‘ Thank you, thank you, thank you so much’

Amanda Lindhout’s statement posted on Facebook on Sunday: On the evening of Thursday, June 11, I learned that the RCMP had arrested a man named Ali Omar Ader and that the following morning he would be formally charged in connection with my kidnapping in 2008. I was at my home in Canmore when the call came in. My understanding is that it was a few hours after the arrest was made. For more than five years now, I’ve met regularly with a team of investigators from the RCMP as they’ve worked on this case. They’ve been confident all along that they would eventually make an arrest, though it was always clear they were facing difficult and dangerous conditions. I’m not sure I ever quite believed it would happen. There is one agent in particular who has been my point of contact throughout the process, who has invested himself in every step along the way and visited me many times. I can’t reveal his name, but his kindness and commitment to the cause has meant more to me than I can adequately express. On the phone on Thursday evening, calling from Ottawa, he said to me, “Are you sitting down?” There were several RCMP officials on the line as he delivered the news. I was stunned ... I was even more stunned that the accused kidnapper was in my home country. I had forgotten to sit down, and my knees gave out. I lay on the floor crying, saying the words, “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much,” again and again. I told them that night how proud I felt to be Canadian. I was, and will always be, humbled by the fact the RCMP has worked so hard on my case all these years, never wavering in its pursuit of my kidnappers. This operation was large and complex and involved many people across several continents. I’m grateful to Canada Border Services Agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the Australian Federal Police for their assistance.