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
Trudeau, key election players to testify at foreign interference hearings. What you need to know
The public hearings portion of the federal inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections and democratic institutions are picking back up this week. Here's what you need to know.
'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.
Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?
Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.
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.
TREND LINE What Nanos' tracking tells us about Canadians' mood, party preference heading into 2024
Heading into a new year, Canadians aren't feeling overly optimistic about the direction the country is heading, with the number of voters indicating negative views about the federal government's performance at the highest in a decade, national tracking from Nanos Research shows.
Opinion
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.
opinion Don Martin: Pierre Poilievre's road to apparent victory will soon start to get rougher
Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives appear to be on cruise control to a rendezvous with the leader's prime ministerial ambition, but in his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin questions whether the Conservative leader may be peaking too soon.
opinion Don Martin: The Trudeau lessons from Brian Mulroney's legacy start with walking away
Justin Trudeau should pay very close attention to the legacy treatment afforded former prime minister Brian Mulroney, who died on Thursday at age 84, writes columnist Don Martin.
opinion Don Martin: ArriveCan debacle may be even worse than we know from auditor's report
It's been 22 years since a former auditor general blasted the Chretien government after it 'broke just about every rule in the book' in handing out private sector contracts in the sponsorship scandal. In his column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says the book has been broken anew with everything that went on behind the scenes of the 'dreaded' ArriveCan app.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Local Spotlight
Conservation officers seize 9-foot python from Chilliwack home
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Ontario auto-insurance changes could leave some vulnerable, says expert
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
A tiny critter who could: Elusive Newfoundland Marten makes improbable comeback
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
Ontario man loses $12K to deepfake scam involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Record-setting pop tab collection for Ontario boy
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
'I was just like, holy cow!': Saskatoon dumpster divers reclaim wasted valuables
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario to balance budget ahead of 2026 election, citing delay due to 'economic uncertainty'
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.