Toronto: Despite strong protests from pro-Khalistan groups, amplified by Canadian media, Ottawa has not contradicted the statement made by a senior official on Wednesday that Indian was no longer involved in interference in the country’s affairs or in targeted violence.
A statement from the Canadian prime minister’s office, cited by the outlet Globe and Mail, said, “Canada will continue to take measures to combat any forms of transnational repression, transnational organised crime, and any contravention of the Criminal Code or rule of law on Canadian soil.” It also alluded to the ongoing security and law and order dialogue with India.
Speaking to the outlet CBC News, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand also did not reject the comments made by an unnamed official during a background briefing prior to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s departure for his first bilateral visit to India. Without rejecting that statement, she said, “We are raising the issues relating to public safety and security and will do that in this trip.”
Anand is accompanying Carney on the visit, along with three of her Cabinet colleagues. Carney is scheduled to land in Mumbai on Friday afternoon.
Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandsangaree told reporters there were “outstanding issues” with India to “work through”.
“There’s still a lot more work to do, and we will do that work,” he added, without repeating or refuting the official’s remarks.
During the briefing on Wednesday, the unnamed official said, “I really don’t think we’d be taking this trip if we thought these kind of activities were continuing.”
“We have a mature, robust discussion with the Government of India on these issues, and we have robust safeguards in place to avoid foreign interference,” the official added.
However, Liberal Party MP Sukh Dhaliwal denounced the official’s statement “downplaying India’s transnational repression” saying it contradicted assessments by Canadian agencies. “This matter must be addressed, and the individual’s conduct and suitability for their role must be reviewed,” he said, in a post on X. Dhaliwal had also opposed Carney’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis in June last year.
Challenging his statement, the community groups Hindu Canadian Foundation said, “When an MP shows greater concern for the imagined concept of land than for their actual responsibilities to Canada and Canadian citizens, it raises serious questions about whose interests they truly serve.”
In October last year, a government task force monitoring the April 2024 Federal election in Canada kept tabs on potential foreign interference by India, no incident of that nature was mentioned in its report released on Thursday. However, China and Russia were cited as having attempted to interfere in the poll.
The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force or SITE TF “actively monitored for potential foreign interference related activities by the Government of India during GE45 (45th General Election).” However, no incident was mentioned in that regard.
Canada and India commenced a security and law and order dialogue last year when National Security and Intelligence Adviser Nathalie Drouin visited New Delhi. Earlier this month, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval traveled to Ottawa where he met Drouin as well as Anandasangaree.
However, pro-Khalistan radicals in Canada have opposed the statement claiming such activity continues.
The final report of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, headed by Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, released in January last year, stated, “India is the second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada. Like the PRC (People’s Republic of China), India is a critical actor on the world stage.”
However, it noted India perceived that Canada did not take India’s national security concerns about Khalistani separatism “sufficiently seriously”.
Relations between India and Canada cratered when then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in the House of Commons on September 18, 2023, that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier. India had described those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
Things changed once Carney replaced Trudeau as PM in March 2025. The reset came after the Liberals returned to power in the April 2024 Federal election he invited Modi to the G7 Leaders’ Summit where they agreed to reinstate High Commissioners in the two capitals. They met again on the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg in November and agreed to launch fresh negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. When they meet in India this time, it will be third bilateral engagement in less than ten months.