Commonwealth_ Federal officials spent a minimum of $170,000 to return Canadian women who were former ISIS members from Syria, recently released government documents show. The documents include detailed budgets to pay for business-class airfare, lodging, room service, and a range of other items such as ice cream, sweets, wine, and snack food.
The repatriations had eight women who had travelled to the Middle East to become members of the Islamic State, and their children, between 2022 and 2023. Government expenses entailed overnight stays at the Montreal Airport Marriott hotel, where the returnees and government officials who accompanied them slept before departing to their home provinces.
The charges at the hotels were quite high in some instances. One room charged over $1,000 for a two-day stay, partly due to a $95 wine charge. A second stay charged $850, including fees for junk food and a few wine servings. Budget accounts also included $2,800 in catering, $24 in Bijou restaurant sandwiches, and $86 in snack foods and over-the-counter medications purchased in a hotel gift shop. Room service bills also fluctuated at times over $100, and products purchased were books, clothing, travel bags, Canadian souvenir pins, and electronics that represented a “high value token of appreciation” from Best Buy.
The costs incurred were minimal expenditures as well, such as a $7 tip for the delivery of two teas at $4 each and for chips, chocolate bars, and other packaged foods. The costs also encompassed the women and children who underwent repatriation, as well as the Canadian authorities dispatched to receive them upon arrival. While Global Affairs Canada admitted that some initial costs were incurred to ensure the safe return and well-being of the women and children, the department would not release the total cost breakdown of the repatriation.
The cost and nature of the expenditures have come under criticism from others, with the opinion being voiced that such operations must be more concerned with public safety and fiscal responsibility than indulgence or comfort. Concern has also been expressed regarding the overall strategy for addressing the return of individuals linked to terrorist organizations.
The repatriations were conducted in three separate operations. The first operation was in October 2022 when two women—Kimberly Polman and Oumaima Chouay—were brought back to Canada. The initial operation, which was referred to as CONOP1, was $10,863. Preparations entailed the expenditure of almost $2,800 for 100 emergency blankets and five first aid kits shipped to Syria. Polman, of B.C., was also accused of being part of an ISIS battalion that trained women for combat and faces terrorism-related charges. Chouay, of Montreal, later pleaded guilty to participating in ISIS activities and was handed a symbolic one-day sentence.
The second mission, in April 2023, was the largest and most expensive. Code-named CONOP2, it brought back four Ontario and Alberta women and their 10 children. It cost $132,445, $25,000 over budget due to what officials referred to as higher-than-expected hotel costs. Included in the list of people who have been repatriated is Edmonton’s Aimee Vasconez, who converted to Islam and travelled to Syria with her husband, who was killed fighting for ISIS. She married a second ISIS fighter and is likely to have received training in armed forces tactics, weapon use, and fighting skills, according to the RCMP. Another returnee, Milton, Ont.’s Ammara Amjad, is also on trial for terrorism-related charges.
A final small deployment brought back the last women and children later in 2023.
The prices enumerated in the reports raised controversy regarding government priorities, financial administration, and the general policy of repatriation of individuals who went to Canada to wage war on behalf of extremist organizations. The proponents of the policy argue that repatriation allows the government to monitor and prosecute them within Canada’s justice system, but the opposition believes the price is too high and considers the risk of reintroducing such people into society.
The expense figures of such missions bring into focus the costliness and challenge of repatriating nationals from war-torn areas, particularly those who have been associated with extremist violent organizations. With the government declining to release the total figure of the spending, there are still concerns regarding the long-term security as well as economic burdens of repatriations.
