Wine, candy and room service: How Ottawa spent $170,000 on Canadian ISIS women

Global News

2 days ago

Federal officials spent at least $170,000 bringing Canadian ISIS women home from Syria, according to internal government documents that show expenses for ice cream, candy and wine.
The money was for costs incurred when eight women who had traveled to the Middle East to join the Islamic State returned to Canada with their children in 2022 and 2023.
Newly-released documents show Global Affairs Canada paid for business class flights, stays at the Montreal Airport Marriott, room service, chips, chocolate bars and Timbits.
One hotel room cost over $1,000 for two nights because of a $95 wine tab. Another ran to $850, with charges for junk food and $25 servings of red, white and sparkling wines.
The costs included $2,800 for catering, $24 sandwiches at the hotel's Bijou restaurant bar, and $86 worth of snack food and over-the-counter drugs at a hotel gift shop.
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The expense reports chronicle room service meals of more than $100, books, clothing, travel bags, 'Canadian pins,' and a 'high value token of appreciation' purchased at Best Buy.
A server pocketed a $7 tip for serving two $4 teas, according to the expense reports, which also document purchases of Doritos, and Aero and Caramilk bars.
The expenses are for both the women and children, as well as the government staff sent to receive them when they landed in Montreal before carrying on to their home provinces.
Canadian women in ISIS
The women were living in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec when they left to live under ISIS, which had seized a swath of Syria and Iraq and launched a campaign of beheadings and attacks in the West.
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As ISIS fell to Kurdish fighters backed by an international coalition, the Canadian women were captured and held with their children for several years at crowded detention camps in Syria.
The federal government agreed to bring them back to Canada after their families launched a challenge in Federal Court in Ottawa demanding their return.
Two years to release costs
Global News requested the documents on the costs of the repatriations under the Access to Information Act two years ago. The department did not release the materials until Aug. 7, 2025.
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The records do not appear to include the costs of sending Canadian officials to extract the women from Syria, but seem to cover only the bill for receiving them in Montreal.
The department wrote in a letter to Global News that it was withholding 50 pages of documents that 'are currently under consultation with a foreign government.'
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In a statement to Global News on Wednesday, Global Affairs declined to answer questions about its expenses, or disclose the full costs associated with repatriating the Canadians.
'While we cannot comment on specific expenditures related to the operation, Global Affairs Canada assumed certain immediate costs to support the safe return and well-being of the women and children repatriated to Canada,' it said.
'Deeply troubled'
A group formed by families of Canadians killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks said it was 'deeply troubled' by the 'extravagant homecoming' the women apparently received.
'Such spending raises serious questions about government priorities, public trust, and the integrity of our system,' said Sheryl Saperia, CEO of Secure Canada.
The return of foreign fighters who left to join terrorist groups should prioritize public safety, 'not reward those who betrayed their country and broke the law,' she said.
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By contrast, she said victims' families have had to pay their own way to attend legal proceedings related to the terror suspects accused of killing their loved ones.
'The stark contrast between how our government treats perpetrators and how it treats their victims should alarm every Canadian and offend every taxpayer.'
Over budget
The women returned to Canada in three waves starting in October 2022, when Kimberly Polman and Oumaima Chouay came back at a cost of $10,863, according to an entry in the documents.
Included in the costs was almost $2,800 for 100 emergency blankets and five first aid kits that were shipped to Syria 'for the operation,' known as CONOP1.
A B.C. resident, Polman was allegedly part of an ISIS battalion that trained women to fight. She has been charged with terrorism offences.
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Chouay, a resident of Montreal, pleaded guilty on July 21 to participating in the activities of ISIS and was sentenced to a symbolic single day in prison.
The second repatriation, in April 2023, was the largest, involving the return of four women from Ontario and Alberta, and their 10 kids.
Among them was Edmonton's Aimee Vasconez, a Muslim convert who traveled to Syria with her husband Ali Jabbar, who was killed fighting with ISIS.
She then married a second ISIS fighter, 'joined an ISIS battalion and has likely been trained in military tactics, weapons and techniques,' the RCMP alleged.
Also part of the same operation was Ammara Amjad, of Milton, Ont., who is currently awaiting trail on an ISIS-related terrorism charge.
The CONOP2 event was by far the costliest at $132,445, according to an entry in the documents. It also went $25,000 over budget, largely due to what were described as 'higher than expected hotel costs.'
CONOP3
Because not all the women showed up for the second repatriation, a third known as CONOP3 had to be organized, at a cost of $27,800, according to the documents.
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It brought back Helena Carson and Dina Kalouti, sisters-in-law who had left Edmonton with their husbands to join ISIS.
The expenses included Werther's candies, a variety pack of Frito-Lay chips, Made Good Red Velvet Soft Baked Mini Cookies, and a Tim Horton's order of 50 Timbits, two dozen doughnuts, 12 coffees and a large Ice Capp.
Another expense report noted a US$75 'purchase of 6 turkey & cheese subs and 6 cereal meals' bought from the U.S. military for the women and kids.
Carson and Kalouti were arrested upon their return to Canada, and placed on terrorism peace bonds that were scheduled to expire in September.
Canadian ISIS men
At least four Canadian men are believed to remain in the detention camps in northeast Syria, among them former ISIS sniper Muhammad Ali of Mississauga, Ont.
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The government has declined to bring them back to Canada, and the Federal Court has ruled that Ottawa is not obliged to repatriate them.
ISIS 'still poses a significant threat via its network of provinces, affiliates, related loose online networks, and due to its ability to inspire Canada-based threat actors to commit serious acts of violence,' according to the latest annual report of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
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