Months before a firestorm erupted over a federal government tweet criticizing a Saudi civil rights crackdown, Canadian diplomats had been trying to delicately address the issue behind closed doors. The concern was that a show of support for the civil rights activists would feed rumours that they were working on behalf of foreign embassies. During the summer, the Canadian Embassy requested meetings with Saudi officials to follow up on "the arrest and detention of several civil society activists." New round of arrests prompted new tweetsOn June 27, a confidential summary of new Saudi crackdowns was circulated among Canadian officials. In late September, Freeland expressed a desire to mend fences with Saudi officials by discussing their differences on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Source: CBC News December 07, 2018 01:41 UTC