It is much worse than this. Most Canadians in Syria are children who are stuck in 2 camp, al-Hawl and Roj, where children routinely get sick due to polluted drinking water & die of the cold in winter. There are 5 Canadian men (imprisoned), 15 women and 25 children in NE Syria. https://twitter.com/rafsanchez/status/1309795562590437378

1000s of children of different nationalities are held in al-Hawl & Roj. Their govs refuse to take them back, despite recognizing that this policy kicks the can down the road & that it's an environment ensuring their radicalization. This policy is not just immoral, but also stupid

The media played a critical role in demonizing these children, labeling them "ISIS children" & "ISIS families". The govs refusing to take back their nationals are cowards, but irresponsible, sensationalist & dehumanizing reporting contributed to making repatriations unpalatable.

I was at a workshop w/ officials from several countries whose nationals are confined in al-Hawl right after Trump announced the total US pullout from NE Syria (which he walked back a few days later). They expected the regime to take over the camp, due the SDF's looming collapse.

At the time, the women held in the camp were telling me that they're preparing to fight to the death to avoid being captured alive & raped by Assad's soldiers (a common practice by these men) & then transferred to Assad's infamous torture dungeons.

The Western officials recognized their nationals will be tortured & possibly weaponized by Assad (he had sent jihadists to Iraq after US invasion), yet they still did not budge on their position not to repatriate their nationals. They explained it'll be politically costly.