Feds eyeing repatriation of 19 Canadian women and children held in Syria: document | 24CA News
The federal authorities is taking a look at serving to to safe the discharge of 19 Canadian girls and youngsters being held in northeastern Syria, a newly filed courtroom doc says.
The transfer comes simply as members of the family of the six girls and 13 kids get set to argue in Federal Court that the Liberal authorities’s long-standing refusal to repatriate them — in addition to some Canadian males — quantities to a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
A doc filed this week within the courtroom case says Global Affairs Canada has decided the 19 Canadians have met a threshold below its coverage framework for offering extraordinary help.
As a consequence, Global Affairs has begun assessments below guiding ideas of the framework to find out whether or not to supply that help, says the agreed assertion of info, dated Dec. 1.
A handful of ladies and youngsters have returned to Canada from the area in recent times, however for essentially the most half, Canada has not adopted the trail of different nations which have efficiently repatriated residents.
The Canadian residents are among the many many overseas nationals in Syrian camps run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn area from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
26 Canadians a part of courtroom case
As of final July, a complete of 26 Canadians have been a part of the motion in opposition to the federal government being argued in Federal Court subsequent week.
The agreed assertion of info says {that a} girl and two kids included within the case “are no longer detained in any of the camps in northeastern Syria, and their current whereabouts are unknown.”
In addition to the 19 girls and youngsters who might obtain authorities help, a couple of Canadian males stay within the camps — together with Jack Letts, whose dad and mom have waged a public marketing campaign to get the federal authorities to return to his assist.
Kimberly Polman, one of many girls within the case, was repatriated to Canada in October.
The others within the courtroom motion are unnamed.
Lawrence Greenspon, a lawyer for all the candidates however Letts, stated in an interview Friday that the federal government’s consideration of assist for the remaining 19 Canadian girls and youngsters concerned within the courtroom case who’re nonetheless detained in Syria is doubtlessly very welcome news.
Greenspon has been invited to supply feedback and supporting documentation in relation to the Global Affairs evaluation of those circumstances.
However, the courtroom continuing continues to be slated for Monday and Tuesday in Ottawa.
No Charter obligation to repatriate, says authorities
In a submitting with the courtroom, the households of the detained Canadians argue that the method by which the federal government has decided whether or not or to not repatriate its residents “constitutes a breach of procedural fairness.”
It says no applicant was knowledgeable of the federal coverage framework put in place to find out whether or not to increase help till November 2021, some 10 months after it was applied and about two months after the courtroom software started.
“The fact that the policy framework was not provided to the applicants, at best, demonstrates a lack of sufficient information to know the case to meet.”
They additionally argue that the dearth of motion by the Canadian authorities in repatriating its residents runs afoul of the Charter.
In its submission to the courtroom, the federal authorities says Canada has offered consular help to the extent attainable, including there isn’t a authorized obligation below the Charter, statute or worldwide legislation for Canada to supply such help, together with the repatriation of its residents.
Federal attorneys say the duties that the candidates search to impose “conflict with the principled reasons for taking a restrained approach to the application of the Charter outside of Canada.”
