Canada has expelled India’s top diplomat and five others, citing evidence of their involvement in the assassination of a Sikh activist and alleging a broader campaign against Canadian citizens by Indian government agents.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the expulsion of the Indian high commissioner and five other diplomats on Monday, escalating a dispute that began with the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia.
“We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil,” Trudeau stated. He accused Indian diplomats of gathering information about Canadians and passing it to organized crime groups for attacks.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had gathered “ample, clear and concrete evidence” implicating six individuals as persons of interest in Nijjar’s case. Joly said India had refused to waive diplomatic immunity for these individuals or cooperate with the investigation.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme indicated that police have evidence linking Indian government agents to other homicides and violent acts in Canada. He noted an increase in credible threats against members of the South Asian community, particularly those involved in the Sikh independence movement.
India has vehemently rejected these accusations as “absurd” and retaliated by expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats, ordering them to leave by Saturday.
Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh activist and leader in the Khalistan movement for an independent Sikh homeland, was fatally shot in his pickup truck after leaving a Sikh temple in Surrey. India had designated Nijjar a terrorist in 2020 and was seeking his arrest at the time of his death.
The dispute has further strained already tense relations between Canada and India. Last year, India demanded that Canada remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country following similar allegations.
The Indian foreign ministry summoned Canada’s top diplomat in New Delhi, calling the targeting of Indian diplomats “completely unacceptable.” India warned of potential further steps in response to what it termed the Trudeau government’s “support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”
As the diplomatic crisis unfolds, the United States State Department announced that an Indian inquiry committee investigating a separate plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York would visit Washington to discuss the case.
