Canadian police have filed charges against a 15-year-old boy for seeking to travel abroad to engage in "terrorist activity."

The boy, who cannot be named under laws protecting minors, is only the second person in the country ever to face such charges, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said late Wednesday.

He is accused of having stolen Can$2,200 (US$1,933) at knife-point from a grocer "for the benefit of, or at the direction of, a terrorist group."

"He was allegedly planning to leave Canada to engage in terrorist activity abroad," the RCMP added.