Air Canada apologizes after British MP questioned ‘because his name is Mohammad’

Air Canada says it has apologized to a British MP who was singled out for additional security screening while travelling to and from Canada with a parliamentary committee last week.

Labour MP Mohammad Yasin was questioned on both legs of his trip by Air Canada and Canadian immigration officials, and was told it was “because his name is Mohammad,” according to MP Clive Betts, one of the committee members travelling with Yasin.

Betts told the U.K. House of Commons on Monday that Yasin was stopped for questioning, unlike other members from the House of Commons committee who were travelling to Canada together. Yasin is one of two people of colour on the committee, and the only one with a Muslim name.

“The questioning was undertaken by officials from Air Canada and, we believe, the Canadian government,” said Betts. He said Yasin was questioned multiple times, first at Heathrow airport, then at airports in Montreal and Toronto.

Betts said Yasin was asked where he was born and whether he was carrying a knife or other weapon. Eventually, he said, Yasin was allowed to board — after help from the committee clerk, on the flight into Canada, and from the consul general, on the way back.

In a statement to CBC, Air Canada said it regretted the inconvenience or upset caused by the incident and has reached out to apologize to Yasin.

“We are following up internally on the handling of this particular matter to ensure procedures were properly followed, and we have also been in touch with relevant authorities,” reads Air Canada’s emailed statement. The company did not elaborate on who the relevant authorities were.

A spokesperson for Yasin’s office declined a CBC interview request on his behalf.

Yasin told the BBC: “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.”

Yasin and the committee have received apologies from Air Canada and the parliamentary secretary to the Canadian Minister of Immigration, Betts said, but he still planned to write to the Canadian high commissioner about the incident “given the racist and Islamophobic nature of these challenges.”

The Canadian Immigration Ministry did not answer CBC’s questions about why Yasin received additional screening, instead directing questions to Canada Border Services Agency.

CBSA, in turn, said it could not answer questions because “an individual’s border and immigration information is considered private and protected.”

Both Yasin, speaking to the BBC, and Betts, addressing the House of Commons, noted that Yasin’s political status helped him withstand the questioning and eventually board his flights.

“Because he was an MP, he was allowed on his flights,” Betts said. “If, however, one of our constituents had been so challenged, they might have been refused.”

Mohammad, along with its alternative spellings, is one of the most common male names in the world.