Families push to repatriate children of Canadians who joined the Islamic State

Families of Canadians who left for Syria to support the militant group Islamic State gathered Monday to press for the Trudeau government to repatriate their children.

They met with journalists in Montreal on Monday, accompanied by NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice and immigration lawyer Stéphane Handfield.

A video production team reached camps where these children live to record a documentary. The families used that fact to reject the government’s argument that it would be too dangerous to send Canadians to repatriate the children.

There are 26 children born to Canadians who left for Syria, including 13 who are under the age of 6, Handfield said.

The lawyer asked the government to do more for the children. “These children didn’t choose anything,” he said. “These children didn’t decide to go fight in Syria or Iraq. These children are not responsible for the decisions of their parents.”

Boulerice, the deputy leader of the NDP, noted that “other countries were capable of doing it” and said he fails to comprehend why the Trudeau government is hesitating to act. “It must be a political decision” he said, wondering if the government was “traumatized by the financial compensation given to a child soldier held in Guantanamo,” referring to Omar Khadr.

Source: Montreal Gazette