Woman suspects she was disqualified from Montreal police due to estranged uncle's alleged terrorist ties

Miriam Ikhlef has always wanted to be a police officer.

"I've always been passionate about law, about justice, about helping people," she told CTV News on Thursday. "I believe I'm good at it, so I just wanted to do it."

That's why she applied to be a 911 dispatcher back in 2020.

"I got the job, I passed all the requirements -- which included a security clearance -- which I passed without any problems," said the 26-year-old.

So when a job opened up to become a police officer she applied to that, too, but was turned down because she didn't pass the security check.

Then, just a few days later, she lost her job as a dispatcher.

"I was dismissed because of the revocation of my security clearance, which I had passed."

Ikhlef believes it's possible police linked her to Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian-born man who once lived in Montreal and was arrested in 1999 for plotting to bomb an L.A. airport.

She says her uncle, Mourad Ikhlef, knew Rassam. Mourad Ikhlef was deported in 2003 because of alleged terrorist ties. He was later acquitted by an Algerian court.

But Miriam Ikhlef says she barely knows her uncle.

"I was maybe three or four years old, and I don't know anything about that. It's not my story."

Her legal team alleges that, in Superior Court last year, Montreal police (SPVM) management said they didn't know why Ikhlef failed the security check, claiming that sort of information wasn't shared with their officers.

Superior Court Justice Michel A. Pinsonnault condemned police, writing, "With respect, one wonders if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing at the SPVM."

Guylaine Dionne, president of the union representing 911 dispatchers and other white-collar workers in Montreal, told The Canadian Press her goal is to have Miriam Ikhlef reinstated with financial compensation.

"This case raises serious human rights issues that we monitor closely, including when employers fire employees without giving clear reasons under the guise of secrecy related to security investigations," she said.

Retired SPVM officer Andre Durocher says it's not always obvious why someone fails a security check.

"There is a certain onus on the police department to at least justify, but the reason may not be as transparent as we expect sometimes," he said.

Regardless, Ikhlef hopes to find out and says she still wants to be an officer one day.

Ikhlef's story is now the basis of a union grievance, and she's pursuing a lawsuit against the City of Montreal and the SPVM.

CTV News reached out to both to confirm and respond to her story but did not receive a response Thursday. 

With files from The Canadian Press.