Edmontonians 'needn't worry' about peace bonds issued for detainees returning from Syrian camps

The lawyer for two women and three children returning home to Edmonton on Friday after spending about five years in Syrian detention camps says despite a federal court ordering peace bonds for the adults, the public has nothing to fear.

While a peace bond is a protection order made by a Canadian court under the Criminal Code, it does not imply people placed under them are suspected of committing a crime.

Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who represents the women and three others who returned to Canada in April, said people "needn't worry" that they would be a threat to public safety.

"What’s happened here is the rights of Canadians overseas have been violated for a period of five years, and now, they’re going to be brought home, be reunited with their families and integrated back into Canadian society," Greenspon said of the group, who had been held in the camps because they are wives, widows and children of foreigners suspected of joining the Islamic State during the Syrian civil war.

The peace bond is a way of imposing conditions on them, such as mandatory use of electronic monitoring bracelets, curfews, and denial of access to the internet and social media, Greenspon said.

The sisters-in-law and the three children, whose mother is one of them, were part of a group of 19 Canadians that Global Affairs Canada agreed to bring home after they sued the federal government. A settlement was reached in January.

Fourteen of them arrived in Canada in April. The other five failed to show up for that flight, with neither their lawyers nor the Canadian government seemingly aware of what had happened to them for several days.

One of their lawyers later said that the women and children had been detained by Kurdish guards who would not allow them to travel and board the plane at that time.

On Thursday, the five returned to Canada. On Friday, the RCMP said the two women had been taken to Alberta and appeared in Provincial Court for a bail hearing in relation to Terrorism Peace Bond applications.

The women were released from custody, Mounties said, and are subject to a number of bail conditions pending the hearing of the application. 

Global Affairs Canada said in a statement it could not provide information or details of the recent repatriation due to reasons of privacy and operational security.

"Canada remains steadfast in its commitment to the fight against Daesh and global terrorism while vigorously defending human rights both domestically and abroad," the federal agency said in a statement. "Where there is sufficient evidence, law enforcement and public safety agencies will independently take the necessary steps to keep our communities safe.

“We reiterate that it is a serious criminal offence for anyone to leave Canada to knowingly support a terrorist group and those who engage in these activities will face the full force of Canadian law. We remain committed to taking every possible step to ensure the safety and security of Canadians."

Greenspon called bringing the five repatriated Canadians home a "life-changing" milestone for them.

“These women and children have been in detention camps in horrible conditions for five years. They’re Canadians," he said. "The government has now seen fit, thankfully and finally, to bring them home … Clearly, the women and children are going to need some support. They’re going to need some counselling. Those things are already in place, ready to go.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa, CTV National News correspondent Judy Trinh and The Canadian Press