A general view of Karama camp for internally displaced Syrians, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022 by the village of Atma, Idlib province, Syria. A Federal Court judge has ordered the Liberal government to help bring home four Canadian men being held in Syrian camps. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Omar Albam
OTTAWA – A judge has ordered the Liberal government to help bring home four Canadian men being held in Syrian camps.
In a ruling today, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown has directed Ottawa to request repatriation of the men as soon as reasonably possible and provide them with passports or emergency travel documents.
Brown says a representative of the federal government must travel to Syria to help facilitate the return of the men once their captors agree to hand them over.
The Canadians are among the many foreign nationals in Syrian camps run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn region from the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Family members of the men, as well as several women and children, have been arguing in court that the government must arrange for their return, saying that refusing to do so violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
A lawyer for six Canadian women and 13 children in the camps reached an agreement this week with the federal government to bring them home.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2023.
