Overseas Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canadian Armed Forces veteran David Lavery is “secure” in Qatar — months after a community that helps vets expressed concern that he went lacking in Afghanistan and was presumably detained by the Taliban authorities.
In a social media submit on Sunday, Joly mentioned she “simply spoke with David Lavery upon his secure arrival in Qatar from Afghanistan. He’s in good spirits.”
Joly additionally thanked Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar’s overseas affairs minister, for “serving to facilitate the discharge of our Canadian citizen.”
In keeping with a supply with information of Lavery’s launch, the previous Canadian soldier was detained in Kabul on Nov. 11, 2024 — Remembrance Day. The Canadian authorities contacted the federal government of Qatar for help securing Lavery’s launch.
I simply spoke with David Lavery upon his secure arrival in Qatar from Afghanistan. He’s in good spirits.
Thanks to my Qatari counterpart, @MBA_AlThani_, for serving to facilitate the discharge of our Canadian citizen.
—@melaniejoly
Qatari mediators co-ordinated with senior Canadian officers and used contacts in Afghanistan to dispatch a medical group to evaluate Lavery’s situation and supply care whereas additionally facilitating contact between Lavery and his household, the supply mentioned.
Lastly, the supply mentioned, Lavery underwent a medical evaluation upon his arrival in Doha and is now along with his household.
In November, the Veterans Transition Community mentioned it was “deeply involved concerning the well-being of David Lavery, recognized to all these he helped as ‘Canadian Dave.'”
On Sunday, the community launched an announcement saying it was “relieved and overjoyed to verify the secure launch of [Lavery] from Taliban detention in Afghanistan.”
“We’re immensely relieved to know {that a} buddy, father, veteran and Canadian humanitarian is out of hurt’s manner,” Oliver Thorne, CEO of the Veterans Transition Community, mentioned within the assertion. “Our work over the previous three years to evacuate Afghan allies who supported Canada’s mission wouldn’t have been doable with out Dave’s private dedication and bravado.”
The assertion mentioned that the community and Lavery’s household had “deliberately launched little info” over the previous two and a half months “with the objective of minimizing media hypothesis that might have put Dave at larger threat or jeopardized the potential for his launch.”
Since earlier than the autumn of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021, Lavery had been working to supply help and help to eligible Afghan migrants. The Veterans Transition Community famous in November that Lavery repeatedly travelled to Afghanistan for humanitarian work and to put wreaths on the Canadian monument in Kabul on Remembrance Day.
Ontario Chronicle has reached out to International Affairs Canada for extra info.
