What is Canada’s ‘Incident Response Group’?
$20B armoured vehicles deal hangs in balance
• Canada is questioning its “entire relationship” with Saudi Arabia as more details emerge about the murder of a journalist at a Saudi consulate in the Turkish capital Istanbul, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday.
As part of the Canadian government’s response to the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened an “Incident Response Group” meeting Monday morning featuring Freeland and other undisclosed ministers.
Here’s what we know about how that group operates, and why it convened in this particular case.
WHAT IS THE ‘INCIDENT RESPONSE GROUP’?
Trudeau announced its formation Aug. 28 along with a shuffle of cabinet committee members. It’s described as “a dedicated, emergency committee that will convene in the event of a national crisis or during incidents elsewhere that have major implications for Canada.”
The committee was billed as something similar to what Five Eyes allies — the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand — already have in place within their own governments. A ministerial-level meeting among the Five Eyes was being held the same day as the announcement. Although it is possible that iterations of this group have met on other occasions, Monday marked the first time the government has publicly announced a meeting.
WHY CONVENE A MEETING ON THIS PARTICULAR ISSUE?
After weeks of shifting accounts about Khashoggi’s disappearance after he visited their consulate on Oct. 2, Saudi Arabia finally admitted on Friday that the columnist had been murdered there, although its government continued to deny any involvement in the killing. “We do not find the explanations that have been offered to date to be credible or consistent,” Freeland said Monday, echoing a statement issued on the weekend. “And it is absolutely essential that those responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi be brought to justice.” Freeland wouldn’t say whether Saudi Arabia’s actions could threaten an ongoing $20-billion sale of Canadian armoured vehicles to that country — which had been negotiated under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, but for which export approvals were signed by the Trudeau Liberals. But she did not deny that it is being discussed. “There are very important questions about the entire relationship with Saudi Arabia that need to be asked. This meeting that the prime minister convened was an important part of that conversation inside our government and we are having these serious conversations with our partners and allies.”
WHO SITS IN ON THESE DISCUSSIONS?
We know that Freeland attended the meeting in Ottawa Monday morning, because she talked about it during a press confer- ence in the afternoon. But despite having publicized a meeting involving ministers had taken place, the government was oblique about which ones were actually there. The Prime Minister’s Office would not answer the question. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s office, for their part, would only refer back to the PMO. In addition to ministers, senior leadership from government de- partments are also in on such meetings. “Whoever attends the meeting is dependent on the topic that they’re discussing,” said a government official not authorized to speak on the record. “Everybody who was there was involved in this issue in one way or another.”
HAVEN’T WE BEEN HAVING ISSUES WITH SAUDI ARABIA FOR A WHILE?
Yes. Back in early August, the Saudis were angered by Freeland publicly urging them to improve their human rights record by releasing women’s rights activists who had been recently imprisoned — a statement echoed in an Arabic-language tweet by Canada’s embassy in Saudi Arabia.
Within a few days of those social media missives, Saudi Arabia was accusing Canada of “an overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom.” Canadian ambassador Dennis Horak was recalled to Canada, and “all new trade and investment transactions” with Canada were suspended.
Within another few days the Saudi state airline suspended flights to and from Toronto, and Saudi students were being instructed to leave Canada.