A lawyer working to repatriate Canadians from detention in Syria says there is fresh word about two women and three children who had been slated to return to Canada last month. A general view of Karama camp for internally displaced Syrians, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022 by the village of Atma, Idlib province, Syria. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ AP - Omar Albam
OTTAWA – A lawyer working to repatriate Canadians from detention in Syria says there is fresh word about two women and three children who had originally been slated to return to Canada last month.
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon says Global Affairs Canada has confirmed that the department has recently been in contact with Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria about the five Canadians.
He says the department has obtained assurances the authorities will help Canada facilitate repatriation of the five – as it did for 14 other Canadians in April – after they did not turn up for a flight to Canada.
Greenspon says although no time frame has been specified, it gives the families of the two women and three children hope for the return of their loved ones.
Global Affairs had no immediate response to questions about the matter.
Greenspon reached an agreement with the federal government in January to bring home a total of six Canadian women and 13 children who had been part of a court action.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2023.
