(Canadian Press) The Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not obligate Ottawa to repatriate Canadians held in Syrian camps, a government lawyer told a Federal Court hearing Tuesday.
Family members of 23 detained Canadians — six women, four men and 13 children — are asking the court to order the government to arrange for their return, saying that refusing to do so violates the Charter.
The Canadian citizens are among the many foreign nationals in Syrian camps run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn region from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Federal lawyer Anne Turley told the court there is no legal obligation to facilitate their repatriation under the Charter, or in any statute or international law.
