Another Canadian woman who says she followed her husband to Syria when he left to fight for ISIS tells CTV News that she wants to come home.
鈥淚 had no idea how much I could miss my own country,鈥� said Kimberley, one of four Canadian women who spoke to CTV鈥檚 London Bureau Chief Paul Workman from inside the Al-Hawl camp in eastern Syria.
鈥淲hat I know of Canadians is that they are very loving, very accepting people for the most part,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to punish without reason,鈥� she added. 鈥淚 think that a lot of people believe in giving second chances.鈥�
There are about 1,500 foreign women and children being held at Al-Hawl. The local Kurdish forces want them gone but countries including Canada are in no rush to help.
Kurdish officials said that Canada began offering assistance to the ISIS families several months ago, sending passport applications to help them get home. But that process suddenly stopped and it鈥檚 unclear why.
Kimberley, 46, tells CTV News that she was lured to the so-called caliphate by her first husband three years ago, and became quickly disillusioned by the genocidal terrorist group.
鈥淚 was starting to get really edgy with things I was seeing but I wasn鈥檛 talking because I didn鈥檛 trust who to talk to or what to do. I really didn鈥檛 know who to talk to about what I was seeing,鈥� she said.
鈥淧eople disappear during the night. It鈥檚 very real. It functions very much like a gestapo,鈥� she added.
Asked why she didn鈥檛 leave, Kimberley said that running off wasn鈥檛 an option.
鈥淭here鈥檚 guns everywhere. You can鈥檛 just walk out. It鈥檚 not like you can walk down the street ... They鈥檒l turn you right back.鈥�
Many of the Canadians who left for Syria to live under ISIS鈥� rule have families in Canada who are lobbying for the government to repatriate them.
There are currently more than two-dozen Canadians -- half of them young children -- trapped in Syria, according to Families Against Violent Extremism.
Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford is among those pressuring the government to help them get back.
鈥淚鈥檝e always thought Canadians were the good guys, the nice guys,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very, very disappointed in Mr. Trudeau and his government that they are not doing what is obviously the right thing.鈥�
