Waseem Ramli (right) pictured with Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. The Montreal-based businessman has been approved by officials at Global Affairs Canada to become Syria's honorary consul in Montreal. (Waseem Ramli/Facebook)

Freeland to look into approval of Assad-friendly Syrian honorary consul

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has ordered a review of a decision by officials in her own department to approve the candidacy of an “unapologetic supporter” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as that country’s honorary consul in Montreal.

Freeland tweeted Monday that she was “shocked” by comments made by Waseem Ramli in an interview with Maclean’s magazine “and the views he has espoused publicly on social media and elsewhere.”

“Neither my team nor I were aware that officials at Global Affairs Canada had approved this appointment,” Freeland said. “I have asked the Department to look into this right away.”

Nominated by Assad, approved by Ottawa

Waseem Ramli (left) pictured with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a Liberal fundraiser in June of 2019. (Waseem Ramli/Facebook)

Ramli, a well-to-do Montreal businessman, was nominated by Damascus earlier this summer and approved last month by Global Affairs Canada.

As honorary consul, Ramli will exert control over the affairs of the Syrian diaspora in eastern Canada and in much of the United States. The magazine said Ottawa’s confirmation of Ramli to the post sparked fear and concern within the Syrian community in Montreal.

In an interview with Maclean’s, Ramli described the White Helmets, a volunteer group of first responders and war crime monitors that enjoys the support of the federal government, as a “terrorist organization” that supports Al-Qaeda.

The Maclean’s article also says Ramli “bristled” at suggestions that he wouldn’t treat Syrians equally.

Routine approval process

Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland speaks with the media during a news conference in Ottawa, Wednesday December 12, 2018. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Speaking on background, officials at Global Affairs Canada said appointments of honorary consuls are generally approved by lower-level officials in the protocol department in consultations with the relevant geographic desk and these files rarely reach the minister’s office or even her deputy minister.

However, Freeland is concerned that “no extra flagging” was done considering the sensitivity of situation around Syria and the “shocking comments” made by Ramli not only to Maclean’s but also in other media in the past, an official in Freeland’s office said.

The department’s own guidelines say that foreign governments should avoid nominating “controversial or politically active persons, or persons whose professional activities might otherwise interfere with the effective discharge of consular functions” as candidates for honorary consuls.

“More broadly, proposed candidates should also be persons of good standing and reputation in the local community,” the department’s guideline says.

A capacity to maintain good relations with local government authorities is also an important consideration, the guideline says.

‘It is possible to revoke this’

“I think we’re going to review this decision but my understanding is that it is possible to revoke this,” a Global Affairs official said.

Canada severed diplomatic ties with Damascus in May of 2012 by expelling Syrian career diplomats from the embassy in Ottawa and the consulate in Toronto in a coordinated action with several Western nations.

However, the Conservative government of the day decided to allow two honorary consul positions – one in Montreal and another in Vancouver – to provide certain consular services to Syrian-Canadians.

The Liberal government is now reviewing “everything,” the Global Affairs official said.

Ramli could not be reached for comment in time for publication.

With files from The Canadian Press

Categories: International, Politics
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