Saudi students get caught in the crossfire
Kingdom suspends scholarships for 16,000 studying in Canada day after ambassador expelled
In the wake of Saudi Arabia’s expulsion of Canada’s ambassador, the kingdom has suspended scholarships for about 16,000 Saudi students studying here and ordered them to attend schools elsewhere.
It’s the latest in a war of words between the Saudi government and Canada over human rights, a dispute that began with a tweet Thursday from Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
On Monday, speaking to reporters in Vancouver, Freeland said Canada is “very comfortable” with its position that led to the new measures announced by Saudi Arabia.
“We are always going to speak up for human rights, we are always going to speak up for women’s rights and that is not going to change.”
Freeland said Canadians “expect” its foreign policy to be driven by Canadian values.
According to a report out of Riyadh from Saudi-owned media outlet Al Arabiya, “training, scholarships and fellowships” for Saudi students in Canada are being shelved.
“I’m concerned about those students, but we still need to stand by our position that we support human rights in the world,” Bessma Momani, an expert on Middle East issues and a political science professor at the University of Waterloo, said in an interview Monday.
“I don’t think, understanding Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy, that they’re going to climb down from this, so we’re at an impasse.” In a tweet Monday, Momani said in part that the affected Saudi students are now “scrambling with what to do with their lives. Unjust!”
Many of those students attending Canadian colleges and universities are here through the King Abdullah scholarship program.
The program covers their tuition, flights and accommodations, as well as a stipend for living expenses, Momani said.
A smaller cohort consists of Saudi doctors who are here for specialization training administered by the Royal College of Physicians of Surgeons of Canada. Their costs are also covered by the Saudi Arabian government.
Momani says the doctors, who have in the past returned to their own country to practice, work in 15 Canadian hospitals and serve about 20,000 Canadian patients.
The Saudi students aren’t just in large Canadian cities, but smaller towns as well, so their departures will have economic repercussions on some communities, Momani predicts.
Momani said most of the students are out of Canada on summer break, likely back with family in Saudi Arabia.
“They’re supposed to be here in three weeks to start school, so it’s devastating when you think of it that way,” she said.
She says the Saudi govern- ment is trying to make an “example out of Canada” by showing the world it doesn’t take comments critical of domestic Saudi affairs lightly, especially on human rights matters.
The Star reached out to several universities for comment Monday.
Barbara Joy, spokesperson for York University, said of the 7,259 international students at that school, 115 are from Saudi Arabia.
“While we await further information, our immediate focus will be on supporting these students to understand the potential implications for them,” Joy said in an emailed statement.
The news comes after Saudi Arabia’s decision Sunday ordering Dennis Horak, Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, out of their country in 24 hours. The Saudis are recalling their ambassador here in Canada as well. As part of those moves, new trade and investment transactions between Canada and Saudi Arabia have been frozen.
Saudi Arabia provides about 10 per cent of Canada’s imported crude oil and Canada’s largest export recently has been armoured tanks and personnel carriers.
General Dynamics Land Systems in London Ont., inked a $15-billion deal four years ago with the Saudis to provide that country with light-armoured vehicles.
The dispute was sparked by tweets in which Canadian officials demanded the Saudis “immediately release” women’s rights activists being detained in the kingdom, 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.
“Very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi’s sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi,” Freeland tweeted Thursday.
Freeland said the Canadian embassy in Riyadh, “continues its regular operations, including consular services.”