Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing back on the notion that Canada鈥檚 willingness to help two citizens who were detained in China is an acknowledgement they engaged in espionage on Ottawa鈥檚 behalf.

The federal government will be there to help Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor rebuild their lives after they were arbitrarily imprisoned in China for three years, Trudeau said Thursday.

Canada has assisted Kovrig and Spavor from the beginning because China chose to use them as pawns in geopolitical games, Trudeau told a news conference in Toronto.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been there to support the two Michaels, who went through unimaginable difficulties, being arbitrarily detained by China,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e will continue to be there to support them.鈥�

He said China arrested the Canadians for political reasons, adding there was 鈥渁bsolutely no justification, no reason, no excuse for them to do that.鈥�

Trudeau鈥檚 comments came a day after John Phillips, a lawyer for Spavor, indicated his client had reached a settlement with the federal government over the detention.

Phillips said in an email that the matter between Spavor and the government had been 鈥渞esolved.鈥�

Trudeau declined to say Thursday whether Ottawa had provided compensation to Kovrig, citing a need for confidentiality.

Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Chinese firm Huawei Technologies, in December 2018 at the request of the United States, where she faced charges related to American sanctions against Iran.

The move clearly angered Beijing, and Kovrig and Spavor 鈥� two Canadians working in China 鈥� were arrested soon after on accusations of endangering national security, a move widely seen as retaliation against Ottawa.

Kovrig and Spavor were both convicted of spying in 2021 in closed Chinese courts. Canada and many allies said the process amounted to arbitrary detention on bogus charges in an unaccountable justice system.

The U.S. worked out a deferred prosecution agreement in Meng鈥檚 case, allowing for her release, and Beijing permitted the two Michaels, as they came to be known, to fly home in September 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press