The Canadian government says accusations of diplomatic neglect hurled from the family and lawyer of a New Brunswick farmer imprisoned for more than a year in Lebanon are "completely untrue."

Henk Tepper, who has been accused of forgery and shipping rotten potatoes, arrived back on home soil this weekend.

Both his lawyer and his sister called on the Canadian government to explain why it took them so long to secure Tepper's release.

Diane Ablonczy, Canada's minister of state of foreign affairs, denied the government "abandoned" Tepper and said the family's accusations of neglect were "completely untrue."

"We worked very hard through diplomatic channels to support his application for release," she told reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons Monday.

"That's not true and I'm sorry that that perception is there," she said of the accusations.

Two days after her brother's homecoming, Harmein Dionne told reporters in New Brunswick that it's been frustrating trying to communicate with the federal government.

"Whenever I got an email from my contacts in Ottawa, all I got to hear was ‘Henk is healthy, Henk is good,'" she said on Monday.

Any additional updates were not forthcoming, said Dionne, leading her to wonder exactly what officials were doing "behind closed doors" to secure Tepper's release.

James Mockler, one of Tepper's lawyers said Canadian officials claim to have engaged in "quiet diplomacy" to bring the New Brunswick farmer back home.

"Based on the information that I have, the diplomacy was so silent that nobody heard it," he told CTV News Channel in a Monday afternoon phone interview.

Tepper had been in custody in Beirut since March 2011 on an arrest warrant alleging he shipped rotten potatoes to Algeria in 2007 and forged export documents.

Dionne says the case left Tepper's family in bureaucratic limbo.

"Whenever we asked the government what is happening, they never could share anything with us," she told reporters.

When asked if the government could have done a better job of keeping the family advised of their diplomatic work, Ablonczy said there was only so much they could tell members of the public, the family included.

"The family was advised all along that work was being done . . . it just wasn't being laid out in chapter and verse," she said.

Sister didn't stop believing

Despite her aggravation with the process, Dionne said she never doubted that Tepper would one day return home.

"I always knew this day was going to come," she said. "I always kept believing."

Dozens of signs welcoming Henk Tepper back to the country are plastered across homes and businesses in Grand Falls, N.B., about an eight minute drive from the farmer's home in the nearby village of Drummond.

"Welcome Henk" reads one block-letter sign outside a grocery store.

He arrived back in Canada on Saturday, much to the relief of friends and family.

"It's a celebration," said neighbour Jean-Louis Beaulieu, who erected a small sign a few hundred metres from Tepper's driveway.

Similar signs are fixed to garages, outside stores and are even in flashing red lights outside a gas station in Grand Falls.

Beaulieu said the community wants to let Tepper know that he has their support.

"I just want to make sure that he feels good coming home and the family does too," he told CTV News Atlantic.

During Monday's news conference, Tepper's sister said the welcoming messages were received. Harmein Dionne said her brother was touched to see all the supportive signs.

"Words can't even explain how we felt. It was amazing," she told reporters.

Though Tepper has finally touched down on home soil, he may have some unresolved legal issues to deal with before he settles back into his old life.

According to a Canadian Press report, a source close to Tepper says an Interpol red notice issued by Algeria is still in effect. The source says he could still face up to five years in prison if convicted of the allegations.

A "red notice" issued by Interpol is technically not an international arrest warrant but encourages all 190 members of the police organization to share information, with a view to a person's arrest or extradition.

Mockler says Tepper can either ask Interpol to remove the red notice or request that Algerian sources cancel the notice. The lawyer says he'll soon be contacting Tepper about his preferred course of action.

An attempt to search for Tepper's name on Interpol's online "wanted persons" database did not produce any results on Monday morning.

Now back in Canada, the farmer must also resolve lingering financial issues at his farming operation, which has been under creditor protection since last June.

Reports indicate his business is $11 million in debt. Earlier this month, a N.B. justice approved a restructuring plan to merge Tepper's eight companies into one entity.

For their part, Tepper's neighbours are just relieved to have him home, a sentiment that's written on a sign outside Camille Theriault's Grand Falls car wash.

"I'm pretty sure he'll appreciate that in Grand Falls we're caring for him."