TORONTO — It was another proud moment for Canada: a Saudi teenager who had just been granted asylum walking through the arrivals gate at Toronto airport embraced by the country’s popular foreign minister.

Wearing a gray sweatshirt emblazoned with the word “Canada,” 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun smiled at the throng of cameras that greeted her. But she left it to Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland to do the talking.

The minister presented her as a “very brave new Canadian,” adding that the young woman — who spent the last week in a Bangkok airport hotel lobbying for her freedom — was tired and just wanted to “go to her new home.”

“Where we can save a single person, where we can save a single woman, that is a good thing to do,” said Ms. Freeland, who refused to answer repeated questions about how this decision will affect Canada’s already strained relationship with Saudi Arabia. “And I’d like to also emphasize, this is part of a broader Canadian policy of supporting women and girls in Canada and around the world.”