Lawyer for 2 non-Canadian Moms To File Emergency Court Motion
“Joe Biden recently applauded Canada for its stand against arbitrary detention when the Two Michaels were detained in China, yet by its actions Canada has perpetuated the arbitrary detention of the Canadian Muslim men still held without charge in northeast Syria,” says Matthew Behrens of Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, which has led a campaign for repatriation that includes a petition that’s generated tens of thousands of signatures (https://www.change.org/p/canadians-are-dying-free-jack-letts-43-canadian-kids-women-men-in-syria/)
“Canada is also refusing to bring four moms who are not Canadians but who have Canadian children, one of whom urgently requires emergency brain surgery,” Behrens continued. “This despite the fact that applications to allow them entry to Canada have been on the immigration minister’s desk for close to 2 months. Does Canada want these kids and their moms to die?”
In a statement released through her lawyer, Asiya Hirji, one of those mothers, Zahra, explained: “I’m not able to articulate how unsettling it is to wake up to the sequestration of my Canadian children from the repatriation process. They have the right to be in Canada with their primary caregiver, their mother. Family separation isn’t a collateral consequence of a policy, one that ironically states that ‘no child will be separated from their mother’. Rather, it’s explicitly intentional. To give up children, who are already distraught and extraordinarily traumatised, is NO choice. Besides, leaving our kids to face inhumane conditions, which is the choice made by the Canadian government itself, is a stark contrast. Our kids are in tears, heartbroken. It’s like Canada has told them their lives are not worth saving unless they give up their mothers. This could happen to any Canadian detained abroad.”
Sally Lane, mother of the longest held detainee, Jack Letts (marking 6 years in May), has mixed feelings. “We have campaigned for so many years to bring everyone home, and while it is wonderful to know that some of the children and their moms will no longer be forced to endure conditions the UN calls akin to torture, my son is still held without charge over there along with other mothers’ sons,” she says. “It is infuriating to me that Canadian officials can be in the exact same city as the prison that illegally holds Jack, yet they refused to take a 10-minute cab ride from where the handover ceremony takes place to pick him up and bring him home.”
Lane believes the men are being discriminated against by Canadian officials, a point made January 20 in the Federal Court decision ordering the repatriation of Jack Letts and three other men. “Judge Brown said there was no evidence that Jack or the other men posed a threat, that their conditions were worse than those for the children and women, that everyone was either dying or at risk of dying, and yet my taxpayer dollars were used to pay government lawyers who last week tried to appeal the repatriation decision and exile my son and the other Canadians forever. What will it take to end this horror show? Do I have to go over there and rescue Jack myself?”
The lawyer for two of the non-Canadian mothers similarly expressed outrage over the failure of Canada to bring everyone home.
"While we are happy for anyone who can get out of those nightmarish prison camps, we are horrified both that Canada took years to do this and that this country has failed to prioritize the lives and basic human rights of Canadian children whose mothers are not citizens, and therefore all of them have been left behind," says lawyer Asiya Hirji. As counsel for two of those mothers, Hirji will file an emergency mandamus application in the Federal Court seeking the immediate granting of Temporary Resident Permits to allow those moms to come to Canada with their children. "On March 31, United Nations experts marked the beginning of the 5th year of detention for thousands of children in these awful places. We are talking about children with severe health problems who require immediate care. Canada knows this yet drags its feet. Does one of these kids have to die before they get repatriated?"
The late night removal of some of the women and children from the prison camps came as one mother was still awaiting a response from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) regarding how her special needs Canadian citizen child would be cared for if he were repatriated without his mother. GAC failed to respond.
“It has been maddening to watch Justin Trudeau and his ministers mark the intersection of three religious holidays whose faiths are rooted in stories of exile and banishment, even as they perpetuate the very crimes that gave rise to these important occasions,” Behrens concluded. “At the core of the Islamic faith is a very basic precept: Free the Captives. In this case, Canadians are captives, and Canadian government officials hold the key to their release.”
Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture
2583 Carling Ave., Unit M052, Ottawa, ON K2B 7H7
(613) 300-9536, tasc@web.ca
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