Canada's RCMP In Saudi Arabia

"Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, particularly flogging, continued to be imposed and carried out. Women and girls faced severe discrimination in law and practice, as well as violence" is the way that Amnesty International's 2012 report on Saudi Arabia reads, along with remarks about demonstrations against state authority that were "ruthlessly suppressed", protesters arrested, prosecuted on security-related and political charges.


Doesn't much sound like a national entity that Canada or any of its agencies would or should be interested in promoting trade with. Saudi Arabia has earned its reputation. With its oil money it has funded madrases which it has established from Pakistan to Canada whose sole purpose is to promote the severely fanatic Wahhabist reflection of Islam. And out of that Wahhabi version of Islam has come Sunni-dominated violent jihad.

Which gave birth to religious-ideological movements for global change like al-Qaeda which has itself inspired a platoon of wish-alikes and act-alikes, from the African Maghreb to the United Kingdom and well beyond. While Muslim countries conduct their own battles against the terrorism of Islamist jihad which targets all those deemed to be heretic in following versions of Islam like the Esmaili or Ahmadiya or simply insufficiently pious to match the ferocious Islamism of jihad, the West remains on constant alert.

Yet Saudi Arabia poses, like its sister oil-rich countries of the Middle East as bastions of respectability and responsible government heeding the human rights obligations of rulers in respect of the humanity of their populations. The manner in which their populations are respected is seen in the froth of bloodshed in the roiling upheavals of tribal and sectarian butchery in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Mali, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and beyond.

And it has been revealed by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that Canada has sold billions of dollars' worth of military equipment, including armoured vehicles (munitions not specified) to Saudi Arabia over the last several years. Why does Canada sell any military equipment at all to such a volatile part of the world, to begin with? Yes, Canada is eager to expand its trade opportunities to enrich is GDP but Canada also has scruples. Where are they?

Are they present in the new plans for the country's federal police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to collaborate with the Saudi police to teach them modern and ethical police procedures? On the face of it, it seems a laudable enough initiative; aiding Saudi security authorities to understand best Western-style, human-rights-observing police methods; they could use some tutelage in this area.

To provide them with investigative technique training in law enforcement. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana is reported to have indicated that discussions revolving around providing the Saudis with training in evidence collection and software tools for major case management is in the works; there are requests coming forward from the Middle East for the provision of such training.

"The Saudis are the biggest spenders in the region", explained Toby Jones, Rutgers University professor of Middle East history. "Unless they're going in to revolutionize Saudi police, it's hard to imagine they'll do anything good." Nor does it make Canadians feel particularly proud should this come to fruition to hear that "Providing police services and coordinating training with the Saudis is likely just one part of a broader initiative to maintain as much of a foothold as possible in this lucrative security market."

Considering that "all of this comes at quite a cost, considering the Saudis have a terrible record on human rights and police brutality". Canadian prison and security experts also went in to Afghanistan to help re-design prison facilities, and to teach prison authorities and workers there how better to deal with prisoners, eschewing torture for promoting security and justice in a humane manner. Only to discover that torture remains an integral part of the prison culture in that country.

Consider the reverse: a Middle East country that has a co-ordinated law enforcement teaching program with the United States; in counterpart to Canada and Saudi Arabia, the State of Israel and the United States are taking part in a counter-terrorism training program. For Israel, dealing with terrorism on a daily basis is a reality; transferring their knowledge of best practices in meeting terrorism head on, to a Western country makes sense.

A delegation of law enforcement executives from Connecticut, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania is currently in the process of meeting with commanders of the Israel National Police, security experts and intelligence analysts in an effort to transfer knowledge and experience from one to the other source; the goal - to learn how Israel prevents and responds to terror attacks.

"Since its founding Israel has been under the constant threat of terror attacks, making it the most experienced country when it comes to preparedness and response strategies. This program allows American law enforcement to interact with and learn directly from the experiences of their Israeli counterparts", explained Robert Trestan, ADL Eastern States Civil Rights Counsel, leader of the American mission.

A logical justification for a useful alliance. Can Canada possibly posit a similar argument for co-operation with Saudi Arabia, other than the trade quotient?