Canada says India no longer linked to violent crime ahead of Carney trip
ReutersCanada says it believes India is not currently linked to violent crimes or threats on Canadian soil — a shift in tone after accusing New Delhi of carrying out an extrajudicial killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada in 2023.
"I think we could say we're confident that that activity is not continuing," a senior government official told reporters on Wednesday.
Some members of Canada's Sikh community reject that assessment, calling it "absolute fiction" and alleging that they continue to face threats from India. India has repeatedly denied any involvement in transnational repression.
The remarks come ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's trip to India, where he is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, a senior Canadian government official said conversations have been ongoing between Canada and India regarding foreign interference and national security issues.
The official described these conversations as "robust" and said that Canada has put in place measures "to avoid interference in our processes".
"If we believed that the government of India was actively interfering in any democratic process, we probably would not be taking this trip," said the senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in a briefing to reporters ahead of Prime Minister Carney's visit to India.
Relations between the two countries were strained after former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of being behind the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was shot and killed in Surrey, British Columbia in June 2023.
Nijjar was designated a terrorist by the Indian government in 2020. India, however, has strongly rejected the allegations that it was behind his death, calling them "absurd".
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in Canada in connection to Nijjar's murder and are in custody pending their trial.
Under Carney, and amid tariff pressure from its largest trade partner the US, Canada has since been working to restore ties with India.
Carney invited Modi to the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta last year, where the two met on the sidelines. Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand later met with her counterpart in India in October.
Both countries have signalled that they are looking for a reset in relations with hopes of eventually signing a comprehensive trade deal.
Carney's re-engagement with India has been criticised by some members of the Sikh community in Canada, who say they continue to be targeted.
"We are seeing in front of us multiple indications that the transnational oppression that's being directed by the government of India is ongoing," Balpreet Singh, a spokesperson of the Canada-based World Sikh Organisation, told the BBC on Thursday.
A prominent Sikh activist in Vancouver, Moninder Singh, has told Canadian media this week that he has received a warning of a "credible threat" to his life from local police in recent days.
Balpreet Singh criticised the Carney government for not taking these threats seriously. "It feels like we're second class citizens," he said, adding that he believes the Canadian government is putting its economic interests above "the rule of law".
In their briefing to reporters, senior government officials said they believe having a relationship with India "at the highest level" will help the two countries engage effectively on national security issues.
Carney is scheduled to depart for India on Friday and will make stops in Mumbai and New Delhi, where he will meet with Modi.
His office has said the trip will focus on investment and trade, adding that it is in line with Carney's goal of doubling Canada's non-US exports by the next decade.
