Canada–Sweden relations
Map indicating locations of Canada and Sweden

Canada
Sweden
Envoy
Canadian Ambassador to Sweden Jason LaTorreSwedish Ambassador to Canada Urban Ahlin

Canada–Sweden relations are the interstate relations between Canada and the Kingdom of Sweden. They are founding members of the Arctic Council and have positive cultural and economic relations.[1] In addition, there are more than 300,000 Canadians of Swedish descent.[2] The relationship is backed with many mutual treaties, and sees moderate foreign direct investment and trade. One notable commonality for both Canada and Sweden are their commitments to feminist foreign policy.

History and Notable Events

Canadian diplomatic relations with Sweden were initiated by Canada in 1944, with a Canadian legation appointed in 1947. In 1949, an envoy was established, which was raised to status as ambassador status in 1956.[3]

One driver of positive relations are a 330,000 person population in Canada of Swedish descent, especially in the Canadian prairie provinces, Yukon territory and British Columbia.

Shared Organizational Membership

Both developed Western countries, Sweden and Canada have significant overlap in organizational membership. Both are full members of the Arctic Council.[1] Both have ratified membership and were founding members of the OECD.[4] Canada and Sweden shared non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council in 1958. Canada is a full member of NATO, while Sweden is currently seeking membership. Canada was the first country to ratify Sweden's ascension into NATO.[5]

Economic Relations

Significant trade relations exist between the two countries. Canada imported $2 billion dollars of Swedish goods in 2020, and exported $0.4 billion, both slightly down from recent years. Foreign direct investment from Sweden into Canada was $2.3 billion in 2020 and Canadian investment in Sweden the same year was $7.6 billion. Major Swedish exports to Canada include chemical products, machinery and electronic equipment, while Canadian exports to Sweden are driven by mineral products, and machinery and electronics,[6][7]

Swedish suppliers have recently been a subject of interest in the Canadian national security context. Through the early 2020s, Canada is considering whether to permit Chinese technology company Huawei to provide 5G cellular services in Canada. Swedish company Ericsson is often posited as the main alternative technology provider in the case of a ban, and was selected by all three major Canadian telecom companies as their technology provider.[8][9][10] After a cancellation of a single-bid contract made by a former Prime Minister, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched a new procurement process.[11][12] In the bid to replace Canada's CF-18 fleet, Swedish aerospace company Saab's Gripen fighter was one of three long-listed fighters for replacement, and remains one of two fighters under final consideration, alongside American aerospace conglomerate Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II.[13]

Diplomatic Relations

Canada—Sweden relations could be characterized as warm based on frequent joint statements and bilateral meetings of a co-operative nature.[14] In 2006, the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper received King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden in Ottawa, Canada's capital.[15] In 2021, Canadian minister of International Trade, the Honourable Mary Ng had a meeting with Swedish minister of Foreign Trade, Anna Hallberg.

A 7 story concrete building stands in a street in winter. The building is pale and unadorned. Small windows form rows on each floor. The bottom level has commercial spaces and a small transit station and a church steeple are also in frame.
Canada's Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
A three storey building of dark red brick stands in front of larger residential buildings. On the corner of the building at an intersection, a small tower one storey higher has a clock tower, and a copper statue on top of a copper dome
The Swedish embassy in Ottawa, Canada

Canada has an embassy in Stockholm and honorary consulates in Göteborg and Malmö. Sweden has an embassy in Ottawa and honorary consulates in Calgary, Edmonton, Fredericton, Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, Regina, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Canadians and Swedes were both affected by the Iranian downing of Flight PS752, and joined together with the United Kingdom and Ukraine in a joint statement calling on the Iranian government to allow access to international investigators after initial findings by Iranian officials were inconclusive as to the cause of the crash.[16]

Canada and Sweden share a tax treaty[17] and an extradition treaty,[18] among 39 others, including social security, visas, air services and commercial matters. Canada's trade relationship with Sweden is predominantly governed by the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.[19]

On a municipal level, at least two Canadian and Swedish cities are twinned. The Swedish city of Leksand is paired with the Canadian city of Aurora, Ontario, and the Canadian city of Saskatoon is paired with the Swedish city of Umeå.

