In the US, anyone can get an expedited passport. You need to have proof of upcoming travel, and you obviously pay a few hundred dollars extra, but its totally possible they got expedited passports without the government doing them any favors, if Canada operates similar to the US in that manner. However, the kids not having birth certificates would be a major issue to obtain a passport. I feel like its more likely that officials knew what flight they were coming in on and met them at customs to escort them out since they were considered former hostages. JMO, and obviously I dont seem to know much about how Canada works, so take my posts with a grain of salt.