Trudeau says Canadian police went public with Indian diplomat allegations to prevent more violence

TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that Canada's national police force went public with its allegations against Indian diplomats this week because it had to disrupt violent acts in Canada including drive-by-shootings, extortions and even murder.

The Royal Canadian Police said Monday it had identified India's top diplomat in the country and five other diplomats as persons of interest in the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The RCMP also said they uncovered evidence of an intensifying campaign against Canadians by agents of the Indian government.

“We are not looking to provoke or create a fight with India," Trudeau said. "The Indian government made a horrific mistake in thinking that they could interfere as aggressively as they did in the safety and sovereignty of Canada. We need to respond in order to ensure Canadians safety.”

Niijar's killing has strained bilateral relations between India and Canada for over a year and boiled over this week as the countries expelled each other's top diplomats over those allegations and other alleged crimes in Canada.

Trudeau said he has tried not to “blow up” relations with India and that Canadian officials provided evidence privately with their Indian counterparts who, he said, have been uncooperative.

“The decision by the RCMP to go forward with that announcement was entirely anchored in public safety and a goal of disrupting the chain of activities that was resulting in drive by shootings, home invasions, violent extortion and even murder in and across Canada," Trudeau said while testifying Wednesday before the Foreign Interference Commission in Ottawa.

Trudeau said Indian diplomats have been passing information about Canadians to the highest levels of the Indian government which was then shared with organized crime, resulting in violence against Canadians.

“It was the RCMP's determination that that scheme needed to be disrupted," he said.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said Monday police have evidence allegedly tying Indian government agents to other homicides and violent acts in Canada. He declined to provide specifics, citing ongoing investigations, but he said there have been well over a dozen credible and imminent threats that have resulted in police warning members of the South Asian community, notably the pro-Khalistan, or Sikh independence, movement.

Trudeau said India has violated Canada’s sovereignty. India has rejected the accusations as absurd.

In response to Trudeau’s testimony at the inquiry, India’s foreign ministry claimed again that Canada has not provided evidence of the allegations. In a statement, the ministry blamed Trudeau for “the damage that this cavalier behavior has caused to India-Canada relations.”

India has repeatedly criticized Trudeau’s government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who live in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck after he left the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.

Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Niijar’s murder and are awaiting trial.

Trudeau noted his government could have gone public with the allegations when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the G20 Summit in September 2023, but chose not to. He met with Modi and expressed concerns privately then.

“It was a big moment for India welcoming all the leaders of the world to New Delhi for a very important summit and we had the opportunity of making it a very uncomfortable summit for India if we went public with these allegations ahead of time," said Trudeau. “We chose to continue to work with India behind the scenes to try and get India to cooperate with us.”

Trudeau said that when he returned home India's response, particularly through the media, was to attack Canada.

Trudeau later went public in Parliament with the allegation that the Indian government might have been involved in Niijar’s killing. He said there were about to be media stories detailing the allegation of India's possible involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh on Canadian soil. He said he went public because of worries about public safety.

Canada’s foreign minister on Monday said violence in Canada has worsened since then.

The British government said India should cooperate with Canada’s investigation into accusations that its government has been involved in an escalating number of violent crimes in Canada. In a statement, the British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said India's cooperation with Canada’s legal process “is the right next step.”

A U.S. State Department spokesman told a news conference Tuesday that the U.S. had long been asking India to cooperate with Canadian authorities.