Canada and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have had a generally cordial relationship marred by periods of diplomatic tension. Both countries, however, share robust economic ties: Saudi Arabia is Canada's largest trading partner in the Middle East, and is also one of the largest recipients of Canadian military equipment. In February 2014, the Saudi government had purchased Canadian armaments worth in total. Until August 2018, there were over 16,000 Saudi students enrolled in Canadian schools on government scholarships.
Since 2018, bilateral relations have gradually soured since a high-profile diplomatic spat began over the Canadian government's public condemnation of the Saudi government's human rights abuses. Canada had called for the immediate release of Saudi activist Raif Badawi and his sister Samar Badawi on 5 August 2018 after they were arrested by Saudi authorities on varying charges. In response, the Canadian government was accused of interfering in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs; the Canadian ambassador in Riyadh was declared and expelled from the country, having been given 48 hours to leave. The Saudi ambassador in Ottawa was also recalled, and the Saudi government suspended all new trade (excluding oil sales) with Canada, terminated all flights and services of Saudia to Toronto, and cancelled the scholarships of thousands of Saudi students in Canada.
History
Human rights abuses In April 2000, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien made a state visit to Saudi Arabia. In the same year, Canadian William Sampson was arrested by the Saudi government for complicity in a suicide bombing in Riyadh, while maintaining his innocence. He was imprisoned and later criticized the Canadian government for not coming to his aid. He was freed by British intervention after being imprisoned for two years.
Since 2006, a Canadian citizen Nathalie Morin is stuck in Saudi Arabia with an abusive husband, fighting to go back to Canada along with her four children. With the ongoing escalated tensions between Saudi Arabia and Canada, the future of Morin remains unclear. According to Morin's mother Johanne Durocher, Morin is cut off from the world, locked in an apartment in Dammam, victim of physical, psychological and sexual violence from her spouse. Durocher has not had any contact with her daughter or grandchildren since August 2018.
In March 2008, Canadian citizen Mohamed Kohail was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over the killing of a 19-year old. His death sentence was revoked in 2010, and he was released in December 2012. During Kohail's imprisonment, several Canadian diplomats visited Saudi Arabia on Kohail's behalf.
August 2018 diplomatic row
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland issued a statement via Twitter on 2 August 2018 expressing Canada's concern over the recent arrest of Samar Badawi, a human rights activist and sister of imprisoned Saudi activist Raif Badawi. Freeland advocated their release. Other Canadian diplomats and the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh later released statements of their own in which they called for the release of all peaceful human rights activists detained in the kingdom.
Saudi reaction
In response to Canada's criticism, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an official statement in which it "expressed disbelief" in the comments made by Freeland and the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh, which it considered to "not be based [on] any accurate or true information". The ministry went on to denounce the statements as "blatant interference in the Kingdom's domestic affairs". The Saudi government suspended all new trade and investment relations with Canada and expelled Canada's ambassador; it named Dennis Horak as persona non grata and gave him 24 hours to leave the country. Saudi Arabia also said it would recall its envoy to Canada temporarily but a statement said the country maintained "its right to take further action".
The Saudi freeze on all new trade with Canada included instructing staff to sell off all Canadian holdings, including equities, bonds and cash even if that means doing so at a loss. Saudi Arabia announced on 8 August that it would put a halt to its medical programs in Canada and move all Saudi patients receiving care in Canadian hospitals to hospitals in other countries. By that date, Saudi Arabia had begun selling all its Canadian assets to foreign investors.
Saudi students studying in Canada on Saudi Arabian scholarships were ordered to relocate to another country or risk losing financial assistance. Roughly 16,000 students were sponsored by such scholarships at the time of this decree. For the 2018–2019 school year, the University of Toronto had 216 postgraduate medical residents and fellows and 77 undergraduate students, while the University of Western Ontario had 75 undergraduate and graduate students. Western University also created a checklist for the students who have been ordered to leave Canada by 31 August 2018.
The state airline Saudia declared that all its flights to Toronto Pearson International Airport would be terminated as of August 13. Saudia operated regular passenger service to Toronto from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
As part of the economic sanctions, the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) advised that it would no longer accept wheat or barley of Canadian origin. However, an official statement from the Saudi energy minister, Khalid A. Al-Falih indicated that the diplomatic crisis would not impact the sale of oil to Canada by Saudi Aramco.
In response to suggestions in the news media about the possibility of outside mediation, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on 8 August that his country would not engage in negotiations until Canada retracted its original statement calling for the release of human rights activists. The Toronto Star reported that the consensus among analysts indicated that the actions taken by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman were a "warning to the world — and to Saudi human rights activists — that his Saudi Arabia is not to be trifled with".
