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A Toronto man who allegedly tried to carry a meat cleaver onto Parliament Hill is to undergo a psychiatric assessment.

A lawyer for Yasin Ali asked for the assessment in court Wednesday after the 56-year-old appeared by video from the courthouse cellblock on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon. He will remain in jail until his next appearance on Friday, when he is to appear in court in person.

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A man had a ticket to visit the Peace Tower, and was in line to go through the visitors’ entrance at about 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday when a House of Commons security guard asked him to open his coat. The guard found the man was concealing a large cleaver with an approximately six-inch-long blade. The man never made it as far as the metal detectors.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told reporters that Ali is known to authorities, but “not in the sort of counter-terrorism context.”

In fact, Paulson does not believe that the man’s actions were politically motivated or an act of terror.