Article content continued

The Liberals were newly in power and Alison’s supporters hoped they would step in where the Conservatives had not. They knew Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s strategy for Iraq hinged on the Kurds and that he planned to provide them with weapons, millions of dollars in aid and more Canadian Forces advisers.

Instead, the six-month anniversary of the children’s abduction on Aug. 15, came and went.

Nine days later, Alison went to parliament. NDP MP Gord Johns urged the Liberals to do more to secure her children’s release. Other MPs gave her a standing ovation.

Omar Alghabra, parliamentary secretary for Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, did respond: “I want to take a moment to recognize Ms. Azer’s strength and commitment,” he said. “I want to assure her and the House that we are very committed to the return of her children safely at home.

Still, there has been no action.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s military has ramped up its war with the PKK, bombing within five kilometres of where Alison’s children are believed to be.

The Canadians can have an impact, she says. Troops now in Kurdistan are stationed about 100 kilometres from where she believes her children are being held. And in the next several months, our aircraft will deliver loads of weapons to the Kurds and more military personnel will arrive to train Kurdish soldiers.

“I want Canada to do something that we don’t often do as Canadians,” she says, “and that’s flex a little muscle.”

Until then, Alison keeps pushing. Next week, she hopes to meet Kurdish Interior Minister Karim Sinjari in Washington. After that, she is planning a luncheon for MPs in Ottawa.

And every night, before going to bed, Alison sings a lullaby. It’s the same one she sang to her kids before they left in August – a Scottish ballad her parents sang to her.

“That’s my way to be with them each night, to connect with them,” she says. “It’s a way to end the day and prepare me to continue on for the next. I’m not going to stop until my kids are home.

Ottawa Citizen

dpugliese@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/davidpugliese