Over the past couple of decades, the Canadian government has carefully crafted an image of Canada whereby diversity and humanitarianism are portrayed as the quintessential aspects of the nation. While the nation’s lengthy history of undertaking humanitarian actions is commendable, to say that it is purely driven by goodwill would most certainly be naïve. Over the last couple of months, Canada’s strong commitment to engaging in acts of humanitarianism has largely been driven by the government’s need to counteract negative public backlash and press by demonstrating acts of goodwill.
As seen in the latter half of 2018 and the first months of 2019, the Canadian government has already faced harsh public criticism for its actions in a variety of foreign policy issues. Specifically, the Canadian diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia and its heavy-handed responses to the Wet’suwet’en pipeline dispute are of interest in demonstrating Canada’s rather cold-hearted political pragmatism.
The feud between Saudi Arabia and Canada initially began in August 2018 after the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, had tweeted her concern about the arrest of Samar Badawi. Badawi is a female activist in Saudi Arabia and sister of the imprisoned Saudi activist Raif Badawi. Following Freeland’s actions, the Canadian government and Canadian Embassy in Saudi Arabia expressed similar concerns on Twitter and generated harsh backlash from the Government of Saudi Arabia. In response, the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia tweeted accusatory statements towards the Canadian government and ultimately demanded that the Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia exit the country within 24 hours. Moreover, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia indefinitely suspended all new trade deals and investments with Canada. As Canada remained firmly grounded in their defense of human rights and women’s rights, Saudi Arabia retaliated by suspending all flights to Toronto and withdrawing Saudi students from Canadian schools. For the remainder of August, tensions continued to escalate and both countries failed to reach a resolution.
On a more domestic note, in December 2018, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the Coastal GasLink Project could construct natural-gas pipelines running over traditional Wet’suwet’en land despite a lack of approval from the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en clans. When anti-pipeline demonstrators turned out to protest the decision, Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived to arrest them. This spate of arrests automatically triggered a pre-existing injunction against the Wet’suwet’en members which granted Royal Canadian Mounted Police access to the traditional lands and trigger automatic approval from the hereditary chiefs. Following discussions with the RCMP, the hereditary chiefs granted access to their land but remained vehemently opposed to the production of the pipeline. Justin Trudeau and the Government of Canada came under fire in the media and by the wider public due to their support for the production of the pipeline and the handling of the Wet’suwet’en lands.
In contrast to the criticisms of the Canadian government in regards to their action towards Saudi Arabia and on Wet’suwet’en land, Canada has also engaged in some notable compassionate and humanitarian initiatives. For example, one may look no further than the cases of Hassan Al Kontar and Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun.
In early 2018, news broke internationally of Hassan Al Kontar, the Syrian refugee who was stuck in a Malaysian airport for seven months while attempting to flee from serving in the Syrian military. Al Kontar’s Malaysian work permit had expired and no other country would issue him a visa. As Al Kontar was unwilling to return to Syria, he remained in a Malaysian airport for seven months. In October 2018 he was detained by Malaysian authorities and feared deportation until his story went viral and the Canadian government intervened. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada ultimately arrived in Malaysia and administered tests to determine his eligibility for sponsorship. Al Kontar met the criteria for eligibility and arrived in Canada shortly after with the co-sponsorship of a Canadian citizen and British Columbia Muslim Association.
In January 2019, viral news spread of an 18-year old woman, Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun, who had barricaded herself in the Bangkok airport and refused to return home to Saudi Arabia. Al-Qunun was on a trip to Kuwait with her family when she had fled on a flight to Bangkok to escape them. Al-Qunun allegedly suffered abuse from her family and declared that she had renounced Islam, and act that is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. Given the potential threat to her safety, the United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) granted her protection and oversaw her bid for asylum. Canada quickly stepped up in to offer her protection and ultimately partnered with the UNHCR to provide asylum for Al-Qunun. Al-Qunun arrived in Toronto, Canada in early January 2019 while escorted by Minister Freeland. Her journey to Canada had been well-documented the world over and was received positively with enormous public support for her plight.
The division between the two extremes of harsh criticism and compassionate humanitarian action illustrate how Canada utilizes its acts of humanitarianism to improve its image. In analyzing this PR perspective, one must consider the reception of Canada’s actions by the international community. Following Al Kontar’s sponsorship approval, headlines such as, “Syrian stranded at Malaysia airport says Canadians renewed his hope in humanity,” and “‘You can feel the love’: Syrian who lived in airport on new life in Canada,” emerged in international headlines. As well, headlines such as, “’Brave new Canadian’: Saudi teen Rahaf al-Qunun arrives in Canada,” and “Rahaf al Qunun pledges to use her freedom to campaign for others after being granted asylum in Canada,” detailed Al-Qunun’s journey to Canada.
Although Canada’s efforts to aid Al Kontar and Al-Qunun are commendable, it cannot be ignored how the media coverage of these events followed a common overly positive narrative regarding the Canadian government and its refugee policies. As seen in the timing of these events, it would seem that the government intended to minimize the blowback of the negative press from their debacles with Saudi Arabia and the Wet’suwet’en pipeline dispute. By purposefully engaging in these humanitarian acts, within a specific time frame, the Canadian government was able to alter the narrative of what was being portrayed in the media at the time. Although the timing of Al Kontar and Al-Qunun’s respective plights can be considered purely coincidental, it would be hard to believe that the timing of the government’s aid could also be considered so serendipitous. B
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