Saudi scholarship students to leave Canada by Sept. 22

Thousands of other Saudi students studying at Canadian universities will, however, still have to leave the country.

The 1,053 Saudi medical residents and fellows in Canada received an e-mail late Monday afternoon from the Saudi Ministry of Education indicating that they may continue in their positions until an alternative assignment is arranged, said Andrew Padmos, chief executive of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Ties between Berlin and Riyadh have been strained since former foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel denounced "adventurism" in the Middle East in November of last year, comments that were seen as criticism of Riyadh's actions in the region.

Saudi medical trainees allowed to stay in Canada for now

The kingdom initially told the medical trainees to leave Canada by Aug. 31 because of a diplomatic dispute that erupted after Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland publicly called on Saudi Arabia to release jailed human-rights activists. Last week, the deadline was extended to Sept. 22.

Residency and trainee programs begin every year on July 1, and those in the programs must complete at least six months to be eligible to write exams.

The Saudi medical residents and fellows received news from Saudi authorities Monday that they would be "allowed to continue in their present training programs until such time as an alternative assignment could be arranged," Dr. Andrew Padmos, chief executive of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, said Tuesday morning.

While Mondays e-mail stipulates that the Saudi medical graduates are to remain in Canada only until they can find alternative arrangements in another country, in reality many of them will likely be able to complete their training here, said Paul-Émile Cloutier, president and CEO of HealthCareCAN, which represents hospitals across the country. For instance, some residents and fellows are entering their last year of training. For others, it could take several years before they can find a training spot in a foreign city, which means they will end up finishing in Canada.

The reprieve for medical trainees does not include the 8,000 or more Saudi university students who are enrolled in other programs across Canada. They are not permitted to continue their studies at Canadian universities.

The development is good news for the Saudi medical graduates as well as the Canadian hospitals that rely on their service, Mr. Cloutier said. For decades, Canada has had a program under which the kingdom pays substantial sums to allow Saudi medical graduates to train at Canadian teaching hospitals. The doctors-in-training gain valuable experience and provide care to patients in Canada.

More than 1,000 medical trainees from Saudi Arabia have been told they can stay in their Canadian positions for a while longer, bringing relief to teaching hospitals and universities that have come to depend on them.

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Ordering the trainees out of Canada would have jeopardized their future careers and forced hospitals to look for ways to fill the gaps left by their sudden departure, Mr. Cloutier said.

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The hospitals that have many of these trainees will continue as is. You dont have to scramble, he said.

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Dr. Padmos said the biggest beneficiaries are the trainees themselves, who risked having their careers derailed.

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Saudi officials are showing support for their own trainees. I dont think this implies they are retreating in any way, Dr. Padmos said.

Chrystia Freeland, speaking at an annual gathering of German ambassadors in Berlin, did not specifically mention Saudi Arabia in her address. However, she touched indirectly on the row which was triggered by her tweet demanding the release of jailed human rights activists in the kingdom.

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I also believe this move creates an opportunity for the two sides to settle their differences, he added.

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But some of the Saudi Arabian medical graduates have already left Canada. Its unclear what will happen in those cases, Mr. Cloutier said. Its also unclear whether Saudi residents and fellows scheduled to start programs in Canada this year will be able to, he added.

"It hits Europe and Germany when the United States, suddenly and without consulting, introduces random sanctions against Russia, China, Turkey and in the future perhaps more of our important trading partners," he said.

Saudi Arabia will allow about 1,000 medical graduates to finish their training in Canada, according to a report.

Speed-crazed women drivers are bound to turn heads in the deeply conservative desert kingdom, which overturned the worlds only ban on female motorists in June as part of a much-hyped liberalisation drive led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The students received an email Monday stating that they would be permitted to remain in Canada until another assignment is arranged, according to The Globe and Mail.

RIYADH: Donning a helmet inside a pearl silver sports sedan, Rana Almimoni skids and drifts around a Riyadh park, engine roaring, tyres screeching and clouds of dust billowing from the back.

They had earlier faced an Aug. 31 deadline to leave the country amid a diplomatic spat. That deadline was then extended to Sept. 22.

Chrystia Freeland, speaking at an annual gathering of German ambassadors in Berlin, did not specifically mention Saudi Arabia in her address. However, she touched indirectly on the row which was triggered by her tweet demanding the release of jailed human rights activists in the kingdom.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia lashed out against Ottawa after a tweet, sent by an official government account, decried the arrests of womens rights activists in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

Ties between Berlin and Riyadh have been strained since former foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel denounced adventurism in the Middle East in November of last year, comments that were seen as criticism of Riyadhs actions in the region.

Saudi Arabia responded by freezing all new business with Ottawa, expelling the Canadian ambassador, recalling all Saudi post-secondary students studying in Canada, and cancelling all state flights between Canada and Saudi Arabia.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stood behind his governments decision to speak out about human rights abuses overseas.

The Ottawa-Riyadh tensions initially broke out earlier this month after the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh tweeted that it was "gravely concerned" over a spike in the arrests of human rights campaigners in the kingdom and called on "Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #human rights activists."

The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Ottawa is shown on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)

That would hold true "even when we are told to mind our own business, or that matters such as these should only be discussed in private, between leaders, behind closed doors. And even when speaking up brings consequences," Freeland further said, but did not specifically mention Saudi Arabia in her address.

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