Four Canadian women and their 10 children were repatriated from the Al-Roj detention camp in northeast Syria, Global Affairs confirmed to CTV News Thursday.
They were flown out of Syria on a U.S. military plane, which first landed in Germany, before they were transferred to flights to Canada.
However, the number is less than CTV News sources anticipated. The people released from the camp Tuesday were among the 19 Canadians who had reached an agreement with Global Affairs Canada for repatriation in January.
They were part of a group who initially sued the federal government to bring them home after years of languishing in detention camps.
The court action was known as “BOLOH” for “Bring Our Loved Ones Home.”
Global Affairs hasn’t responded to CTV News’ questions about the status of another five women and children who were also part of the legal case. Why they were not on the plane is unknown at this time.
Most had been detained since at least 2019 when the Islamic State fell to Kurdish forces.
In a statement issued Thursday morning GAC said, “Canada has taken extraordinary steps to repatriate Canadian women and children identified in the Bring Our Loved Ones Home litigation. Today, four Canadian women and 10 Canadian children are being repatriated to Canada. As long as conditions allow, we will continue this work.”
Global Affairs also thanked the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the Kurdish authority that operates the camps, for its cooperation.
GAC also extended “gratitude” to the United States for its assistance in ”playing a key role in resolving the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
A 38 year-old Quebec woman who was not part of the court case remains at the camp with her six children. Although it had more than four months to assess her eligibility for repatriation, Global Affairs was unable to complete their work in time for Tuesday’s flight.
Ten other Canadian children whose mothers are foreign born have also not been granted repatriation. Their mothers have refused to relinquish their guardianship to get them home and their Canadian fathers are missing or may have died during the Syrian civil war.
Toronto immigration lawyer, Asiya Hirji who represents two of the four foreign mothers says she is launching a lawsuit against the government in federal court to get her clients home.
Some of the children Hirji represents have serious health issues including non-verbal autism, burns that aren’t healing and severe malnutrition.
“We are in the process of filing an application to federal court on an urgent basis,” said Hirji.
“We’re very concerned another plane may leave and that again these women and children won’t be on it.”
Meanwhile, the fate of four Canadian men has yet to be determined by the Federal Court of Appeal. They are in prisons operated by Kurdish authorities but have not been charged. They are suspected of joining ISIS but lawyers for the government haven’t presented evidence in courts
In January, federal court Justice Henry Brown ordered Global Affairs to repatriate the men but federal government lawyers appealed the ruling and argued the Charter doesn’t guarantee a right to return.
The appeal hearing was held last week and the three judges on the panel are currently weighing the arguments.
A previous version of this story stated 19 Canadians were set to return to Canada. According to CTV News sources, there were 19 women and children who were part of the intial agreement for repatriation in January. However, on Thursday, the number of people repatriated was confirmed by Global Affairs to be 14, four women and their 10 children. CTV News has asked Global Affairs for the status of the remaining five women and children but they are yet to respond.
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