Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time admitted to the presence of Khaslistani supporters in the country while also asserting they do not represent the entire Sikh community in Canada.
Trudeau's remark came during a Diwali event at Ottawa’s Parliament Hill on Monday. The event was reportedly organised by Cabinet Ministers Anita Anand and Gary Anandasangaree.
In his address, the Canadian Prime Minister also iterated that there are Hindu supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Canada, but similarly they also do not represent the Hindu community as a whole in Canada.
"There are many supporters of Khalistan in Canada, but they do not represent the Sikh Community as a whole. There are supporters of the Modi government in Canada, but they do not represent all Hindu Canadians as a whole," Trudeau said in his address to the Indian community during Diwali celebrations at Ottawa's Parliament Hill.
Last month, the India-Canada diplomatic ties further deteriorated when Canada termed the Indian High Commissioner a "person of interest" in its probe into Nijjar's murder followed by India's outright dismissal of the fresh charge.
India-Canada diplomatic feud
Accusing them of being a part of the Indian government's 'campaign of violence', the Trudeau-led Canadian government on October 14 expelled six Indian diplomats. In a befitting response, India also followed the same path and expelled six Canadian diplomats.
India had also summoned Canada's Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheeler and said that the "baseless targeting" of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.
Responding to Canada's accusations, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has repeatedly said the Canadian government did not share any evidence of India's involvement in Nijjar's killing despite repeated requests.
On October 16, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who sat before the Commission of Inquiry over the ongoing investigation, admitted that Canada only had "only intelligence, not evidence" regarding India's involvement in the killing of pro-Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Nijjar, a wanted pro-Khalistani terrorist, was killed outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023.
"Canada asked India to cooperate. Their (India) ask was for proof. We asked for Indian security agencies to investigate further and cooperate with us. Because at that point what we (Canada) had was intelligence," Trudeau said.
"At that point, it was primarily intelligence and not hard evidentiary proof. So we said, let's work together and look into your security services and maybe we can get that out," he said while testifying before the country's Foreign Interference Commission.
