Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the brutal killings of two Canadian hostages held by Abu Sayyaf extremists in the Philippines were 鈥渁 low point鈥� for him in 2016.
鈥�(It) is something that obviously was personally difficult for me as I had the responsibility for directing and articulating the Canadian position, but also the opportunity and responsibility to speak with their families,鈥� PM Trudeau told reporters during a year-end news conference in Ottawa on Monday.
Trudeau was responding to a question about his biggest regret of 2016.
In September 2015, Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, along with a Norwegian man and a Filipino woman, were kidnapped from a marina on the southern Samal islandby members of the Abu Sayyaf group. Their captors demanded a huge ransom.
Ridsdel, 68, was beheaded in April 2016, and Hall, 66, was decapitated two months later, after ransom deadlines lapsed. The Norwegian and Filipino hostages were eventually freed.
鈥淚 think reflecting on the fact that we live in a very dangerous world and the responsibility that any government has to keep its citizens safe now and in the future needs to be top of mind,鈥� Trudeau said Monday.
Asked whether he regrets publicly stating that Canada doesn鈥檛 pay ransom for hostages, Trudeau said he believes that Canadians understand the federal government鈥檚 stance on the issue.
Trudeau said people understand that paying ransom 鈥渨ould not just provide source of significant funds to violent terrorists intent on causing more harm and taking more lives, but it would also endanger further the lives of any Canadian citizen who works, travels or lives outside of our borders.鈥�
Robert Hall鈥檚 family has publicly stated that it support Canada鈥檚 policy of not paying ransom. But in an interview with 麻豆传媒 Channel earlier this month, Hall鈥檚 sister said the federal government must reform a 鈥渂roken system鈥� of rescuing hostages.
Bonice Thomas said that 鈥渟omebody has got to get the ball rolling on reform, serious reform, to our policies regarding Canadians in peril on foreign soil. We just don鈥檛 have a plan to help them.鈥�
鈥淲e have some of the best experts in the world as far as terrorism and hostage-taking and hostage release and rescue,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just think we need to seriously look at this and fix a broken system and quit politicking around and quit letting the dull blade of bureaucracy allow people to die.鈥�
At the time of Hall鈥檚 death, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs said it 鈥減ursued every avenue to secure Mr. Hall鈥檚 release.鈥�
Thomas said there was a lot of contact between her family and Canadian authorities during the time her brother was in captivity, but that offered no comfort.
鈥淛ust because you鈥檙e talking doesn鈥檛 mean you are communicating and that鈥檚 very much what it felt like. We鈥檇 ask questions, we鈥檇 ask for information and we鈥檇 get conflicting messages back. It was just horribly frustrating, this gamut we ran around just trying to get snippets of accurate, actionable information.鈥�
Thomas said a family member was forced to negotiate directly with the terrorists.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a terrible position to put a person into, in an emotional state to try and reason with, literally, psychopathic criminals鈥� with no proper negotiator or expertise helping them.鈥�
Hall鈥檚 family and friends had assembled about $1.4-million to pay a ransom when he was murdered.
With files from CTVNews.ca's Meredith MacLeod
