India's remaining diplomats on notice not to harm Canadians: Canada's foreign minister

That level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil. We've seen it elsewhere in Europe. Russia has done that in Germany and the UK and we needed to stand firm on this issue," she said in Montreal

Canada's foreign minister on Friday said India's remaining diplomats in the country are "clearly on notice" not to endanger Canadian lives after New Delhi's top envoy in Canada was named a person of interest in the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader. India's high commissioner was expelled on Monday along with five other diplomats, prompting Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly to compare India to Russia, saying Canada's national police force has linked Indian diplomats to homicides, death threats and intimidation in Canada. Joly said Canada won't tolerate foreign diplomats putting the lives of Canadians at risk. "We've never seen that in our history. That level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil. We've seen it elsewhere in Europe. Russia has done that in Germany and the UK and we needed to stand firm on this issue," she said in Montreal.

Asked if other Indian diplomats will be expelled, Joly said: "They are clearly on notice. Six of them have been expelled including the high commissioner in Ottawa. Others were mainly from Toronto and Vancouver and clearly we won't tolerate any diplomats that are in contravention of the Vienna convention." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public this week with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information along to Indian organised crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder. India has rejected the Canadian accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada's acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist, was shot and killed outside a cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023.

The Nijjar killing in Canada has soured India-Canada ties for more than a year, and despite Canada's assertion that it has forwarded evidence of its allegations to Indian authorities, the Indian government continues to deny it has seen any. India has repeatedly criticised the Canadian government for being soft on Khalistani supporters. Trudeau said Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined to him at a G-20 summit in India last year that he wanted Canada to arrest people who have been outspoken against the Indian government. Trudeau said he told Modi that he felt the actions fall within free speech in Canada. Trudeau added that he told Modi his government would work with India on concerns about terrorism, incitement of hate or anything that is unacceptable in Canada. But Trudeau also noted that advocating for separatism, though not Canadian government policy, is not illegal in Canada.

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