A Canadian nurse who was kidnapped last week in Sudan's volatile Darfur region arrived home in Montreal early Saturday evening.
Laura Archer, who was working in the country with the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), touched down at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport around 8 p.m.
Archer was kidnapped on March 11 while working in Sherif Umra, a rural area in northern Darfur.
"I want to say thank you very much to everyone for all of your concern and support that's been expressed across Canada," she said at the airport.
"But I hope we can put all our energy and attention on the people in Darfur."
Taken with her were Mauro D'Ascanio, an Italian doctor, Raphael Meunier, a French field co-ordinator and Sharif Mohamadin, a Sudanese watchman.
After three days in captivity, they were released by their captors on March 14.
Archer is originally from P.E.I. and obtained her nursing degree at the University of Prince Edward Island. She currently resides in Montreal.
In a 2007 article she wrote for her alumni magazine, Archer said her decision to do charity work abroad was cemented when she worked with survivors of the massive tsunami of 2004.
"Through this experience, the difference between being a tourist and a humanitarian became apparent to me -- and I knew which I wanted to be," Archer wrote.
"Working with Medecins Sans Frontieres has proven to be the most difficult and rewarding experience of my life."
After the abductions, MSF pulled its international staff members from its projects in Darfur. The organization also pulled Sudanese staff from the same projects if they were not from the local area where the kidnapping occurred.
The kidnappings came a week after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled 13 aid groups, including MSF, from the country.
That decision was preceded by the International Criminal Court's move to indict al-Bashir on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges for government policies in Darfur.
The ICC accuses al-Bashir of allowing atrocities to be committed against civilians in Darfur during battles between government troops and ethnic African rebels.
With files from The Canadian Press
