First Nation woman back home in Yukon after years trapped in Turkish legal system

A Carcross/Tagish First Nation woman who was trapped in the Turkish legal system for nearly seven years has finally come home to the Yukon.

A Carcross/Tagish First Nation woman who was trapped in the Turkish legal system for nearly seven years has finally come home to the Yukon.

Charman Smith arrived at the Whitehorse airport Thursday (May 25) night, where a half-dozen family members and friends were waiting for her.  

Smith, according to the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, was sentenced in November 2016 to nine years and two months in jail after khat, a stimulant drug, was found in her luggage at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul as she was travelling back to Canada from Africa.

The congress, which advocates for the interests of off-reserve and non-status Indigenous people, and Smith say the drugs were planted in her bags without her knowledge.

Reports by APTN say Smith was incarcerated for several years, before being placed on a form of house arrest in 2020 when Turkish authorities released tens of thousands of prisoners in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carcross/Tagish First Nation, along with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre in Whitehorse, provided Smith with financial support after assistance from the Canadian government dried up, and also advocated for her return to Canada.