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| Canadian six-year-old still on no-fly list despite government's promise to help | Canadian six-year-old still on no-fly list despite government's promise to help |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The family of a Canadian six-year-old who has been deemed a high-risk traveler say their son is still being flagged by airlines despite the federal government’s promise to fix the problem. | The family of a Canadian six-year-old who has been deemed a high-risk traveler say their son is still being flagged by airlines despite the federal government’s promise to fix the problem. |
| Syed Adam Ahmed’s mother tweeted Friday that her son was unable to complete an online check-in for an Air Canada flight that morning from Toronto to Edmonton, where the family was flying for a weekend wedding. | Syed Adam Ahmed’s mother tweeted Friday that her son was unable to complete an online check-in for an Air Canada flight that morning from Toronto to Edmonton, where the family was flying for a weekend wedding. |
| “Our 6 year old is still on #NoFlyListKids. Still flagged at online checkin. When does it stop?” Khadija Cajee posted on Twitter, along with a picture of her son at he Toronto Pearson international airport. | |
| @Goodale @MarcGarneau Our 6 year old is still on #NoFlyListKids. Still flagged at online checkin. When does it stop? pic.twitter.com/dQC5m8YMvh | @Goodale @MarcGarneau Our 6 year old is still on #NoFlyListKids. Still flagged at online checkin. When does it stop? pic.twitter.com/dQC5m8YMvh |
| Ahmed’s case drew international media attention in January when his father, Sulemaan Ahmed, tweeted to Air Canada asking why his son was consistently flagged by security when they traveled. | Ahmed’s case drew international media attention in January when his father, Sulemaan Ahmed, tweeted to Air Canada asking why his son was consistently flagged by security when they traveled. |
| The family says the Ontario boy has endured airport security headaches ever since he was a toddler but never received a concrete answer from airlines or government officials when his parents asked for an explanation, and they assume he has a name similar to a person currently on the security watch list. | The family says the Ontario boy has endured airport security headaches ever since he was a toddler but never received a concrete answer from airlines or government officials when his parents asked for an explanation, and they assume he has a name similar to a person currently on the security watch list. |
| Related: Father of Canadian six-year-old on no-fly list: our family is not alone | Related: Father of Canadian six-year-old on no-fly list: our family is not alone |
| Since then, around two dozen Canadian families have come forward with similar stories of disrupted travel plans. | |
| Cajee told the Guardian that while there has been some improvement – the family no longer has to go through layers of additional security clearance – they still cannot check-in online and her son has to be visually identified by airline staff. | |
| “One step forward and that’s great, but the end goal is to have the children completely removed from the list,” she said. | |
| Federal public safety minister Ralph Goodale has said he is committed to improving the reliability of the list and, in a letter to the families in February, he assured them his department had contacted airlines and told them that additional security screening validation is not required for passengers younger than 18. | Federal public safety minister Ralph Goodale has said he is committed to improving the reliability of the list and, in a letter to the families in February, he assured them his department had contacted airlines and told them that additional security screening validation is not required for passengers younger than 18. |
| He also told them public safety officials were exploring changes to the Secure Air Travel regulations that would help differentiate regular travelers from individuals on the no-fly list with the same or similar names. In interviews, he has said that could mean adding birth dates, addresses, or social security numbers to the available security data. | He also told them public safety officials were exploring changes to the Secure Air Travel regulations that would help differentiate regular travelers from individuals on the no-fly list with the same or similar names. In interviews, he has said that could mean adding birth dates, addresses, or social security numbers to the available security data. |
| But Goodale warned in the letter that it was possible some children were being flagged under foreign lists, like the US no fly list, or other lists kept by the air carriers themselves, all which could also cause security delays. | But Goodale warned in the letter that it was possible some children were being flagged under foreign lists, like the US no fly list, or other lists kept by the air carriers themselves, all which could also cause security delays. |
| Ontario resident Karen Ahmed said she wants the federal government to move more quickly. She says her son Adam Ahmed, whose name is similar to that of Cajee’s son, has also been flagged a security risk since he was a youth. He turns 18 on 21 March. | |
| Karen Ahmed said the family used to laugh off the extra scrutiny until the day they were nearly denied boarding on a flight home from India because her son was flagged. Now, she worries about what will happen when he starts traveling as an adult. | |
| “He’s already asking if he can go to Miami with his friends,” she said. “He’s going to start traveling by himself and I don’t want him to be stranded God knows where.” | |
| In a statement on Friday, Goodale’s spokesman Scott Bardsley said the minister is aware of Ahmed’s family’s concerns and is supportive of their efforts to improve the data on the no-fly list. | |
| But Bardsley said he was unable to offer a timeline for promised reforms, saying only that “further details will be announced in due course”. | But Bardsley said he was unable to offer a timeline for promised reforms, saying only that “further details will be announced in due course”. |
| Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment. | Air Canada did not respond to a request for comment. |