Canada believes its human-rights workers being held hostage in Iraq will be safely released, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said Monday.

The latest intelligence suggests four Christian Peacemaker Teams members, including two Canadians, are “very much” alive, MacKay said.

The men were kidnapped in November and their captors threatened to kill them last month in what they called a last warning.

But there is still reason for optimism, MacKay said.

“The most up-to-date information that we have leads us to believe that there will be — and we remain very optimistic — a safe release of these individuals,” he said in an interview.

“We are pursuing all means, with our allies, to be helpful and supportive to ensure their safe return and release.”

The Christian Peacemakers were last seen in a Jan. 31 videotaped message, in which their captors threatened to kill them.

For reasons of security, MacKay could not offer other details about the little-known group that claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.

But he said there’s no indication that the captors have ever discussed transferring the hostages to a more violent Islamist group.

That isn’t to say the hostages have remained in one spot.

“The most recent information leads us to believe they have, on a number of occasions, been moved from one location to another,” MacKay said.

“We remain very optimistic about their well-being.”

James Loney, 41, of Toronto; Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a former Montreal resident; Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., and Norman Kember, 74, of London, were kidnapped Nov. 26.

The kidnappers threatened to kill the hostages in a video time-stamped Jan. 21.

They declared the brief tape a “last chance” for the hostages and demanded the release of all Iraqi prisoners, “otherwise their fate will be death.”

Two weeks into his new job, MacKay said he was struck by the volume of human drama that comes with the foreign affairs territory.

CTV News

Peter McKay has been Canada’s foreign affairs minister for two weeks. It’s hard to say what is his optimism and what is reliable information he has received in his portfolio. It is his responsibility as minister to speak hopefully - but not irresponsibily, raising hopes in families that have been waiting since their sons and husbands were kidnapped November 26th.

There is no information on Peace Talk, the blog of the Christian Peacemaker Teams founder. There is an interview with a friend of Canadian Jim Loney today in the Brockville Ontario newspaper.

There is nothing in other search engines as yet - let’s hope Peter McKey has solid information on good authority. His statement while hopeful does not speculate on a time frame for the release of the Peacemaker Iraq Team.