OTTAWA — Canada has expelled India's high commissioner and five envoys after Canada's national police revealed they have evidence linking members of India’s government to multiple homicides and other violent acts on Canadian soil.
In response, India said it is withdrawing its top diplomat in Canada and announced plans to expel six Canadian diplomats.
The RCMP said it does not normally disclose such information while investigations are underway, but this constitutes a “significant threat to public safety” in the country, specifically to members of the Khalistan political movement, with more than a dozen “credible, imminent” threats to people’s lives.
“We felt it was imperative to confront the government of India and inform the public about some very serious findings uncovered through our investigations,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme said during a news conference Monday.
“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,” he said.
RCMP, however, provided few details about these violent acts, diplomatic involvement in criminal acts, and threats to life and public safety.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement Monday that Canada’s Acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert and four other diplomats must leave the country by 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 19.
The foreign ministry statement said India “reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau Government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”
Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn had recently tried but failed to meet with top Indian law enforcement to present evidence of Indian government agents involved in serious criminal activity.
Last fall, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shocked the nation when he revealed in Parliament that Canada had uncovered evidence that agents of India may have been involved in the killing of Sikh Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in June 2023 near a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
Bilateral relations spiraled and while tensions began to ease, they never truly recovered and are now once again bottoming out over foreign interference.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said Monday that the decision to expel the diplomats was based on “ample, clear and concrete evidence” that identified six individuals of interest to the Nijjar case.
Activities by Khalistani activists in Canada have long been a concern to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Duheme said police have charged a significant number of people involved in homicides and other criminal acts such as extortion during the past few years. He said the government held internal discussions about lifting diplomatic immunity so police could interview officials believed to be involved but they “were not successful in doing so.”
Duheme also said police have uncovered evidence of Indian interference into Canada’s democratic processes.
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