2024 Year in Review: Canada-India relations sour

Diplomatic relations between Canada and India soured considerably in 2024 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the Indian government was involved in the assassination of Surrey Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The allegations led to both countries expelling the other’s top diplomats.

Nijjar, who was born in India and immigrated to Canada as a young man, was assassinated in Surrey in June 2023. The former president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara was labelled a terrorist by the Indian government, which accused him of being involved with a banned militant group in India.

But Nijjar’s followers in Canada said he was a community leader and an advocate for Sikh independence.

Manimugdha Sharma, a PhD student at UBC’s Department of History and a Killam Laureate, says Canada and India have long been at odds over how they see the Khalistan movement, which calls for a separate, sovereign Sikh Nation out of existing Indian territory.

“India, which is on paper a sovereign democratic republic, has freedom of speech and expression enshrined in the constitution. But, people of the establishment, they don’t believe in absolute freedom,” Sharma explained.

“So they think that if they are talking about Khalistan or a foreign land they are directly challenging sovereignty, whereas in Canada they think, ‘Well, it is just a legitimate form of expression. As long as they’re not indulging in violence it is okay.’”

In September 2023, Trudeau accused the Indian government of being involved in the Nijjar assassination, saying the allegations were based on credible Canadian intelligence. India’s Ministry of External Affairs shot back with a statement calling the allegations ‘absurd’ and accused Canada of harbouring violent extremists.

The confrontation escalated in October 2023, when India told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats over the allegations. Canada said it would not retaliate, with then-Canadian foreign minister Mélanie Joly saying Canada was trying to hold diplomatic conversations with India in private.

The diplomatic row intensified again in May 2024, when the RCMP arrested and charged four Indian nationals with first-degree murder in the killing of Nijjar. Police linked the alleged assassins to other targeted killings in Canada as well.

In October 2024, yet another bombshell allegation came when Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in Canada —  the Indian high commissioner — as a person of interest in the Nijjar assassination, expelling him and five other diplomats from the country.

In response, the Indian foreign ministry expelled Canada’s high commissioner and five other diplomats, and issued a statement saying, “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence, and separatism against India.”

The international row has some wondering what comes next for the embattled nations.

“It’s going to be a stormy relationship going forward, as long as there’s a Hindu Nationalist government in India and there’s a Liberal government over here, tensions are bound to go on,” said Sharma.

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