The issue of Quebec’s sovereignty has reared its head again amidst political quarrel — albeit not between the province and Ottawa, but between Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi troll accounts took to Twitter Monday with messages supporting Quebec’s separation from the rest of country, sometimes accompanied by images of the Quebec City flag rather than the fleur-de-lis. The tweets, occasionally directed towards Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland or Canadian news media, read that Saudi Arabia “supports Quebec’s right to become an independent nation.
The trolls also mention the Canadian government’s treatment of Indigenous people, saying that they are “concerned about cultural genocide against aboriginal peoples.”
The tweets started coming in hours after the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of the Canadian ambassador and that all new trade deals will be frozen. The kingdom justified this decision saying it rejects “categorically the interference of other States in internal affairs.”
The Canadian government said last Friday it was “deeply concerned” by the many arrests of women’s rights activists by Saudi authorities. Ottawa cited the case of Samar Badawi, the sister of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi.