RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme departs at the end of a news conference at RCMP National Headquarters in Ottawa on Oct. 14. The RCMP allegations describe 'criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians.'Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
The Government of Canada alleges that the Government of India knew and approved of grave criminal acts committed by their diplomats in Canada. Countries have gone to war over less.
But the allegations are also a tragedy. Canada and India should be drawing closer together – over issues of immigration, trade and collective security. Instead, relations are dangerously close to a complete breakdown.
The RCMP allegations released Monday describe “criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians,” including “links tying agents of the Government of India to homicides and violent acts.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that those acts included the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June of last year. And he accused the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of knowing about and supporting those acts.
“The Government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians,” Mr. Trudeau said at a press conference. He declared, ”We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada’s sovereignty and of international law.”
Any democratic government, once informed of such grave accusations by another democratic government, would normally promise and provide full co-operation.
Instead, the Indian government issued a statement on Monday that said: “The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centered around vote bank politics.”
So, the Government of India, when confronted with evidence gathered by Canadian police of complicity by Indian officials in criminal acts committed in Canada, responded with counterallegations that could only be true if the Canadian police and government were both completely corrupt and Canadian democracy a sham. The Indian response is the ultimate in gaslighting.
The result of all this: the mutual expulsion of the most senior diplomats representing their country in both Canada and India, and a near total breach in relations between two countries that are supposed to be friends, and on some issues, even allies. This is simply unprecedented.
New Delhi is taking a much more respectful response to allegations by the United States that an Indian official was involved in an attempted murder of a Sikh activist. An Indian committee investigating the allegation will arrive in Washington this week.
It would seem that Canada is the weak kid in the playground being bullied by someone who is, at the same time, being very careful not to offend an even bigger kid.
Yes, it is suspicious that this bombshell landed on Thanksgiving weekend, even as news outlets are reporting that Mr. Trudeau is facing a possible backbench revolt. He will also soon be testifying at the inquiry into foreign interference in Canada.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre claimed Monday that, “for nine years the Liberal government has failed to keep our people safe or to take national security and foreign interference seriously. Because of that, Canada has become a playground for these activities.” There may be truth in that.
It may also be true that Canadian governments have, for partisan political reasons, turned a blind eye to actions by Sikh extremists in Canada.
But let’s not take our eyes off the ball, because it is such a ball. Our government alleges that, with the knowledge of their government, India’s High Commissioner to Canada and other diplomats participated in grave criminal acts, including homicide, extortion and intimidation. You might expect Canada to accuse Russia or China or Iran of such things. But India? India?
That country is by far the largest source of permanent residents to Canada. Canada and India have worked together to advance the cause of human rights, including the fight against apartheid, within the Commonwealth.
They have a joint interest in promoting economic and security co-operation within the Indo-Pacific region and in containing Chinese efforts to dominate that region.
Mr. Trudeau and his Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper, both sought improved relations with India, including a free-trade agreement. But the trade talks were moribund even before Mr. Trudeau first accused Indian officials of possible complicity in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death. Now everything lies in ruins.
Somewhere down the road, Canada and India may be able to repair their relationship. But that won’t happen until India starts acting like the responsible democracy it claims to be.