Canada to dismiss repatriation ruling for 4 ISIS-linked nationals in Syria

Women and children inside Hawl Camp in Hasakah eastern countryside, NE Syria – North Press
Women and children inside Hawl Camp in Hasakah eastern countryside, NE Syria – North Press

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Canadian government said that the Federal Court of Appeal misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it directed officials to secure the release of men detained in prisons for Islamic State (ISIS) militants in northeast Syria.

Government lawyers are seeking to overturn the January ruling by Federal Court Judge Henry Brown, who interpreted a citizen’s right to enter Canada as a right to expect the government to rescue and return citizens.

In late January, Global Affairs Canada, the country’s chief diplomatic body, ruled out bringing back four foreign-born mothers of ten Canadian children. The women had given birth to the children of their Canadian husbands. Global Affairs Canada gave the women one and a half weeks to decide whether to send the children to Canada by themselves or whether they should remain in the camps.

Government lawyers argue that the Federal Court made errors in its ruling. They said the court misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it directed officials to “take extraordinary measures” to secure the release of the men.

Family members of the men, as well as several women and children, argued in the Federal Court proceedings that the Global Affairs Canada, the country’s diplomatic body, must arrange for their repatriation, saying that refusing to do so violates the Canadian Charter.

The government insisted that the Charter does not obligate the government to repatriate the Canadians held in Syria.

The Roj and al-Hawl camps, which are run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), house around 57,300 ISIS-linked individuals, including nearly 10,000 foreigners.

Canada has so far only repatriated two children and one woman from the camps.

Yazidis who fled ISIS genocidal campaign in Sinjar, Iraq, to Canada voiced their concern over the return of former ISIS members to the country, as they are unlikely to face trial due to a lack of evidence.

Reporting by Shella Abdulhalim