Indian High Commission entrance is shown in Ottawa, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Accusations of widespread violent and criminal acts across Canada linked to agents of the government of India sparked an escalation of diplomatic tensions Monday, with each country expelling six diplomats.
Canada declared six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, persona non grata after RCMP and other government officials told India its diplomats were persons of interest in an investigation into violent crimes in Canada.
India swiftly retaliated by ordering six Canadian diplomats to leave the country within a week.
RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme told a news conference in Ottawa that the force decided to take the “extraordinary” step of warning the public after Indian government officials refused to co-operate in the investigation into the threats.
“It’s not our normal process to publicly disclose information about ongoing investigations in an effort to preserve their integrity,” Duheme told reporters. “However, we feel it is necessary to do so at this time due the significant threat to public safety in our country.”
Duheme said Canadian law enforcement, including the RCMP, have investigated and charged people in homicides, extortions and other criminal acts. He added there have been well over a dozen credible and imminent threats that have resulted in police warning members of the South Asian community, notably the pro-Khalistan movement.
The RCMP commissioner said investigations revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, including collecting information for the Government of India, either directly or through proxies.
“Evidence also shows that a wide variety of entities in Canada and abroad have been used by agents of the Government of India to collect information,” Duheme said, including some people and businesses that were allegedly coerced and threatened into providing information used to make threats.
In February 2024, a unit was formed to investigate the threats.
“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” Duheme said.
“Despite law enforcement action, the harm has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety.”
Duheme said the force felt compelled to confront the government of India and to inform the public about its findings, but attempts to have discussions with Indian law enforcement were unsuccessful, he added.
Canada asked New Delhi to waive diplomatic immunity for the Indian officials in Canada, which would have allowed RCMP to interview them, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement Monday.
When India refused, Canada expelled the diplomats.
New Delhi rejected the allegations, and called the Canadian government’s claims preposterous. The Ministry of External Affairs said it had been informed Sunday that the country’s Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in an ongoing investigation.
It claimed that since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made “certain allegations” in September 2023 pertaining to the Indian government, the Canadian government has not shared a “shred of evidence.”
That’s when Trudeau rose in the House of Commons to announce that investigators had credible intelligence linking India’s government to the shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan activist.
Relations between the two countries have been strained since.
The latest allegations set off a diplomatic escalation that saw Canada expel six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner. India had said earlier it was withdrawing its diplomats, but the Canadian official says India’s announcement came after Canada had declared high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other diplomats persona non grata.
Not long after, India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced in a release it has expelled six Canadian diplomats from the country, including Canada’s acting high commissioner.
“Canada has done what India has long been asking for,” Stewart Wheeler, Canada’s acting high commissioner in India, told local media in that country.
“Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
He and his colleagues have been given until next Saturday to leave India.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the RCMP’s allegations “extremely concerning,” and levied his own accusations at Trudeau and his government for not taking national security and foreign interference seriously.
“Because of that, Canada has become a playground for these activities,” Poilievre said in a statement Monday.
B.C. Premier David Eby, who is now in an election campaign, said Monday that he is “profoundly disturbed” by the RCMP’s revelations, which he called “unprecedented.”
He said he’s spoken with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and they’ve assured him that “those involved are held responsible.”
“Violent political acts shouldn’t take place here, and that’s why it’s so serious,” Eby said at a press conference.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2024.
– With files from Sidhartha Banerjee and Darryl Greer
