A rally is planned for Sunday in Grand Falls, N.B. to bolster hopes that potato farmer Henk Tepper, who is in jail in Lebanon, can come home for the holidays.

Organizers are planning on decorating a tree from top to bottom with yellow ribbons, potato sacks and ornaments.

Tepper, 44, was arrested and has been held in a prison in Beirut since March 23 under an Interpol arrest warrant over allegations that potatoes he exported to Algeria in 2007 were rotten.

Tepper operates Tobique Farms, a 1,214-hectare potato farming operation that is one of the province’s largest potato producers. Tepper supporters say the Canadian government hasn't done enough to free him.

In the meantime, the family farm is seeking protection from its creditors and Tepper's supporters continue to press for his return.

"I can't believe it's still going on," said sister Harmien Dionne. "It is a lot of anger. Henk went there to help the trade, to help Canada, and where's Canada when my brother needs him?"

Dionne recently returned from her second trip to Beirut. She got to see him nine of the 10 days she was there, and was allowed two 45- minute visits per day with her brother.

She said Tepper is thinner, and increasingly desperate to get out.

"So when I touch him, it’s a special feeling," she told CBC News. "But when I’m there, I have to be strong for Henk, because if I started the tears, then emotionally that’s not good for Henk, so you fight back a lot of tears."

Chuck Chiasson saw Tepper's daughter graduate this year, without her father in the audience. He decided to get involved by organizing a rally for Sunday.

"We're going to march around the Broadway Boulevard, then come back over to this tree, where we're going to deck this tree out," Chiasson said.

Tepper's father, Berand came out of retirement to run the farm again. On Thursday he spoke to CBC News for the first time.

"It's been hard, real hard," Berand Tepper said. "For the whole family."

He said he won't be celebrating Christmas without his son home.

"If Henk is not back, we're not going to do anything. We want him back. Now," he said.

"If my brother is back here, it's going to be wonderful," said Dionne. "If he's not back here, it won't be good."