s mother is reported to have received only vague responses to her questions about why their son’s name is causing problems and no acknowledgement of the existence of a Canadian version of the US “no-fly” list nor whether her son’s name was on it. In Canada there is a programme known as the Passenger Protect Program which seems to bears similarity to the US no-fly concept.
The Ahmed family say each time they travel, they have to get additional screening and security clearances.
This is not the first time the family has had problems crossing the border. In a Huffington Post news story, Adam’s mother is reported to have received only vague responses from the federal government to her questions about why her son is classed as a security concern. She also said their was no acknowledgement of the existences of a “no-fly” list nor whether her son’s name was on it.
The parents say each time they cross into the US, they have to get additional screening and security clearances.
This time after a delay once again, the father and son were able to attend the hockey game but the boy’s father Sulemaan Ahmed later tweeted about the situation. The tweets were retweeted several times eventually coming to the attention of the family’s local Member of Parliament, and to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. The Minister says he now will be looking into the Ahmed case.
He also said the Liberal government is working on its promise to review the no-fly list and is also working towards conducting public consultations about the list.
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