Justin Trudeau

The deteriorating India-Canada ties have hit another low, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his address to media on Monday (EDT - Eastern Daylight Time), claimed that India has made a “fundamental error” by allegedly engaging in “supporting criminal activities” in Canada.

Trudeau claimed that either of the alleged activities of murder or extortion were “against Canadians,” and is “absolutely unacceptable”.

However, continuing his address, Trudeau stressed that the upcoming meeting between the nations’ national security advisors in Singapore would be crucial for their bilateral ties. He has also claimed to have conveyed its importance to PM Narendra Modi in a brief conversation in Laos.

Trudeau claimed that he reached out to New Delhi over Canada’s cognisance of India’s “possible if not probable” presence behind the killing of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last summer. He added that he asked India to work with them to “fix this”.

He remarked over this incident, “We don’t want to be having this fight, but obviously the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil is not something that we can ignore as a country.”

Talking over the recent allegations against Indian diplomats by its Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Trudeau said, “When the RCMP reached out to its law enforcement counterparts in India, there was a path where we could have worked together to ensure accountability and changes and steps that would have resulted in keeping Canadians safe because that is our top priority.”

But these efforts, as Trudeau claims, were “rebuffed” by India.

In the presence of his cabinet ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Melanie Joly, Trudeau also highlighted India as a country with which it has “deep historical people-to-people business ties”.

Tensions, however, have escalated with Ottawa in the past week, as New Delhi responded to the allegations levied against it in a heated statement.

After the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats were labelled ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that it “strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government”.

The diplomatic ties further developed cracks as India withdrew its High Commissioner and other ‘targeted diplomats’ and officials from Canada. Alongside, it also expelled six Canadian diplomats, asking them to leave the nation by October 19.

India attributed it to Trudeau’s “continued hostility” towards the country.

India in its statement has alleged Canada of reserving evidence and asserting without any basis of facts, a trend which New Delhi alleges dates back to the allegations made by Trudeau in September 2023.

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