In the wake of Global News reporting on Canadian extremist fighters, an opposition motion tabled in the House of Commons that called on the federal government to bring legal recourse to these individuals was approved by MPs in a vote of 280 to one on Tuesday night.
The motion asks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government to put forth a plan to impose legal consequences on returning extremist fighters.
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Conservative MP Michelle Rempel introduced the motion and the Liberals supported it reluctantly, despite disagreeing with some of its content.
“To date this government under Justin Trudeau has failed to take action, and Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives are calling on the prime minister to immediately table a plan to serve justice to anyone who left our country to fight with this terrorist organization,” Rempel told reporters in Ottawa ahead of the vote.
The motion also asks the government to support other initiatives, including a bill that will be tabled by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party that seeks to strip returning extremist fighters of a wide range of benefits, services and other privileges in the province.
Global News previously reported that the Canadian Consulate has been in touch with several citizens who’ve been detained by Kurdish forces in Syria over allegations of terrorist activity.
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U.S.-backed Kurdish forces are holding at least three Canadians accused of being ISIS fighters, three Canadian wives of ISIS foreign fighters and seven children. Based on Global’s reporting, Kurdish forces want Ottawa to take back at least a dozen Canadian ISIS fighters, along with the women and children they’re holding.
During Question Period last week, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer pressed Trudeau on his justification for “proactively reaching out” to British national Jack Letts – who is a Canadian citizen through his father and suspected of terrorist activities – and “inviting” him to come to Canada.
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As per the motion, the federal government has 45 days to put forth an plan to impose legal consequences on anyone who travelled abroad to engage in terrorist activities or genocide
More to come.
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