In this 2015 file photo, Ensaf Haidar, wife of the jailed Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi, shows a portrait of her husband as he is awarded the Sakharov Prize, in Strasbourg, France. Saudi Arabia ordered Canada’s ambassador out of the country after Canada criticized the recent arrest of women’s rights activists. (CHRISTIAN LUTZ / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
OTTAWA — Saudi Arabia has cancelled flights to Toronto by its national airline and halted purchases of Canadian wheat and barley as it ramps up retaliation for Ottawa’s criticism of its human rights and detention of activists.
Saudi Arabia’s angry — and to some, surprising reaction — has continued with news that Saudi Airlines would end its four-flights-a-week service between Toronto and Riyadh in the days ahead.
And the kingdom has declared it will no longer buy Canadian wheat and barley, confirmed Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada.
In the last year, Canada sent 135,000 tonnes of barley to Saudi Arabia, a significant part of the 1.9 million tonnes of barley exports each year, and 70,000 tonnes of wheat, a smaller portion of the 16.5 million tonnes of wheat that went overseas.
“We are seeing protectionism grow. I see this as part of that trend, using trade for other than economic means,” Dahl said. “It worries me a great deal.”
Yet Ottawa is showing little signs of backing down in its spat with the Middle East powerhouse.
“We’ve been pretty clear in our dealings around the world and specifically in Saudi Arabia that we know that it’s important that we bring Canadian values around the world. We are going to continue to enunciate what we believe are the appropriate ways of dealing with citizens,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Tuesday.
This is all the fallout after Canada took to social media last week to protest the Saudi detention of rights activists, including Samar Badawi. Her brother Raif was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam in his blogging. Ensaf Haidar, his wife, was given Canadian citizenship last month.
“Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #human rights activists,” the foreign affairs department tweeted.
In her own tweet, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland declared that she was “very alarmed” by the news that Samar Badawi had been imprisoned. “We continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi,” Freeland said.
Those tweets caused deep offence among Saudi Arabia’s leadership and the broader Arab world has rallied to the kingdom’s defence, causing a diplomatic row that threatens to cost Canada politically and economically.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday, the kingdom’s foreign affairs ministry denounced Canada’s comments as “blatant interference” in its domestic affairs and a “major, unacceptable affront” to its laws and judicial process.
The kingdom appears to have been especially offended by Canada’s call for the “immediate” release of the activists, which it characterized as “very unfortunate, reprehensible, and unacceptable in relations between States.”
It said that Canada’s statement demanded a “sharp response to prevent any party from attempting to meddle with Saudi sovereignty.”
It expelled Canada’s ambassador in Riyadh, recalled its own envoy from Ottawa and announced that all new trade and investments with Canada would be frozen.
The recriminations have continued. Saudi Arabia has suspended scholarships for an estimated 15,000 Saudi students studying here and ordered them to attend schools elsewhere.
Universities were trying to clarify the reports and the potential impact on their institutions, including the bottom line since foreign students usually pay dramatically higher tuition than Canadians.
“While we await further information, our immediate focus will be on supporting our students,” said York University spokesperson Janice Wall, where 115 students from Saudi Arabia go to school.
On Tuesday, Washington avoided taking sides in a dispute it said involved its “close partners” but did voice support for individual liberties, “including dissent and due process,” and said it has asked Saudi Arabia for more information about the detention of activists.
But the reaction was less favourable among Arab states as countries such as United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and the Palestinian Authority, which sided with Saudi Arabia in the diplomatic tiff, condemned what they branded as “unacceptable interference” by Canada that undermined Riyadh’s sovereignty.
Experts in human rights and foreign affairs say that Saudi Arabia’s “fierce” reaction to Canada’s comments is meant to make other nations think twice before going public with criticism of the kingdom’s human rights record.
“Clearly this is meant to be a message to Canada (and) the rest of the world, ‘don’t mess with us on that front’,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada’s English branch.
“The ferocity of the response is obviously intended to dissuade other governments from tweeting in the same vein as Canada has,” Neve said.
Neve said Canada’s criticism — while not unprecedented — did stand out given that many countries are often reluctant to publicly fault Saudi Arabia and reticent to focus on specific cases. “Clearly governments don’t want to risk in any way offending the Saudi’s — oil wealth, trade and investment potential, geopolitical considerations,” Neve said.
Neve said that his organization welcomed Canada’s public expression of concern, adding, “it’s something we need to see government’s do with much greater regularity and conviction.”
Thomas Juneau, assistant professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, said Saudi Arabia’s response is consistent with the kingdom’s increasingly aggressive actions on the world stage under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old heir to the Saudi throne.
These include waging war in neighbouring Yemen, blockading Qatar over alleged ties to terrorism, and “kidnapping” the Lebanese prime minister in November 2017, Juneau said.
“There’s a pattern of impulsiveness, of aggressiveness — really, of recklessness — in its foreign policy. And in that sense, what they’ve been doing to Canada for the last 48 hours really fits that pattern,” he said.
At the same time, Juneau said Canada’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has soured since the Liberals came to power.
In granting Canada a $15-billion contract to supply the kingdom with light-armoured vehicles in 2014 — a deal that has been denounced by human rights advocates — Saudi Arabia expected a “closer relationship” with Canada on a range of other levels, including educational exchanges, increased trade and high level visits from political leaders, Juneau said. But when criticism over the LAV deal started to mount, the Liberal government shied away from that, Juneau said.
Freeland’s call for the respect of human rights was the “catalyst” for an open dispute, but the stage was already set, Juneau said.
“The feeling of betrayal was the cause behind it, but the broader message that they’re sending to western countries is, if you criticize us, this could happen to you,” he said.
With files by Daniel Dale and Donovan Vincent
Bruce Campion-Smith is the Star’s Ottawa bureau chief and a reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @yowflier
Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga
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