6-Year-Old Boy Deemed 'Travel Risk'

Canada is investigating
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 4, 2016 3:50 PM CST
6-Year-Old Boy Deemed 'Travel Risk'
Stock image   (Shutterstock)

Canada's public safety minister has promised to investigate the case of a six-year-old boy whose name appears to be on a travel security risk list. The Ontario boy's father tweeted a photo from Toronto's Pearson International Airport last week that appears to show his son's name, Syed Adam Ahmed, with a "DHP" or "deemed high profile" label and instructions on how to proceed before allowing the boy to check in. "Why is our (Canadian born) 6 year old on DHP no fly list? He must clear security each time. He is 6," the father wrote in his tweet to Air Canada. The father and son were flying on New Year's Eve to the NHL Winter Classic in Boston.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he's reviewing the case, and will update the family when he has all the details. The boy's mother, Khadija Cajee, says the family has had to deal with the issue in the past. She says they've never been able to check their son in for flights online, and he needs special clearance every time they go to the airport. The boy and his father were both born in Canada, and Cajee's family came to the country from South Africa, fleeing apartheid, she says. Cajee doesn't know why her son is on the list, but she assumes he shares a name with someone who actually earned a place on it. "He's basically being carded for being Muslim," Cajee told Global News last week in a televised interview. (More Canada stories.)

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