 Until August 2018, there were over 16,000 Saudi students on government scholarships in Canada.Relations between the two have gradually soured after a diplomatic row which was sparked by the Canadian government's call for the immediate release of blogger Raif Badawi and his sister Samar via Twitter on 5 August 2018 over human rights concerns.In response, Saudi Arabia accused Canada of interfering in its internal affairs and expelled the Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, declaring him persona non grata and giving him 48 hours to leave the country.