diff --git a/bids-validator/src/files/deno.ts b/bids-validator/src/files/deno.ts
index 346d7f07f..1e00002cf 100644
--- a/bids-validator/src/files/deno.ts
+++ b/bids-validator/src/files/deno.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
  * Deno specific implementation for reading files
  */
 import { basename, join } from '@std/path'
-import { existsSync } from '@std/fs'
 import * as posix from '@std/path/posix'
 import { type BIDSFile, FileTree } from '../types/filetree.ts'
 import { requestReadPermission } from '../setup/requestPermissions.ts'
@@ -150,13 +149,17 @@ async function _readFileTree(
  */
 export async function readFileTree(rootPath: string): Promise<FileTree> {
   const ignore = new FileIgnoreRules([])
-  if (existsSync(join(rootPath, '.bidsignore'))) {
+  try {
         const ignoreFile = new BIDSFileDeno(
           rootPath,
           '.bidsignore',
           ignore,
         )
         ignore.add(await readBidsIgnore(ignoreFile))
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (!(Object.hasOwn(err, 'code') && err.code === "ENOENT")) {
+      throw err
+    }
   }
   return _readFileTree(rootPath, '/', ignore)
 }