In an interview with the CBC, Iyad el-Baghdadi, President of the Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center (an NGO) made this prediction as to the future of the relationship between the two countries. "Mohammad bin Salman has a tendency to start large actions that end up as quagmires, and I think unfortunately this is going to last for a while", and noted that while this was the first time Saudi Arabia had reacted this way to a Western country, such reactions from Saudi Arabia had become "routine within the region".
On 27 August, the Saudi Ministry of Education informed the 1,053 Saudi medical residents and fellows in Canada that they can "continue in their positions" and they no longer have to leave Canada by 31 August.
According to the Canadian network Global News, Saudi state-owned television Al Arabiya "has suggested that Canada is the worst country in the world for women, that it has the highest suicide rate and that it treats its Indigenous people the way Myanmar treats the Rohingya – a Muslim minority massacred and driven out of Myanmar en masse" which was described by Global News as "fake news" published by the Saudi television outlet.
Halting non-oil economic ties with Canada There was some question as to how the Saudi sell-off would affect Canada's economy; year to date, Canada had exported C$1.4 billion in goods to Saudi Arabia, according to Statistics Canada. Middle East expert Rex Brynen of McGill University predicted that negative short-term economic effects were possible, but that the strategy would "mostly hurt Saudi-owned firms". Canadian grain farmers were concerned, however. The president of Cereals Canada said that barley trade especially would be affected since Saudi Arabia accounted for seven per cent of the annual exports; wheat sales were much more modest. An analyst with LeftField Commodity Research said in an interview with Reuters that "there will be plenty of opportunities for Canada to sell barley and wheat elsewhere". Global supplies of grain were already becoming tighter due to weather-related issues in Russia, Europe, and Australia. The former Canadian Wheat Board, now G3, is partly owned by the Saudi Arabian agriculture company SALIC.
The value of the Canadian dollar dropped slightly, but, on 8 August, it reached its highest level in over seven weeks due to data indicating economic growth and record high exports in recent months. The total impact of the Saudi sell-off on Canadian currency should be "ephemeral" according to Bipan Rai, executive director and North America Head of FX Strategy at CIBC Capital Markets.
The 800 to 1000 medical trainees sponsored by Saudi Arabia, who were at the Resident and Fellow level, were providing direct care to Canadian patients at no cost to the healthcare system. Hospitals were uncertain as to how these services could be replaced if the trainees were to leave Canada. As of late August 2018, they were allowed to remain until "an alternative assignment can be arranged", according to the Saudi Ministry of Education.
Infographic KSA's 9/11 post depicting Toronto's CN Tower A Saudi Arabian youth organization named "Infographic KSA" uploaded an image to Twitter on 6 August of a passenger plane flying towards the CN Tower in the skyline of Toronto. It was widely perceived as a threat of a terrorist attack by Western media as an allusion to the September 11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. The group immediately deleted the post and released a public apology to "those who were offended", explaining that the picture was not meant to represent a terrorist attack and was instead meant to symbolize Canadian ambassador Dennis Horak's flight back to Canada. The Ministry of Culture and Information of Saudi Arabia launched an investigation into the incident and ordered the group to suspend its Twitter account.
Canadian response Foreign Minister Freeland responded to the expulsion of Ambassador Horak at a press conference on 6 August. "Canada will always stand up for human rights in Canada and around the world, and women's rights are human rights."
On 8 August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that he refused to apologize for his country's involvement in promoting human rights, saying that "Canadians have always expected our government to speak strongly, firmly and politely about the need to respect human rights around the world" and that Canada will continue to "speak strongly, firmly and politely" about this issue. "We will continue to stand up for Canadian values and human rights. It's something that I will always do", he added.
In another comment about the "diplomatic difference of opinion", Trudeau said his country would continue a relationship with Saudi Arabia. "We have respect for their importance in the world and recognize that they have made progress on a number of important issues.
Former Conservative minister of foreign affairs John Baird appeared on Saudi Al Arabiya television to comment on the dispute and urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fly to Riyadh to apologize in person to the Saudi royal family. Baird was working as a consultant and has business interests in Saudi Arabia at the time he made the comments, but in January 2015 while minister of foreign affairs in the Harper government, he had also protested Raif Badawi's case to the Saudis, specifically with Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a prominent member of the Saud family. A New Democratic Party member of Parliament, Charlie Angus called the appearance "stunning" and suggested that the ethics commissioner should investigate the incident.
International reaction