OTTAWA \u2014 Global Affairs Canada is rejecting a claim by the Iraqi government that Ottawa will bring home Canadian men detained during the rule of the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n
The Iraqi claim followed a meeting on Tuesday between Canada\u2019s ambassador in Baghdad, Christopher Boehm, and Iraq\u2019s national security adviser Qasim Al-Araji.<\/p>\n
Al-Araji\u2019s office issued a summary in Arabic and English stating that Boehm \u201cindicated his government\u2019s readiness to receive its nationals among the detainees who were recently handed over\u201d to Iraq.<\/p>\n
Foreign nationals were held in detention centres in Syria for years by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the strife-torn region from the militant group that called itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.<\/p>\n
It was reported earlier this year that prisoners from various countries, including Canada, were being moved to Iraq in response to a request from officials in Baghdad that was welcomed by the Syrian government and the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
Sally Lane, the mother of Jack Letts, a Canadian man who was held in Syria, asked Ottawa about the Tuesday statement from the Iraqi government. A Global Affairs consular officer said Baghdad did not accurately convey what Boehm said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information is incorrect and Ambassador Boehm was unfortunately misquoted,\u201d the officer wrote this week. \u201cCanada is not currently in the process of repatriating any detained Canadians from Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n
Al-Araji\u2019s office did not respond to a Thursday request for comment.<\/p>\n
In a statement to The Canadian Press, Global Affairs insisted it is not currently repatriating Canadians.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal Affairs Canada continues to evaluate the provision of extraordinary assistance, including repatriation to Canada, on a case-by-case basis,\u201d spokeswoman Thida Ith wrote Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanadian consular officials are actively engaged with stakeholders in the region for updates on the situation. Due to privacy and operational security considerations, we cannot comment on specific cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lane noted the department\u2019s message to her did not explain what Canada\u2019s ambassador actually said. She said she fears her son will be subjected to a trial that doesn\u2019t meet evidentiary standards and that Ottawa has indicated it doesn\u2019t interfere in foreign justice systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still completely in the dark as to what Canada\u2019s plan is for our loved ones,\u201d she wrote Friday in a message to The Canadian Press, arguing Ottawa could be effectively condoning life sentences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can no longer even describe my horror and disbelief at the sheer cruelty of our representatives who are supposed to protect the rights of all Canadians abroad,\u201d Lane wrote.<\/p>\n
In recent years, some Canadian women and children have been repatriated from Syria with help from Canadian officials and the co-operation of Kurdish authorities. Ottawa has declined to help repatriate Canadian men.<\/p>\n
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that Ottawa was not obligated under the law to repatriate Letts and three other Canadian men. The Supreme Court of Canada declined in 2024 to hear an appeal of the ruling.<\/p>\n
A month ago, Global Affairs told Lane her son may have been transferred to Iraq from northeastern Syria, adding that Canadian officials were still working to confirm his identity because the information the department had was incomplete.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International has warned of serious rights violations and poor conditions in Iraq, including overcrowded and unsanitary prisons, unfair trials and mass executions.<\/p>\n
Letts\u2019s parents have said they are aware of no evidence their son became a terrorist fighter. They said Jack stood against ISIL and was even put on trial for publicly condemning the group.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March, 13, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dylan Robertson and Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 Global Affairs Canada is rejecting a claim by the Iraqi government that Ottawa will bring home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-535311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}