Canada considers Quebec woman with six children in Syria a security risk, lawyer says

A lawyer says Canada will not repatriate a Quebec woman being held in Syria with her six children because officials believe she poses a security risk.

Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who has been working to bring the woman home, says he was advised of the decision recently by Global Affairs Canada.

He says the department wrote June 21 that the woman has “extremist ideological beliefs” that may lead her to act violently, and the government cannot ensure no such conduct occurs.

Greenspon says the excuse is untrue and unacceptable, arguing the government could deal with the woman as needed through Canada’s justice system.

He says the federal decision means the woman must decide whether to send her children to Canada alone or keep them with her in Syrian detention.

The family is among the many foreign nationals in Syrian camps run by Kurdish forces that took back the war-torn region from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2023.