By Canadian Press

Fire damages Syrian tent home of detained Canadian mother and children: advocate

Jun 30, 2023 | 12:45 PM

OTTAWA — An advocacy group says a Canadian mother struggling to leave a Syrian detention camp with her six children was dealt another setback this week when a fire damaged their tent home.

Alexandra Bain of the group Families Against Violent Extremism says the woman from Quebec and a number of her children were treated at a clinic after the fire, which started in the tent’s kitchen area.

Bain, who has been in regular touch with the woman and her neighbours in the camp, says she informed Global Affairs Canada of the fire.

Global Affairs says it cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy considerations.

A lawyer who has been trying to assist the family said recently that Ottawa will not help the Quebec woman return to Canada because officials believe she poses a security risk.

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It means she must stay in the camp with her children or send them without her on a flight to Canada, where they have no other family.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2023.

The Canadian Press