(Ottawa) Protecting foreign embassies and diplomats is a big challenge for the federal government, experts say.
Posted at 12:58 p.m.
For Roy Norton, who was Canada’s chief of protocol from 2016 to 2019, this is “an indisputable responsibility”.
“We take this seriously. We respect this commitment and we expect other countries to respect it as well,” he said.
Russia complained last month that Ottawa police and RCMP were not taking security issues seriously enough after what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail was thrown at its embassy.
The RCMP has already indicated that it is investigating the incident.
Russian authorities have also complained of demonstrators blocking access to consular services. Ottawa Police are investigating what happened.
None of the police forces responded to an interview request.
The embassy asked for day and night protection, which is a normal request, according to Mr Norton. “I wouldn’t say that the embassies are exaggerating their fears, but they naturally prefer to choose the path of caution. »
The Vienna Convention signed in 1961 on diplomatic relations obliges host countries to protect foreign embassies and diplomats.
According to her, a diplomatic agent must be treated “with the respect due to him” and the host country must take “all appropriate measures to prevent any attack on his person, his freedom and his dignity”.
It is up to the host country “to take all appropriate measures to prevent the premises of the mission from being invaded or damaged, the peace of the mission disturbed or its dignity diminished”.
Mr. Norton points out, however, that these terms are subject to interpretation.
For example, Canadian police will only intervene in a demonstration if there is a real risk of violence. However, the Chinese Embassy often views protesters speaking out against human rights abuses in that country as hostile. The embassy has not commented.
The Israeli Embassy often contacts the Canadian authorities when its personnel face heightened threats from certain events in the Middle East.
Conversely, Canadian diplomats abroad call on authorities to ask for increased protection when necessary.
For example, Robert Colette, who was ambassador to the Philippines, says that he was often in contact with the authorities of that country. In 2002 or 2003, local officials warned him that several diplomatic missions, including those of Canada, were under threat of attacks. The Canadian embassy had closed for a month, with diplomats working from home.
In Ottawa, Global Affairs Canada has teams that liaise with diplomatic missions scattered across Ottawa and Gatineau, Norton said.
These teams verify whether the protection of these embassies is adequate or whether a police presence is necessary.
Mr. Norton points out that it is up to the RCMP, with the help of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, to determine if additional protection is necessary. Thus, an RCMP officer could escort an ambassador day and night for a given period. A patrol car can be deployed outside the Embassy for a few days.
“It’s a big expense, because there are three quarters a day. There are a lot of police operations in Ottawa. So you have to manage the risk,” he says.
But, foreign representatives like to be stationed in Canada.
“Ambassadors and their families like to come here because they don’t have to live behind gates and hire private security,” says former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson.
Attacks on diplomats are rare in Canada.
In 1982, a group of Armenian activists assassinated Turkey’s military attache to Canada in a parking lot west of Parliament.
Twelve years earlier, the FLQ had kidnapped the British commercial attaché James Cross, thus triggering the October crisis. He was released two months later.
Experts agree that host states usually want to protect foreign diplomats on mission at all costs, even if the two countries are in conflict.
“The RCMP and CSIS are very aware and seek to provide the best protection possible, in any circumstance,” said Mr. Collette. Even in the case of Russia, with whom Canada is at odds over the invasion of Ukraine.