Canada does not rule out expelling other diplomats from India

Photo: Spencer Colby The Canadian Press Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly

David Baxter – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Posted at 18:50 Updated at 19:01

• Canada

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 government-sponsored violence targeting Canadian citizens.

Canada expelled India’s high commissioner and five other diplomats on Monday. Asked at a news conference in Montreal Friday whether more expulsions were possible, Joly wouldn’t say no.

“They’re clearly on notice,” she said.

The minister said Canada will not tolerate any foreign diplomat who puts the lives of Canadians at risk.

A year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had clear evidence that Indian agents were linked to the June 2023 killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. The allegations suggest India is trying to stifle a movement that seeks an independent Sikh state within India, known as Khalistan.

At a news conference Monday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme further rattled diplomatic relations, saying the national police launched a special unit last February to investigate multiple cases of extortion, coercion and violence, including murder, linked to government agents. indian.

In more than a dozen cases, Canadian citizens were warned of threats to their safety, and Duheme said the RCMP intervened to try to disrupt what they considered to be a serious threat to public safety.

The six expelled diplomats are persons of interest in the cases, who allegedly used their positions to gather information on Canadians who were members of the pro-Khalistan movement and then passed it on to criminal gangs that targeted those individuals directly.

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.

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Minister Joly said Friday that the allegations were extraordinary in Canada.

“This level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil,” she said. “We've seen it elsewhere in Europe, Russia has done it in Germany and the U.K., but we have to stand firm on this issue.”

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The allegations will be studied further by the House of Commons national security committee after a committee vote Friday. Both Joly and Duheme will be invited to appear, as will Public Safety Minister 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 stressed that they were doing this because there were people in Canada who had their lives in direct 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 making these charges public.”

Canada's allegations were followed on Thursday by charges announced by the U.S. Justice Department against an Indian government employee accused of a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York.

U.S. authorities say Vikash Yadav masterminded the New York plot from India. He faces charges of first-degree murder via contract killer that prosecutors say was intended to precede a series of other politically motivated killings in the United States and Canada.

The Indian government did not immediately comment on the U.S. charge.

Canadian-American lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who holds dual Canadian and U.S. citizenship, said in a statement that he was the target of the alleged New York murder plot. He added that he was targeted because he is a lawyer for Sikhs for Justice and was helping to 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 National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSIC) contains a redacted paragraph detailing alleged Indian interference in a Conservative leadership race. A specific year is not mentioned.

The Conservatives have said they have received no information about such interference.

Security clearance debate

MPs are also debating a second NDP motion that would require all party leaders to apply for top-secret security clearances within 30 days and require Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to release the names in secret documents about parliamentarians who are involved or at risk of being involved in foreign interference.

At the foreign interference inquiry this week, Trudeau said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre refused permission to see the names of Conservatives in the documents, while Poilievre accused the prime minister of lying and demanded 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 Poilievre If he did not obtain the necessary authorization to know who was in danger, he would not be able to take any measures to prevent or limit the impact.

Manitoba Conservative MP Raquel Dancho told the committee that 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, it’s quickly turning into a McCarthy witch hunt because of the prime minister’s actions, and we could clear the air today by releasing the names,” Dancho said.