Edmonton woman repatriated from Syria granted bail on Terrorism Peace Bond: lawyer

A 38-year-old Canadian woman who was repatriated from Syria on Thursday was arrested under a Terrorism Peace Bond application, and flown to her hometown of Edmonton, multiple officials have confirmed to CTV News Edmonton.

The woman is one of four Canadian women and their 10 children who were repatriated from the Al-Roj detention camp in northeast Syria.

The women and children are among the 19 Canadians who had reached an agreement with Global Affairs Canada for repatriation in January.

They were part of a group who initially sued the federal government to bring them home after years of languishing in detention camps.

The court action was known as “BOLOH” for “Bring Our Loved Ones Home.”

A bail hearing for the Edmonton woman was held on Thursday night in Edmonton, and she was released from custody under a number of conditions.

A publication ban has been imposed on the woman's name to protect the identities of her three children, who arrived in Canada with her.

Two of the other women who arrived on the flight were arrested on similar bonds, and transported to the Greater Toronto Area.

A lawyer for the women says the women have not been formally charged with anything.

Lawrence Greenspon spoke to CTV News Edmonton from the Ottawa-area on Friday.

"What essentially the Crown is asking for here is that the person involved be subject to an agreement with the court and that that agreement involve a number of conditions under which they agree to live for up to a period of a year," said Greenspon, adding conditions imposed simple peace bonds can often include curfew and good behaviour.

"With respect to a terrorist peace bond, you can expect that there will be some additional conditions over and above that."

Greenspon says the woman will live in the community for the next few months until the hearing for her peace bond.

"It’ll be at least a few months until the actual hearing takes place."

To Canadians concerned about the woman's presence in the community, Greenspon points to the application for the Terrorism Peace Bond.

"We have the laws, we have peace bond applications, we have criminal charges, we have a whole department of justice that is assigned to deal with these kinds of cases," he said.

"That should be a comfort to any of the Canadians who are concerned, 'Oh my goodness, what if they're a risk?' Well, if they’re a risk, they have the tools to deal with that."

Greenspon says two additional women and three additional children were supposed to be on the flight that arrived in Montreal on Thursday.

It's not clear why they were not on the flight.

With files from CTV National's Judy Trinh and CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa.