OTTAWA-
Russia’s recent complaints that its embassy in Ottawa was blockaded by protesters and attacked with a Molotov cocktail shed light on the difficult balance Canada faces in protecting diplomatic missions.
“We have an unquestionable responsibility,” said Roy Norton, who served as Canada’s chief of protocol from 2016 to 2019, overseeing the security of diplomatic missions within Canada.
“We take it seriously, we honor it and we hope others abroad will honor it,” he said.
In September, Russia summoned Canada’s ambassador to Moscow over concerns that officials in Ottawa were not taking complaints about security incidents at the embassy seriously.
That includes apparent security camera footage, which the embassy posted on Twitter, showing an unidentified person throwing what the embassy says was a lit Molotov cocktail over the fence. The RCMP said earlier this month that it is investigating the incident.
The embassy also complained that a mid-September protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prevented people from accessing consular services, even as Ottawa police looked on.
The RCMP and the Ottawa Police Service declined interview requests.
The embassy has asked Ottawa to provide 24/7 security, which Norton says is a common request.
“I wouldn’t say the embassies exaggerate their fears, but they will naturally err on the side of caution,” Norton said.
Under the 1961 Vienna Convention, countries incur an obligation to protect diplomats when they formally accept ambassadors from foreign states.
In accepting an ambassador, the host country “will treat him with due respect and will take all appropriate measures to prevent any attack on his person, liberty or dignity,” the convention says.
That includes protecting the embassy premises and the ambassador’s private residence “against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace.”
Norton said those terms are up to interpretation.
For example, Canadian law enforcement will only intervene in protests that pose a real risk of violence. But the Chinese embassy in Ottawa often views human rights protesters as hostile, she said. That embassy did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
The Israeli embassy says it will often contact Canadian officials when events in the Middle East are most likely to produce a threat to the security of its staff abroad.
Norton said that’s a normal cycle that Canadian diplomats abroad will also take advantage of.
Earlier in his career, he was posted to the Canadian missions in Washington, DC, Detroit and Chicago. He was working in Chicago on October 22, 2014, the day a gunman killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa and stormed Parliament Hill.
Norton recalled calling Chicago police after the attack to see if additional protection was possible, not knowing at first whether it was an isolated incident or a broader attack on Canadian officials. Police stationed an officer in the lobby of the Chicago consulate office building during the day, Norton said.
Robert Collette, who served as Canada’s chief of protocol from 2003 to 2005, said he was in regular contact with Manila officials when he was ambassador to the Philippines.
In either 2002 or 2003, he was warned by local officials that Canada was among a handful of embassies targeted by bomb threats, he said. After consulting with officials from Ottawa and the Philippines, the embassy closed for a month, with diplomats working from home and operating its immigration section from a hotel.
Collette still carried on with her work and was driven around Manila in an official car that had a Canadian flag on it to show that the country still had a presence. The Philippine government provided an officer to follow him 24/7.
Back in Canada, Collette recalled working with the Americans shortly after they opened a new embassy in Ottawa in 1999, an installation that included bollards that took up part of the sidewalk outside.
After 9/11, the embassy successfully lobbied to temporarily restrict traffic on Sussex Drive outside the embassy.
In Ottawa, Global Affairs Canada has teams that liaise with diplomatic missions in Ottawa and Gatineau, Norton said.
They check to see if embassies feel they have adequate security and if there are upcoming days that might merit more police resources, such as certain holidays or anniversaries of difficult events.
Staff also make their own suggestions based on Canadian intelligence, such as when they feel a crackdown abroad is likely to draw a diaspora group in Canada en masse to an embassy or consulate. The two municipalities also notify the department of permits issued for demonstrations near the embassies.
Norton said the RCMP ultimately makes the decision, with the help of CSIS, on how to offer protection. That may mean a Mountie following an ambassador 24 hours a day for a set period, or the RCMP parking a car outside the mission for a few days.
“It is a huge expense; there are three shifts a day and there are about 130 missions in Ottawa. So it’s risk management,” Norton said.
More often than not, the RCMP will simply increase the number of times per day they pass in front of an embassy.
Norton said that poorer and less stable countries often have large police forces that can permanently monitor foreign embassies.
“There are fewer things happening in Ottawa than in Ouagadougou, so we can apply fewer resources,” he said, referring to the Burkina Faso capital.
Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat, says that can be an attraction.
“Ambassadors with families love coming here, because they don’t have to live behind gates with private security,” Robertson said.
Real attacks on diplomatic personnel in Canada are rare, but not unheard of.
In 1982, an Armenian militant group assassinated Turkish military attaché Atilla Altikat on an avenue west of Parliament Hill.
In 1970, Quebec separatists kidnapped British diplomat James Cross in Montreal and held him hostage for two months.
Experts said that all countries generally go to great lengths to protect foreign diplomats and missions, even if the two countries are in a protracted conflict.
“The RCMP and CSIS are always extremely conscientious and careful to provide the best possible protection, under any circumstances,” Collette said, whether or not Canada agrees with the other country’s actions, such as Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.
“We protect the best we can, because we also want our diplomats and foreign ministries in other countries to receive the same protection and treatment.”
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 2, 2022.