[6] In the same year, Canadian William Sampson was arrested by the Saudi government for complicity in a suicide bombing in Riyadh, while maintaining his innocence.

[7] Since 2006, a Canadian citizen Nathalie Morin is stuck in Saudi Arabia with an abusive husband, fighting to go back to Canada along with her four children.

Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women's rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi.

In response to Canada's criticism, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs published an official statement in which it "expressed disbelief" in the comments made by Freeland and the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh, which it considered to "not be based [on] any accurate or true information".

[24][25] As part of the economic sanctions, the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) advised that it would no longer accept wheat or barley of Canadian origin.

[26][27] In response to suggestions in the news media about the possibility of outside mediation, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on 8 August that his country would not engage in negotiations until Canada retracted its original statement calling for the release of human rights activists.

[29] In an interview with the CBC, Iyad el-Baghdadi, President of the Al-Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center (an NGO) made this prediction as to the future of the relationship between the two countries.

[33] Middle East expert Rex Brynen of McGill University predicted that negative short-term economic effects were possible, but that the strategy would "mostly hurt Saudi-owned firms".

The president of Cereals Canada said that barley trade especially would be affected since Saudi Arabia accounted for seven per cent of the annual exports; wheat sales were much more modest.

[35][36] The value of the Canadian dollar dropped slightly, but, on 8 August, it reached its highest level in over seven weeks due to data indicating economic growth and record high exports in recent months.

[37] The total impact of the Saudi sell-off on Canadian currency should be "ephemeral" according to Bipan Rai, executive director and North America Head of FX Strategy at CIBC Capital Markets.

[38] The 800 to 1000 medical trainees sponsored by Saudi Arabia, who were at the Resident and Fellow level, were providing direct care to Canadian patients at no cost to the healthcare system.

[39][40][41] A Saudi Arabian youth organization named "Infographic KSA" uploaded an image to Twitter on 6 August of a passenger plane flying towards the CN Tower in the skyline of Toronto.

[42] The Ministry of Culture and Information of Saudi Arabia launched an investigation into the incident and ordered the group to suspend its Twitter account.

"[44] On 8 August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that he refused to apologize for his country's involvement in promoting human rights, saying that "Canadians have always expected our government to speak strongly, firmly and politely about the need to respect human rights around the world" and that Canada will continue to "speak strongly, firmly and politely" about this issue.

[47] Baird was working as a consultant and has business interests in Saudi Arabia at the time he made the comments,[47] but in January 2015 while minister of foreign affairs in the Harper government, he had also protested Raif Badawi's case to the Saudis, specifically with Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a prominent member of the Saud family.

[48] A New Democratic Party member of Parliament, Charlie Angus called the appearance "stunning" and suggested that the ethics commissioner should investigate the incident.

[53] However, Qatar, a GCC member, distanced itself from the remarks made by Al Zayani and stated that his comments "do not reflect its opinion" while mentioning that it maintains cordial relations with Canada.

[54] Several countries indicated support for the measures taken by Saudi Arabia on 7 August, including the Palestinian Authority,[55] Jordan,[56] Djibouti,[57] Mauritania,[58] and Sudan.

[70] The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office urged restraint from both sides of the dispute and said that it had raised its concerns about the recent arrest of human rights defenders to the Saudi Arabian government.

[71] A Bloomberg article on 10 August cited an unnamed "senior U.S. official" as stating that unspecified persons were trying to do behind-the-scenes damage control.

In February 1991, Canada opened up a field hospital in Saudi Arabia in the north-eastern village of Qaisumah to treat both coalition and Iraqi troops.

[79] Both countries reached in an agreement in February 2014 under which Saudi Arabia would purchase C$15 billion worth of military equipment from Canada.

When Trudeau was confronted about the possibility of Saudi Arabia using the vehicles against its civilian population, he stated that he was obliged to respect the deal made by his predecessor.

[82] This deal immediately came under fire from numerous Canadian politicians and news outlets who believed that the vehicles may be misused by Saudi Arabia to commit human rights violations, particularly against its minority Shiite population.

In response, a letter dated 17 September was sent to Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by 39 human rights, arms-control and labor groups, urging to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

[84] On 1 March 2021, Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network wrote an open letter to the Canadian PM, urging the government to end its arms sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to the latter's role in Yemen war.