Canada sought to avoid diplomatic brawl with India over RCMP probe, source says
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Canada attempted over the past week to avoid the kind of tit-for-tat diplomatic conflict it now finds itself engaged in with India, a senior federal government source told CBC News.
CBC News has agreed to keep the identity of the source confidential because they are not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared that Canada had served six Indian diplomats and consular officials with notices of expulsion in reaction to “a targeted campaign against Canadians by agents linked to the Government of India.”
India has denied the allegations. It quickly retaliated by ordering six Canadian diplomats to leave the country within a week.
Here’s a timeline of the recent events that have caused relations between the two countries to deteriorate even further.
Oct. 14: RCMP says Indian government agents pose public safety threat
During a news conference on Thanksgiving Monday, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme alleged links between agents of the Indian government and “widespread violence” in Canada, including homicides.
He said the Mounties have collected evidence showing that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies.
Duheme said “well over a dozen” credible and imminent threats have been directed at members of the Indian-Canadian community, specifically Sikh members of the pro-Khalistan movement.
Duheme told reporters the RCMP felt it had to come forward to disrupt networks working in Canada which he said pose a “significant threat to public safety in our country.”
Late Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference that his government had expelled six Indian diplomats because New Delhi had refused to co-operate with criminal investigations of alleged acts of violence and coercion linked to agents of the Indian government.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday his government expelled six Indian diplomats from Canada because New Delhi refused to co-operate in criminal investigations into alleged acts of violence and coercion linked to agents of the Indian government. ‘The government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil,’ he said.
“I think 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, it is absolutely unacceptable,” Trudeau said.
“Canada fully accepts and respects the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of India. We expect India to do the same. In this case, they did not.”
Oct. 12-13: RCMP, Indian delegations meet in Singapore
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn went to Singapore on Oct. 12 to meet with Indian government officials and get them to co-operate with the investigation, said a senior government source.
He joined Trudeau’s national security adviser Nathalie Drouin and deputy Foreign Affairs minister David Morrison, who were in the country to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national security adviser Ajit Doval.
India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunities and to co-operate in the investigation but “did not agree” to do so, says a statement from Global Affairs Canada.
Sources said that Indian officials asked for the meeting to remain confidential, with Canadian and Indian delegations agreeing to reconnect in 48 hours.
But as the Canadian delegation was on its way back to Ottawa, the Indian delegation leaked news of the meeting to Indian media and claimed that no police evidence was presented at the gathering, said a senior Canadian government source.
Oct. 11: Trudeau and Modi speak in Laos
Trudeau spoke with Modi on Oct. 11 at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos.
It was the second time the leaders had met since Trudeau publicly accused India in September 2023 of involvement in the assassination of Canadian citizen and Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar was gunned down outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. on June 18, 2023.
Trudeau wouldn’t reveal to reporters exactly what he said to Modi. He said he told India’s prime minister that “there is work that we need to do.”
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said there have been ‘well over a dozen’ credible threats to members of Canada’s South Asian community, specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement. India says the Trudeau government ‘has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada.’ Former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh and Balpreet Singh of the World Sikh Organization of Canada give their perspectives of how these issues affect diaspora communities inside Canada.
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