Canada is not ruling out expelling more diplomats from India, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly suggested Friday, following major allegations that Indian diplomats in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver were involved in violence supported by their government targeting Canadian citizens.
Canada expelled the Indian high commissioner and five other diplomats on Monday. Questioned Friday during a press conference in Montreal on the possibility of future expulsions, Mme Joly didn’t say no.
“They are clearly warned,” she said.
The minister affirmed that Canada will not tolerate any foreign diplomat who endangers the lives of Canadians.
A year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had clear evidence that Indian agents were linked to the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023. The allegations suggest India is trying to stifle a movement which aims to create an independent Sikh state in India, known as Khalistan.
At a press conference Monday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme further shook diplomatic relations, saying the national police had launched a special unit last February to investigate multiple cases of extortion, coercion and violence, including murder, linked to agents of the Indian government.
In more than a dozen cases, Canadian citizens were warned of threats to their safety and Duheme said the RCMP took action to try to disrupt what they considered to be a serious threat to public safety. .
The six expelled diplomats are persons of interest in these cases, who allegedly used their position to gather information on Canadian members of the pro-Khalistan movement and then pass it on to criminal gangs who directly targeted these individuals.
India denied the allegations and expelled six Canadian diplomats from New Delhi after Canada’s decision to expel the Indian high commissioner and five other diplomats.
“We had to remain firm”
Minister Joly indicated on Friday that these allegations were extraordinary in Canada.
“This level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil,” she said. We saw it elsewhere in Europe, Russia did it in Germany and the UK, but we had to stand firm on this issue. »
The allegations will be further investigated by the House of Commons national security committee after a committee vote on Friday. Mme Joly and Mr. Duheme will both be invited to appear, as will the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc.
NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, who introduced the motion to launch the study, said the fact that the RCMP made such “explosive revelations” underscores the seriousness of the situation.
“The RCMP emphasized that they were doing this because some people in Canada had their lives directly in danger and the threat had reached such a level that they felt compelled to ignore the traditional way of going through the legal process and to make these accusations public.
Canada’s allegations were followed Thursday by charges announced by the U.S. Department of Justice against an Indian government employee accused of a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York.
US authorities say Vikash Yadav led the New York plot from India. He faces charges of premeditated murder via hitman that prosecutors say must have preceded a series of other politically motivated killings in the United States and Canada.
The Indian government did not immediately comment on the US accusation.
American-Canadian lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who has dual Canadian and American citizenship, said in a statement that he was the target of the alleged murder plot in New York. He said he was being targeted because he is a lawyer for Sikhs for Justice and was helping organize votes in a non-binding referendum on the creation of an independent Sikh state.
Mr. Nijjar had helped organize a similar referendum in British Columbia before his death.
The House committee also voted Friday to call Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and other candidates in the 2022 Conservative leadership race to testify. A report released in June by the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence (CPSNR) contains a redacted paragraph that details India’s alleged interference in a Conservative Party leadership race. A specific year is not mentioned.
The Conservatives indicated that they had not received any information about such interference.
Debate over security clearances
MPs are also debating a second NDP motion that calls for all party leaders to request top-secret security clearance within 30 days and demands that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau disclose the names in secret documents on parliamentarians allegedly involved or at risk of being involved in foreign interference.
At the inquiry into foreign interference this week, Mr. Trudeau claimed that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had refused to obtain permission to see the names of Conservatives in these documents, while Mr. Poilievre accused the Prime Minister to lie and demanded that he make all the names public.
Prime Minister Trudeau acknowledged that the documents included the names of members of other parties, including the Liberals, but said that if Mr. Poilievre does not get the necessary authorization to know who is in danger, he will not could take no action to prevent or limit the impact.
Manitoba Conservative MP Raquel Dancho told the committee that Mr. Poilievre getting a briefing would be a “gag order” against any criticism of the government over foreign interference.
“We can put an end to this matter, it’s quickly turning into a sort of McCarthy-style witch hunt because of the Prime Minister’s actions and we could clarify the situation today by publishing the names,” said Mr.me Dancho.
