Two Canadian women and three teenage girls are missing somewhere in northeast Syria, after an attempt by the Canadian government to repatriate them earlier this month failed.

In an audio recording obtained by the Star, a Global Affairs Canada consular official tells the mother of one of the women that she is “devastated” by their disappearance.

“This has happened to other countries, and they tried to warn us, and when it did actually happen … we’re kind of shocked by it,” the senior consular official said in the April 11 call.

“We didn’t think it was an actual possibility.”

What actually did happen on April 2 — the last time anyone in Canada had contact with the women — is unclear.

Their families believe that instead of being handed over to Canadian officials to be flown home along with four other Canadian women and 10 children, they were instead taken by Kurdish officials to a facility other female captives refer to as the “Red Prison.”

The Canadian consular official told one woman’s mother they were looking into this report. “We have never heard of it before. And so, we’re kind of at a loss as to what the prison is. And if they are indeed there,” she said.

Global Affairs Canada would not comment, writing in an email that they “politely declined” the Star’s request for any interviews with consular officials involved in the case, or with a department spokesperson.

The women are sisters-in-law from Edmonton who left Canada to join the Islamic State terrorist group in 2014. One of the women brought her three young daughters, who are now 13, 15 and 16. When the group, also known as ISIS or Daesh, lost its last battle to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in 2019, the women were captured and taken to the sprawling detention camps administered by the Kurdish forces in what’s known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, or AANES.

Edmonton lawyer Zachary Al-Khatib said the husband of one of the women (who is the brother of the other woman) had called home before that last battle in the Syrian city of Baghouz, saying they wanted to return to Canada, but were unable to find a way. He, too, was captured and remains in Kurdish custody.

Earlier this year, a Canadian Federal Court judge ordered Ottawa to repatriate all its citizens held in these camps.

Al-Khatib, who represents the missing women, said he was told by Global Affairs officials that both the women, aged 41 and 33, may be arrested upon return to Canada and the grandmother of the three girls would assume their custody. That was the fate of three other Canadian women who were successfully repatriated earlier this month and arrested on terrorism peace bonds. Days later, they were released on bail with conditions, until their bond applications could be heard in court. A fourth woman was not charged.

But the women in those cases were held in al-Roj camp, while the now-missing Canadian women and girls were in al-Hol, a much more dangerous and inaccessible camp. Médecins Sans Frontières recently described the camp as a “legal black hole, conducive to patterns of violence and exploitation, where criminal activities are treated with impunity.”

Al-Khatib said he talked to his clients before they presented themselves to the Kurdish guards for transfer to al-Roj — as instructed by the Canadian government — and that they were terrified, but willing to take the risk to return to Canada.

“What I was told by Global Affairs,” Al-Khatib said he told the women, “was that the Canadian government has told the Kurds to transport you to al-Roj, but you have to ask for it. You actually have to say we want to be transported; otherwise they’re not going to do it of their own initiative.”

While the RCMP was reportedly on the ground at the time, the consular official told the woman’s mother that the federal police force had “nothing to do with the repatriation” and what they’re doing on the ground “is their own mandate.”

The Canadian women said they had planned to turn their phones over to other female captives in the camp before leaving their tents, because they knew they would be confiscated. According to texts from captives still in the camp, seen by the Star, at least one woman reportedly accompanied the Canadians to the gate to witness the transfer.

Back in Canada, their families waited for a call to go to the airport to pick up the three teenage girls. Instead, they started getting messages from women at al-Hol, saying the five had not been transported to Canadian officials, but had instead been put in a Humvee and taken to a prison by the guards.

“We were under the impression they were on the plane to Canada, and the first we heard otherwise was when I got a frantic call from one of the women’s moms saying, ‘This is what I’m hearing. Can you confirm what’s going on?’” Al-Khatib said.

The case underscores the humanitarian and security issues posed by these camps, where there are still tens of thousands of captives from more than 60 countries. At al-Hol alone, 90 per cent are women and children, with an estimated 40,000 children under age 12.

According to the United Nations, at least 42 people were killed at al-Hol last year, including two 15-year-old Egyptian girls whose bodies were found in November in a sewage ditch, with multiple stab wounds. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that, a few days earlier, the girls had been raped and a group of “radicalized women in the camp then reportedly harassed the girls and their mother because of the stigma associated with being subjected to sexual violence.”

Canada has been condemned internationally as lagging behind other countries in bringing its citizens back to face justice at home or protecting the rights of detained children.

Aside from human rights concern, there’s also the dire security risk these camps pose as remnants of the Islamic State terror group try to rebuild inside the camps and in the surrounding regions.

Last summer, the Syrian Democratic Forces, with the backing of U.S. forces, conducted a 24-day operation in al-Hol, confiscating 25 kilograms of explosives and 25 hand grenades, and freeing six women who were allegedly found chained and tortured by ISIS operatives. Army Gen. Michael (Erik) Kurilla, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, called the camp “a literal breeding ground for the next generation of ISIS,” as the group looks to “exploit these horrific conditions.”

Michelle Shephard is an independent journalist and filmmaker and the Star’s former national security correspondent. Follow her @shephardm

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