(OTTAWA) A human rights group says a Canadian mother struggling to leave a Syrian detention camp with her six children suffered another setback this week when a fire damaged their tent .
Alexandra Bain, of the association Families Against Violent Extremism, explains that the Quebecer and several of her children were treated in a clinic after the fire, which broke out in the kitchen of the tent.
“The mother is in very poor condition, unable to communicate or function,” says Ms.me Bain during an interview.
“I understand that she is very distraught. »
The family are among many foreign nationals who are in Syrian camps and prisons run by Kurdish forces who recaptured the war-torn region from extremists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Daesh.
Mme Bain spoke to neighbors of the family in al-Roj camp and said he informed Global Affairs Canada of the fire.
The Foreign Office says it cannot comment on individual cases due to privacy considerations.
Mme Bain, whose organization helps families whose loved ones are caught up in violent extremist groups, has been in regular contact with the woman for months. However, she has not heard directly since the fire.
Neighbors at the camp told Mme Bain they were trying to help the young children of the family.
“I think the physical injuries are secondary to the trauma suffered by the mother,” said Ms.me Bath. She’s on edge, as you can imagine. »
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who has tried to help the family, recently reported that Ottawa will not help the Quebecer return to Canada because authorities believe she poses a security risk.
This means that she must stay in the camp with her children or send them without her on a flight to Canada, where they have no other family.
Mr Greenspon said the government wrote on June 21 that the woman held ‘extremist ideological beliefs’ which could lead her to acts of violence, and that it could not guarantee such behavior would not occur in Canada.
He pointed out that this excuse was unacceptable, arguing that the government could treat this woman properly through the Canadian legal system.
Earlier this year, Mr. Greenspon reached an agreement with the federal government to repatriate six Canadian women and 13 Syrian children who had initially been the subject of legal action. Some of these 19 Canadians have already returned.
However, the Quebecer was not part of the legal action.
Another Canadian-facilitated airlift is scheduled for early July, and Mme Greenspon hoped the woman and her children could be put on that flight.