A parliamentary committee will meet on Friday to weigh a request to look into new allegations of Indian foreign interference in Canada that led to the expulsion of diplomats by both countries in tit-for-tat moves.
The standing committee on public safety and national security has accepted a request from members to hold an emergency meeting on recent developments surrounding new revelations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about Indian government agents.
The RCMP said Monday it has a significant amount of information about criminal activities allegedly orchestrated by Indian government agents.
Evidence points to “violent extremism” in both countries, links Indian government agents to homicides and violence, the use of organized crime against the South Asian community in Canada, and interference in democratic processes. according to the RCMP.
NDP MP Alistair MacGregor made the motion for the committee to launch the investigation, which would include at least six meetings.
“I think the fact that the RCMP, in fact, any police force that is conducting an active investigation would come forward with such explosive revelations, underscores how serious this is,” he said Friday.
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The motion proposed inviting senior officials such as Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme and intelligence and national security adviser Nathalie Drouin.
The committee also proposes hearing from experts from Canada’s South Asian community, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, any former leadership candidates in the 2022 Conservative Party leadership race and experts on national security issues..
Relations between India and Canada have deteriorated since 2023, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian intelligence agencies had credible evidence linking Indian government agents to the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia. .
India has long denied any involvement in Nijjar’s murder and accused Trudeau on Monday of pursuing a “political agenda.”
Global News has learned that agents working at India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto were behind dozens of violent crimes across Canada targeting opponents of Narendra Modi’s government.
According to senior sources familiar with the matter, supporters of the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab region, as well as rivals of the Modi government, were targeted.
– with files from Global News and Reuters
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