MONTREAL, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Air Canada did the right thing in apologizing to a British lawmaker named Mohammad Yasin who was recently singled out for additional questioning while flying to and from Canada, the country’s transport minister said on Wednesday.
Canadian Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said “we called Air Canada” after hearing about the incident where British Labour Member of Parliament Mohammad Yasin was peppered with questions while traveling with a British parliamentary committee to Canada last week.
“Air Canada apologized and apologizing was the right thing to do,” Rodriguez told reporters in Ottawa. Air Canada was not immediately available for comment.
Labour MP Clive Betts told the U.K. House of Commons on Monday that Yasin was asked whether he was carrying a knife or other weapon and where he was born.
“He was told it was because his name was Mohammad,” Betts said. “The questioning was undertaken by officials from Air Canada and we believe the Canadian government.”
The challenges of a “racist and islamophobic” nature were raised both at airports in London, England, and in Montreal, Betts said. Yasin was again challenged in Toronto.
He was eventually able to board.
Yasin told the BBC on Tuesday that “it was stressful and humiliating to be singled out in such an aggressive way by immigration control, especially when travelling in a group as a representative of the British Parliament on long arranged committee business.”
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) was not immediately reachable for comment. (Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal Editing by Marguerita Choy)
