Vietnamese authorities had promised Ottawa they would not carry out the execution without letting Canada make its case. But then, to Ottawa's shock and surprise, Vietnam executed Nguyen. The federal government rightly has taken some diplomatic sanctions against the Vietnamese government, and says it is considering others. Ottawa is also right in pressing Vietnam to honour the request of Nguyen's family in Canada that Vietnam return her remains promptly and release her ailing mother, who had been a Canadian resident but not a citizen. Vietnam is a sovereign country and as such has jurisdiction when crimes are committed on its territory.
Nobody contests that.
And as a country that abhors the death penalty, Canada also was entitled to call for clemency on humanitarian grounds. Having spurned these overtures, the Vietnamese government does not deserve Canada's friendship.