Air Canada logos are seen on the tails of planes at the airport in Montreal, Que., Monday, June 26, 2023. Air Canada is being accused in the U.K. House of Commons of delaying a British MP from boarding a flight “because his name is Mohammad." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
LONDON – Air Canada is being accused in the U.K. House of Commons of delaying a British MP from boarding a flight “because his name is Mohammad.”
Clive Betts, raising a point of order in the House this week, said fellow Labour MP Mohammad Yasin was pulled aside for questioning recently at London’s Heathrow airport “for a considerable period” while other lawmakers he was travelling with were allowed through.
Betts told the House that Yasin was asked whether he was carrying a knife and where he was born.
He says the questioning was being done by “officials from Air Canada and, we believe, the Canadian government” despite Yasin having a visa to enter Canada.
Betts says Yasin was eventually allowed to get on the flight, but he was “challenged” again at the Montreal and Toronto airports.
He says while Yasin has received apologies from Air Canada as well as Canada’s parliamentary secretary to the federal immigration minister, it was important to put Yasin’s experiences on the parliamentary record due to their “racist and Islamophobic nature.”
Air Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the airline said in a statement reported by the BBC that it regrets any inconvenience or upset caused and that it has reached out to Yasin to apologize.
