Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent at least $170,000 of government cash bringing ISIS brides from Syria, newly released government documents show.
Eight women were flown back business class and housed at the $300-per-night Montreal Airport Marriott, where they ran up exorbitant bar tabs at taxpayers’ expense.
The women had travelled to the Middle East to join the terrorist organization, but were given a luxurious homecoming when they returned to Canada in 2022 and 2023.
Documents first shared by Global News showed that Global Affairs Canada, the Canadian government’s diplomatic department, shelled out for their repatriation.
In one hotel room, expenses ran over $1000 for two nights after ISIS brides ran up a $95 bar tab.
Another room ran to $850, due to charges for junk food and $25 on red, white and sparkling wines.
Canadian taxpayers also footed a $2,800 catering bill, including $24 sandwiches at the hotel restaurant bar, and $86 on snacks and over-the-counter drugs at the hotel gift shop.
The ISIS brides also left a $7 tip for two $4 teas in one stay, alongside purchases of Doritos and chocolate bars.
The women were brought back to Canada after ISIS fell in Syria and they were held in detention camps, prompting their families to launch a legal battle in Canadian Federal Court to demand their return.
According to the documents, the women chose to join ISIS while living in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
The first wave of women brought back from Syria began in October 2022 with Kimberly Polman and Oumaima Chouay, who cost $10,863, per the reported documents.
Polman has since been charged with terrorism offenses for allegedly joining an ISIS battalion that trained women to fight for the terrorist organization.
And Chouay pleaded guilty in July to participating in ISIS operations, and was sentenced to a day in prison.
In April 2023, the Canadian government paid for four women and their 10 children to return, including Aimee Vasconez, a Canadian woman who converted to Islam and traveled to Syria with her ISIS fighter husband Ali Jabbar before he was killed in battle.
Canadian authorities said she then married a second ISIS fighter, ‘joined an ISIS battalion and has likely been trained in military tactics, weapons and techniques’.
Ontario resident Ammara Amjad was also part of the second wave, and she is now facing trial on terrorism charges.
The second wave cost $132,445, which Canadian officials admitted went $25,000 over budget due to ‘higher than expected hotel costs’.
The emergence of the documents was quickly condemned by Secure Canada, a group of Canadian families whose loved ones were killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Sheryl Saperia, the group’s CEO, said that she was ‘deeply troubled’ by the ‘extravagant homecoming’ the ISIS brides received.
‘Such spending raises serious questions about government priorities, public trust, and the integrity of our system,’ she said.
She added that victims’ families have often had to pay their own way to attend legal hearings for terrorists who killed their family members, while the Canadian government ‘rewards those who betrayed their country and broke the law.’
‘The stark contrast between how our government treats perpetrators and how it treats their victims should alarm every Canadian and offend every taxpayer,’ Saperia said.
Global News reports that it requested documents on the costs of the repatriations over two years ago through the Access to Information Act, but Canadian officials only released the materials on August 7.
While the expenses covered the costs of the women, their children and government staff, the outlet reported that they did not include the cost of sending Canadian officials to get the women from Syria.
The $170,000 bill covers only the costs of receiving them in Montreal before they continued back to their respective provinces.
The diplomatic department added that it was withholding 50 pages of the spending documents that are ‘currently under consultation with a foreign government.’
In a statement, Global Affairs Canada said: ‘While we cannot comment on specific expenditures related to the operation, (the department) assumed certain immediate costs to support the safe return and well-being of the women and children repatriated to Canada.’
