Suaad Hagi Mohamud testifies before the standing committee on foreign affairs about her ordeal in Kenya. (CBC)

A Toronto woman who is suing the Canadian government after being wrongly detained as an impostor in Kenya for three months tearfully recounted her ordeal for a parliamentary committee Wednesday.

“I’m telling you my story because I want to make sure what happened to me does not happen to any other Canadian,” Suaad Hagi Mohamud said in a prepared statement for the standing committee on foreign affairs.

Mohamud was stranded in Kenya after local officials said her lips did not match the photo on her passport. Canadian consular officials also called her an impostor and voided her passport even after Mohamud handed over numerous pieces of identification and offered fingerprints

Mohamud became emotional as she talked about her 12-year-old son, Mohamed Hussein, whose DNA was used to prove her identity.

“I told my son I was away for a short time — I was gone for 3½ months. Now he is afraid when I leave him. What could have happened if my son had come with me to Kenya? What could have happened if I did not have a child?” she said, breaking down in tears.

Mohamud wept again as she described how she felt the Canadian government turned its back on her.

“I thought my government would back me up. But I was alone when my government let me down,” she said.

She was charged on May 28 with identity fraud and spent eight days in a Kenyan jail. After DNA tests finally proved her identity, the charges were dropped. She returned to Toronto earlier this month.

“I ended up in jail in Kenya because of the Canadian officials. They took away my right, my identity and my freedom and they told Kenyans I was criminal.

“I never believed I would go to jail for saying I was a Canadian citizen.”

She is suing the Canadian government for $2.6 million.