Joly faces calls for probe in death of woman Canada refused to repatriate from Syria

OTTAWA — Advocates want Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly to immediately call an impartial investigation into the death of a Canadian woman the federal government refused to repatriate from a Syrian detention camp.

In a letter to Joly, Sen. Kim Pate, human rights activist Alex Neve and lawyer Hadayt Nazami said the Quebec woman died unexpectedly just over a week ago in Turkey.

Pate, Neve and Nazami were part of a delegation that met the woman and her six young children in August 2023 in a Syrian camp run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-torn region from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The federal government offered to help the children come to Canada, but refused to repatriate the woman, who is publicly known only as F.J.

Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who has assisted the family, said Ottawa cited security grounds in declining to help the mother return. As a result, F.J. was left with the choice of sending the children on their own to Canada or keeping them with her in the squalid camp.

The Oct. 24 letter to Joly says the woman escaped from al-Roj camp in northeastern Syria, entered Turkey in March, and was apprehended and imprisoned by Turkish authorities three months later.

“The circumstances leading up to and surrounding her death give rise to a number of troubling questions,” the letter says.

“We are therefore calling on the Canadian government to take immediate steps to launch an independent, impartial investigation into the death of F.J., by someone with appropriate expertise to fully interrogate the circumstances of her confinement and death.”

Federal officials took steps to help bring the six children to Canada in May. They are now in foster care.

In an interview, Greenspon supported the calls for an inquiry.

“Those questions need to be answered,” he said Friday. “It is a tragedy that should never have happened.”

Joly’s office did not immediately comment.

The letter says the advocates were informed that F.J. had at least two consular visits, on July 16 and Oct. 1, in the Tarsus Closed Women’s Prison, about five hours from Ankara.

They also learned she “may have had one or two visits from RCMP officers who interviewed her in the prison,” and that the Mounties may also have spoken to her at al-Roj.

“We have been told that after one of those visits with either consular officials or the RCMP, her mood and demeanour changed markedly, and that she became seriously depressed and psychologically distressed.”

The letter says criminal charges brought against F.J. in Turkey alleging membership in an armed terror group were heard Oct. 15. She was acquitted by a panel of three judges and transferred to an immigration holding centre.

The 40-year-old F.J. was apparently provided with medication due to trouble sleeping, the letter adds. Her lawyer in Turkey discovered her body the morning of Oct. 17.

Greenspon said he had been aware of efforts to obtain an emergency travel document for F.J. so she could make her way back to Canada.

The letter claims Canada learned of her death not from Turkish officials, but a Canadian who had been working closely with families of people detained in northeastern Syria.

“We have been told that Turkish officials have concluded that the cause of death was a heart attack. As far as we know there has not been an autopsy,” the letter says.

“This is clearly a very tragic outcome, both with respect to F.J.’s death and the grave impact that will no doubt have on her children.”

The letter urges Joly to order a probe immediately, while witnesses are accessible and evidence is fresh.

“Such an investigation cannot, in these circumstances, be conducted by either the RCMP or your consular staff. There are many other options that would provide the independence and expertise that is needed.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2024.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press