(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian diplomats of backing a pattern of criminal harassment and violence against Canadians, escalating a dispute that began last year when he suggested Indian agents were involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist in British Columbia.
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Canada expelled six officials earlier on Monday after it said India refused to waive their diplomatic immunity for questioning over what Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly called “a number of violent incidents” targeting Canada’s South Asian community, particularly Sikhs. Denying involvement, India has rebuked Canada and expelled six of its senior diplomats.
At a press conference in Ottawa, Trudeau laid out the crux of the Canadian government’s case against India. Hours earlier, on the morning of Canada’s Thanksgiving public holiday, the Royal Mounted Canadian Police held an extraordinary briefing to share the fresh allegations implicating Indian government agents with the public.
“It is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts,” Trudeau said.
The widening rupture between Canada and India could have implications on trade, immigration and other links between the two countries, particularly if the dispute leads to tit-for-tat sanctions or other retaliatory actions. Asked if sanctions or other measures beyond expelling officials were being considered, Joly said “everything is on the table.”
Trudeau and Joly said they had been in touch with their Indian counterparts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Joly added she was also in contact with the foreign ministers of Canada’s Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies, the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. US prosecutors in a separate case have accused an Indian government agent of directing a thwarted plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist and US citizen on American soil.
Trudeau said Canadian officials and agencies have tried to work with India’s government, but its response has been “to deny, to obfuscate, to attack me personally and the integrity of the government of Canada.”
Joly said that the “sitting diplomats” were involved in violent acts that increased after Trudeau’s allegation of India’s possible involvement in the June 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an activist in the movement for an independent state called Khalistan for Sikhs in the Punjab region. India considered him a terrorist.
Canadian officials said they will continue to support business ties in India even as they called for a respect for the country’s laws.
“Canada stands firmly by its businesses,” the country’s minister for export promotion, international trade and economic development said in a post on X. “We will work closely with all Canadian enterprises engaged with India to ensure these important economic connections remain strong.”
Trade between Canada and India stood at $8.4 billion in the Indian fiscal year ended in March, with Canada being a major supplier to India of potash, a fertilizer critical to India’s agricultural sector, as well as pulses, timber and mining products. India supplies Canada with pharmaceuticals, gems and jewelery, textiles, and machinery. It’s also a significant source of foreign students to Canada, with an estimated 427,000 Indian students studying there.
After Trudeau first accused the Modi government of involvement in the Nijjar murder last year, visas for Indian students to Canada were temporarily halted.
Still, the trade relationship between the two nations is a fraction of that between India and the US, which was $119.7 billion in the last fiscal year. Canadian investments represented less than 1% of total foreign direct investment into India.
Indian government representatives in Ottawa and Vancouver didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. On Monday, India rejected Canada’s claims and said they were politically motivated by Trudeau, accusing his government of baselessly targeting Indian officials and endangering their safety.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
–With assistance from Ruchi Bhatia.
(Updates with details on Canada-India trade starting in ninth paragraph)
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