Canada's SJW foreign minister irks Saudis; diplomatic spat ensues

Canada used to have a Ministry of External Affairs, as opposed to "internal affairs", the kind that no-one else has any business sticking their nose into. Later the Ministry was renamed "Foreign Affairs", and the person in charge was called the Foreign Minister (as opposed to "foreign ministers" like Canada's Somali-born Minister of Refugees). The nomenclature changed when liberal one-worlder Just In Trudeau was elected in the fall of 2015. Now Canada has a Ministry of Global Affairs, to show that Canada is now a post-national state, part of the world community, yada yada yada.

The minister Mr Socks put in charge of Global Affairs Canada, as it's now called, is a dimunitive but vociferous SJW feminist named Chrystia Freeland, mentioned here before (use the search tool), notably for breaking into tears and stomping out of the room during negotiations over a proposed Canada-European Union trade deal. In a change from the customary language of diplomacy, the fragrant and emotional minister cried (literally), "These people are impossible to deal with. I'm going home to my children!"

No-one, except Hairboy and the state-owned CBC takes Ms Freeland seriously. The Canada-EU trade deal was signed, but remains in limbo, not having been ratified by all the EU governments. A more urgent piece of unfinished business is the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Ms Freeland is in charge of the file, which is too bad since the Americans want to talk business, not issues of "climate change" and "gender equity". See "Canuck foreign minister Freeland skips 5th round of NAFTA talks", WWW 16/11/17, and "Mysterious meeting between WH bigshots and former Canadian PM", WWW 28/6/18.

Left with nothing to do while the Americans and Mexicans meet in Washington, Ms Freeland found some other business into which to poke her prominent nose. A few readers [probably very few. Ed.] may remember the story of Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger who was tried and convicted of having "insulted Islam through electronic channels". He was condemned to seven years in prison and 600 lashes, later raised to 10 years in prison, 1000 lashes and a monetary fine. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, fled to Canuckistan along with her three children, and celebrated last Canada Day by becoming a citizen.

That's the kind of sob story that tugs on the heart strings of SJWs like Chrystia Freeland, even though Ms Haidar has called for a burqa ban similar to that now in force in Denmark and other sensible countries. So Ms Freeland has thrown her support into the campaign to release Mr Badawi, and has instructed her minion to "make representations", as the dips say, to the Saudis.

It hasn't worked. Not only is Mr Badawi still in jail, but his sister, Samar Badawi, has now been arrested. Ooooooooh!!! that just made Ms Freeland's blood boil, so much so that she forgot that she's supposed to be Canada's top diplomat, and on August 2nd tweeted her displeasure with the evil Saudis for the whole world to see.

Foreign Affairs Canada [sic] (@CanadaFP) put out a similar tweet at almost the same time, and to add fuel to the fire, repeated it in Arabic. The Saudis were not pleased, and treated Ms Freeland's interference as something more than a minor diplomatic gaffe. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (not Global Affairs) accused Canada of making false statements and interfering with Saudi internal affairs, and gave Canuck ambassador Dennis Horak 24 hours to get out of Dodge [Riyadh, surely! Ed.] They also recalled their ambassador to Canada for consultations. And for good measure, they put an immediate freeze on all new trade and investment transactions with Canada.

Well done, Chrystia Freeland! The Israelis and Iranians will certainly be pleased, as will every human rights activist and social justice warrior in the liberal world.

But the fight has only started. What we've seen so far is only the official Saudi government response to Ms Freeland's egregious meddling. (There has been no comment yet from her boss, who was busy preaching diversity and marching in a Pride parade out in British Columbia.) Direr [more dire? Ed.] warnings have come from "other quarters", including this poster created by the Saudi Arabian social media creative group @Infographic_KSA.

Like the Global Affairs (or Foreign Affairs or whatever it is) tweets, versions of this appeared in Arabic, French and other languages. The message, clearly intended as a warning, doesn't specify what would not please Canadians, but the image of an Air Canada jet heading for Toronto's iconic CN Tower/Tour CN is plain enough for even a Canadian liberal to understand.

@Infographic_KSA describes itself as a project "managed by a group of Saudi youth who are interested in technology and social media facts backed by numbers & evidence." They do not say anything about any connection to any "faith-based organization". They don't need to... EH.

Footnote: The Canuck government's spin on SNAFU was clear from initial reports on the CBC, which referred consistently to tweets "from Global Affairs Canada", barely mentioning Chrystia Freeland, who apparently was unavailable for comment, let alone an apology for any offence caused. See "Questioning the CBC's love affair with Chrystia Freeland", WWW 8/10/17.

Wife of Muslim blogger jailed in Saudi Arabia becomes Canadian citizen, calls for burqa ban

This morning, an intereting story appeared on the news website of Canada's Global TV, but not on the state-owned CBC News site. For Canucks who only have access to the Canadian Broadcorping Castration, Walt will précis the story. You can figure out for yourself why the CBC didn't run it.

Here (at right) you see a Muslim lady by the name of Ensaf Haidar, who, along with her three children, celebrated Canada Day (July 1st) by becoming a citizen of Canuckistan. She is married to Raif Badawi, depicted in the poster at left. Mr Badawi, who lived in Saudi Arabia, had the temerity to publish a blog -- always a dangerous avocation -- which was found by the Saudi princes to have "insulted Islam through electronic channels" -- a heinous offence under Sharia law.

Mr Badawi got a fair trial (under Sharia law, of course) and was condemned to seven years in prison and 600 lashes. The prosecutors thought that a mere slap on the wrist -- or back, perhaps -- and appealed. The sentence was later raised to 10 years in prison, 1000 lashes and a monetary fine. Three years after her husband was slapped into the Saudi dungeons, Ms Haidar and her children fled the ultra-Islamic kingdom and took refuge in Sherbrooke, QC, from where she has been campaigning hard for his release. Her pleas for the assistance of "Mr Socks" and his government have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Ms Haidar used the occasion of becoming a Canuck to post on Twitter a suggestion to Ontario's incoming premier, Doug Ford, that he follow the lead of la Belle Province outlaw the wearing in government settings, schools, banks, hospitals and public transportation of the burqa and the niqab -- Islamic head coverings that mask the wearer's face.

Quebec's Bill 62, which came into law in October but has yet to be fully implemented owing to the obstruction of liberal activist judges, doesn't specifically mention burqas or niqabs, but forbids people from covering their faces while providing and receiving public services. Similar laws have been enacted in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

In a statement to Global News, Ms Haidar said she wanted to use her first day as a Canadian citizen to raise awareness about the plight of women forced to abide by Sharia, or traditional Islamic law.

"As a Canadian who was born in Saudi Arabia under laws of Sharia where human rights are non-existent, I realised the power mysognist [sic] men [have] over powerless women with no rights. As a refugee in Québec and Canada I have noticed the fast growth of Islamist groups loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Saudi clergy imposing the Burqa and enforcing Niqab on girls and women as political flags to mark jihadi territory.

"Nowhere in Islam is a woman required to cover her face. This is medievalist mysoginy [sic] that treats women as animals and property of men and shamed into attire that befits slavery, not humanity. It is for this reason that on the first day as a Canadian I have raised the issue of banning the Burqa and Niqab in Ontario as I feel Premier Ford is a man who will listen to my plea and end the war by deception being waged by Islamists against Canadian values."

Anyone who can figure out why this story has not appeared on CBC News is invited to write the answer on the back of a postage stamp and send it to Walt at the usual address.

Further reading: "Hijab, niqab, burqa -- what's the difference?", WWW 28/7/10 -- still one of Walt's most-viewed posts!