Cultural and Other Relationships

Both countries have interdisciplinary research programs studying each other's cultural groups. Canada has Scandinavian studies at at least four universities, with Swedish focuses at the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia, and University of Toronto.[20] Sweden has Canadian studies courses available at Stockholm University.[21]

Both countries are seen as having feminist foreign policy, with Sweden being the earliest adopter, and Canada following soon after, both countries bolstering feminist movements and programs geared to women abroad.[22] Both countries have been criticized for arms sales to Saudi Arabia, whose government has non-feminist tendencies. Sweden cancelled a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia in 2016, but weapons have since been reported as being have used in the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present), in which the Saudi Arabian backed Cabinet of Yemen which have fought the Houthis alongside Saudi forces and air support[23][24][25][26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Canada-Sweden Relations". Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
  2. ↑ "Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories". Archived from the original on 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
  3. ↑ "A Guide to Canadian Diplomatic Relations 1925-2019". Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  4. ↑ "List of OECD Member countries - Ratification of the Convention on the OECD". www.oecd.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  5. ↑ Aiello, Rachel (5 July 2022). "Canada is the first country to ratify Finland and Sweden's accession to join NATO". CTV News. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  6. ↑ Canada, Global Affairs (2020-01-27). "Canada-Sweden fact sheet". GAC. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  7. ↑ "Canadian Trade and Investment Activity: Canada–Sweden". lop.parl.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  8. ↑ Bronskill, Jim. "With Canada set to announce 5G networks policy, what will it do about Huawei?".
  9. ↑ "Canadian telcos tap Ericsson, Nokia for 5G gear, ditching Huawei". Reuters. 2020-06-02. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  10. ↑ "Rogers Canada selects Ericsson 5G". www.ericsson.com. 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  11. ↑ Leblanc, Daniel (2010-06-11). "Harper bending to U.S. on sole-source fighter purchase, documents reveal". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  12. ↑ Tasker, John Paul (2019). "Ottawa formally asks companies to make their pitches to replace CF-18 jets". CBC News.
  13. ↑ "Boeing is out of the running to replace Canada's fighter jet fleet - National | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  14. ↑ Government of Alberta. "Sweden - Alberta Relations" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-10-25.
  15. ↑ Canada, Employment and Social Development (2006-10-23). "Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mrs. Laureen Harper to Meet with Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  16. ↑ Canada, Global Affairs (2021-12-16). "Joint statement from the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  17. ↑ "View Treaty - Canada.ca". www.treaty-accord.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  18. ↑ "View Treaty - Canada.ca". www.treaty-accord.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  19. ↑ "Search Results - Canada.ca". www.treaty-accord.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  20. ↑ "Scandinavian Studies". www.aassc.com. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  21. ↑ "Introduction to Canadian Studies from Nordic and Baltic perspectives - Stockholm University". www.su.se. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  22. ↑ Thompson, Lyric; Ahmed, Spogmay; Khokhar, Tanya (2021). "Defining Feminist Foreign Policy: A 2021 Update" (PDF). ICRW Publication Series.
  23. ↑ Chase, Steven (2016-05-17). "Despite Dion's rhetoric, Sweden says it hasn't suffered from cancelling Saudi arms deal". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  24. ↑ Prashad, Vijay (2019-09-04). "How can Sweden be a peace broker for the war in Yemen if it's also selling the arms that make it pos". Salon. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  25. ↑ "5 Years of Data on the Saudi-led Air War in Yemen". us16.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  26. ↑ Vucetic, Srdjan (2017). "A nation of feminist arms dealers? Canada and military exports". International Journal. 72 (4): 503–519. ISSN 0020-7020.
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