Repatriating Canadian men from Syria? PM says, 'We're looking at it carefully'
CTV
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government has yet to decide if it will appeal or accept a federal court order to repatriate Canadian men who have been jailed in northeastern Syria.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government has yet to decide if it will appeal or accept a federal court order to repatriate Canadian men who have been jailed in northeastern Syria.
The men are suspected of joining ISIS during Syria's civil war, but none have been charged.
"We're looking at it carefully. Obviously - making sure we're defending Canadians' safety and security is always going to be a priority for us," PM Trudeau said Monday, while taking questions from reporters during a visit to a quantum technology firm in Toronto.
The ruling applies to four men who were applicants in a federal court case referred to as "Bring Our Loved Ones Home," or BOLOH. The case was first filed in 2021, and initially included 6 women and 13 children as well. All have been detained in camps or prisons for years.
Last week, the government reached an agreement to repatriate the 19 women and children within a "mutually agreed time frame," but not the men.
One day later, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown ruled it would be a violation of the Charter to abandon the men.
"Based on evidence before this Court, the conditions of the Applicant Canadian men are even more dire than those of the women and children who Canada has just agreed to repatriate," wrote Justice Brown in an 85-page decision.
