Unable to leave Syria, mothers of Canadian children forfeit repatriation to keep their families together
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
The foreign women have children with Canadian citizens, but their husbands are missing or have been killed in fighting during Syria’s civil war. The government suspects they and their husbands may have traveled to the region to join the Islamic State, but no evidence has been presented in court.
Global Affairs said the children of these Canadian men were eligible to be brought home, but not their wives. The women were given a March 31 deadline to decide if they will relinquish guardianship of their children in order to get them to safety. Four women and ten children are impacted by the ultimatum.
Backed into a corner, the mothers have chosen to stay with their children. They made their desperate decision as RCMP officers visited Al-Roj camp this week as part of arrangements for imminent repatriation.
Former Liberal justice minister and attorney general Allan Rock calls the Trudeau government’s demands of the foreign mothers “cruel and deeply disturbing.”
“To think that the children would be torn from their mothers and be alone in Canada is so far distant from the way we think of our country and the way we behave in the world,” said Rock in a phone interview.
FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER SAYS REPATRIATION SHOULDN’T BE POLITICIZED
Rock, who is a president emeritus of the University of Ottawa and a retired law professor, says the Trudeau government is likely “hypersensitive” to being labeled “soft on terrorism.”
“I find it difficult to believe that the security of Canada will be at risk because we admitted four women with their children,” said Rock, who is also among more than 100 legal experts who called for the repatriation of all Canadian detainees in an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau earlier this week.
“These are matters that are too important to be concerned about political fallout. This is a decision about the lives of children. We should let our collective humanity govern,”said Rock.
Toronto immigration lawyer Asiya Hirji represents two foreign women who have children with extensive medical needs.
One of Hirji’s clients, a 36 year-old woman has a non-verbal autistic son and another child who hasn’t healed from severe burns after falling into a kerosene heater. Another client has children diagnosed with intestinal parasites.
“For the life of me I can’t understand the logic. My heart bleeds for these children who have known no other life than a life with their mom,” said Hirji.
Hirji says her client’s children have no relatives in Canada, and would have to be placed in foster care if they were repatriated without their mothers.
“They will be a tremendous burden on Canada’s healthcare system while their mothers are in another country,” Hirji said in a zoom interview.
SIGNS REPATRIATION COULD HAPPEN WITHIN DAYS
Global Affairs Canada confirmed to CTV News that it was imposing on the mothers to choose if they would separate from their children.
“Non-Canadian parents with Canadian children may request or agree for their children to be repatriated to Canada…Agreeing to or requesting repatriation for one’s child is an incredibly difficult decision and one that must be made by the parent and the parent alone,” said the GAC spokesperson Grantly Franklin.
With the Mounties in Syria, and the House of Commons on its Easter break, advocates say signs point to repatriation flights occurring within days. Meanwhile the clock is running out on an immigration solution to keep the families together.
Hirji and other immigration lawyers applied for emergency temporary resident permits for the four non-Canadian mothers. The TRP submissions included analysis by Canadian pediatricians of medical documents obtained from the Kurdish-run camps in Syria.
The applications for the TRPs were sent to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s office in February, yet Hirji says there has been no response.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada said privacy legislation prevents the department from commenting on a CTV request for a status update on the TRP’s.
Meanwhile at the Al-Roj camp in Syria, a Canadian mother has been caught in a new bureaucratic nightmare. She is one of seven Canadian women who declined to be interviewed by RCMP officers who were at the camp this week vetting security risks.
Advocates for the detainees say that after refusing to be interviewed, a Global Affairs official called the woman and informed her she may not be on the flight with her six children because her file was incomplete.
“In her head there is pressure on her to agree to be interviewed by police,” says Alexandra Bain of Families Against Violent Extremism.
According to lawyers familiar with the Global Affairs repatriation settlement there is no requirement for any of the 26 Canadian women and children to speak to police while they are in the camps.
In addition to the women and children, at least four Canadian men are imprisoned in Northeast Syria. The government of Canada is appealing a federal court order to bring them home. The Federal Court Of Appeal is expected to make a decision soon.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Air France flight from Paris to Seattle lands in Iqaluit after heat smell in cabin
A plane travelling from Paris to Seattle was forced to make an emergency landing in Iqaluit after there was a heat smell in the cabin during the flight.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.
Boy Scouts of America changing name for first time in 114 years, aiming for inclusivity
The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Security guard shot, critically injured outside of Drake's Toronto mansion
A security guard working at Drake’s Bridle Path mansion in Toronto was seriously injured in a shooting outside the residence early Tuesday morning, police said.
Local Spotlight
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.