‘Clear indications’ India violated Canada’s sovereignty: PM Trudeau

• The prime minister’s accusation comes as India and Canada expelled each other’s envoys.
• He says the police determined violence against Canadians was allowed by the Indian government.
• Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday there were “clear indications” that India violated Canadian sovereignty as the countries spar over the killing of a Sikh man on Canadian soil last year that Ottawa blamed on New Delhi.

Trudeau’s latest accusation came two days after India and Canada expelled each other’s ambassadors as Ottawa claimed Indian involvement in a campaign against Sikh separatists went beyond what was previously known.

Tensions have flared since Canada accused the Indian government of involvement in last year’s killing outside a Sikh temple of Hardeep Singh Nijar, an advocate of an independent Sikh state who had immigrated to Canada and become a citizen.

In a hearing on foreign interference on Wednesday, Trudeau referred to Nijjar’s killing, as well as a broader campaign by Indian government agents targeting Canadian citizens inside Canada.

“We had clear and certainly now increasingly clear indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty,” Trudeau told the inquiry.

He added that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had determined that “violence against Canadians […] it has been permitted and in many cases directed by the Indian Government’.

Trudeau said that when Ottawa presented these accusations to New Delhi, “the Indian response to these allegations and to our investigations was to redouble their attacks on this government […] but also to arbitrarily expel dozens of Canadian diplomats from India for no reason at all.”

Trudeau told the inquiry on Wednesday that his government does not want to be in a situation of “picking a fight with a major trading partner” with which Canada has deep ties.

But he stressed that he would not waver when “defending Canadian sovereignty.”

Nijjar – who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 – had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, to be created by India.

He is wanted by Indian authorities for alleged “terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder”.

Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder, which took place in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023.

India on Monday called the claims linked to Nijjar’s killing “absurd” and “a smear strategy by India for political gains”.

Last year, the Indian government briefly restricted visas for Canadians and forced Ottawa to withdraw diplomats, and this week threatened further action.