{"id":246925,"date":"2020-03-03T21:58:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T02:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=246925"},"modified":"2020-03-03T21:58:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T02:58:54","slug":"charity-says-canadian-humanitarians-detained-in-ethiopia-received-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/03\/charity-says-canadian-humanitarians-detained-in-ethiopia-received-bail\/","title":{"rendered":"Charity says Canadian humanitarians detained in Ethiopia received bail"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script async=\"1\" defer=\"1\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v6.0\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/canadianhumanitarian\/posts\/2908330615856122?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARA52TWME_llFLDGu_VqJDGivO_C_yY8TRK4iAFcGxiVdqmXqzYCBcNqUB2TzvPyfqo9bRSs6eHAU5yEQYQ4j-yIhZSxwnXmauhuVdHw9h4kPjQeX9ro5XWOgjZJ_UI-OvEs3b7yLhaXbAxkQPvwsODiV79fOZfM-5bIvDmJA4dwJzNTlmwx8RJyLM0XdmfHnYz3BgEr6TqF4EJkK0c4sjfVR7WjFiFBzmBpVl7yii-nzGLssZYKTBMtPcZujeGjgBXomq9uiqT2OiaU8IZ78pISQCceOZsKckEBRqLK3GRLlHtPO7SQ9hkKlFUiYzQztaez7DXOKeo8h-5BayDi1tJVuA&amp;__tn__=-R\" data-width=\"750\">\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/canadianhumanitarian\/posts\/2908330615856122\" class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\">\n<p>Update regarding the February 2020 Travel Grouphttp:\/\/canadianhumanitarian.com\/news-update-february-2020\/<\/p>\n<p>Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/canadianhumanitarian\/\">Canadian Humanitarian<\/a> on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/canadianhumanitarian\/posts\/2908330615856122\">Tuesday, March 3, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>EDMONTON \u2014 An Alberta-based humanitarian organization says 13 Canadians who work with the charity and were detained in Ethiopia have received bail.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Humanitarian said Saturday that a group of 10 Canadian volunteers, three Canadians on staff and two Ethiopian staff members were in custody in the African country on allegations they were practising medicine without permission and had dispensed expired medication.<\/p>\n<p>The charity has disputed the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith support of Canadian consular officials, Global Affairs Canada and legal representatives on the ground, Canadian Humanitarian can confirm that documentation is currently being processed that will hopefully see the detainees released on bail tomorrow,\u201d it said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt that point they will be free to move within the country, but it is uncertain when Ethiopian authorities will allow their return to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James Murphy, a brother-in-law of one of the detainees, said the situation has been distressing for the families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are focusing all of our efforts on getting our loved ones back to Canada safely and quickly,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>The charity added that one of its representatives as well as consular officers have been permitted brief access to the prison and said the detainees have received fair treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, the NDP&#8217;s international development critic, said she has also been keeping a close eye on the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am incredibly worried,\u201d she said in an interview earlier Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>McPherson said she has been receiving regular updates from Global Affairs Canada about the case and heard they had received bail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt does look likely that they will be able to be removed from the prison, which is great news,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Global Affairs did not provide additional information Tuesday, but a spokeswoman again said they are fully engaged with Ethiopian officials.<\/p>\n<p>Department officials are in contact with local authorities to gather more information, she said, while consular officials are working with the Canadians and their families.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian Humanitarian said last week that the group&#8217;s mission was to provide essential medical care to Ethiopians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we cannot comment on the specifics of the expiry of the medication, we can with confidence say that all medicine and care offered by our team was safe,\u201d said a Feb. 29 statement. \u201cOur medical groups are comprised of numerous doctors and medical professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The organization is described as a registered charity that has been sending volunteers abroad to provide medical and dental support, along with other humanitarian services, since 2003.<\/p>\n<p>McPherson, who&#8217;s a former executive director of the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation, said she travelled to Gondar with Canadian Humanitarian in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy experience is that they would understand the need of treating all people with the same level of health care,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are accustomed to working in Ethiopia and they are accustomed to following the letter of what&#8217;s required.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said the charity follows a code of ethics developed by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation that sets operational standards.<\/p>\n<p>McPherson said the detained Canadians included charity founders Dr. Richard Northcott and Deborah Northcott from Medicine Hat, Alta. Some of the others are from Alberta and British Columbia, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy first priority is making sure they are safe while they are in Ethiopia, making sure they are receiving as much support as we can give them through consular services and making sure the legal process &#8230; is done in a transparent way,\u201d said McPherson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, right now, the biggest concern is their welfare and their safety. I want to see these Canadians \u2014 all these Canadians \u2014 come home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Update regarding the February 2020 Travel Grouphttp:\/\/canadianhumanitarian.com\/news-update-february-2020\/ Posted by Canadian Humanitarian on&nbsp;Tuesday, March 3, 2020 &nbsp; EDMONTON \u2014 An Alberta-based &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":180570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246926,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246925\/revisions\/246926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}