The Canadian secret services were interested in an association feared by Sikh and Muslim groups. But its president, a renowned Montreal anesthesiologist, swears that the organization he leads has nothing to reproach itself for.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) met twice in 2019 with Dr Shivendra Dhar Dwivedi, who works at Santa Cabrini hospital, in the Rosemont district of Montreal.
The CSIS agents particularly wanted to discuss Indian interference and the organization of which he had just become president, the Canada India Global Forum.
Officially, this association aims to strengthen economic ties between India and Canada. But it raises questions about its links with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), currently in power in India. The party has repeatedly been accused of fueling violence and intolerance against minority groups, such as Muslims and Sikhs, and of passing discriminatory laws against them in an attempt to favor the Hindu majority.
“The discussion was confidential, but I can tell you that we talked about the Canada India Global Forum and my role in promoting the Canadian-Indian relationship in the economic and political spheres,” says the Dr Dwivedi, who spoke openly about his talks with Canadian intelligence in an interview in his office at the hospital.
The doctor says he was also questioned about certain actions taken by India. “[On m’a dit:] Is India doing this? Not to my knowledge. But I don’t know the government’s secrets either,” he says.
CSIS declined our invitation to comment. The Agency very rarely reveals information about its activities.
Well connected in politics
The Dr Dwivedi does not hide the fact that it was the BJP that founded his association in 2013, which was then called Overseas Friends of BJP Canada. The primary aim of his organization was to promote and help bring the BJP to power in India.
He claims that it now no longer has any links with the political party. “But it’s certain that I personally have links with the BJP,” he admits.
Shivendra Dhar Dwivedi, who also sits on a foundation that helps foreign students, is known in the medical community for the numerous humanitarian medical missions he has organized in India in recent years. In an interview, he boasts of having the ear of influential politicians in Canada.
The Montreal doctor alleges that he raised funds for Justin Trudeau’s leadership campaign and campaigned extensively for the Liberals. He says he now places his trust in Pierre Poilievre’s conservatives.
“When I speak, people listen to me. I can call Mr. Trudeau, he will take my call. (…) I can call Jean Charest. I know Mr. [Pierre] Poilievre. I had dinner with him a month ago,” said the doctor. A meeting that the Conservative Party of Canada did not want to confirm.
Indian friends
The Montreal doctor also says he has several “friends” close to power in India. In an interview, he mentioned the names of several Indian politicians, such as Dinesh Sharma, former Indian minister and former vice-president of the BJP party.
He also says he is close to Indian diplomacy, notably the Indian High Commission in Canada, to whom he sometimes provides “services” to help the community. But never for political purposes, he assures.
He also claims to have been among the organizers of Indian Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada in 2015, an issue on which CSIS also questioned him, he says.
Foreign agents
Interest in Dr Dwivedi and his organization also extend beyond Canadian borders. Last September, the doctor was questioned by the New York Times as part of an article on the tensions in Canada created by the Indian government’s pro-Hindu policies and recent accusations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Indian agents were responsible for the murder of a Sikh activist last summer last in British Columbia.
The article notably recalled that Mr. Dwivedi’s organization had suddenly abandoned the name “Overseas Friends of BJP Canada” for that of “Canada India Global Forum” in 2018.
Questioned on this subject, Mr. Dwivedi then affirmed that his organization was independent of the BJP, unlike the other “Overseas Friends of BJP” associations which exist all over the world.
In the United States, the USA Overseas Friends of BJP has been listed in the register of foreign agents since 2020. Such a register does not exist in Canada, but the Trudeau government has indicated over the past year that it wants to create one soon.
A public inquiry into foreign interference will begin this winter in Ottawa and will look into interference activities by China, Russia and other foreign actors in Canada.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, during his visit to Canada in 2015.
REUTERS
Dr Dwivedi speaks proudly of the many political figures he meets. In 2012, he published this photo on Facebook with former Quebec Prime Minister Jean Charest and his wife Michèle Dionne.
FACEBOOK PHOTO taken from Shivendra Dwivedi’s page
An organization feared on Canadian soil
Sikh and Muslim associations say they fear the organization chaired by Dr Dwivedi, saying she would act on behalf of the BJP on Canadian soil.
A joint report released last March by the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the World Sikh Organization of Canada named the Canada India Global Forum (CIGF) as part of the Indian political party’s international network.
The presence of groups that act on behalf of the BJP in Canada, “like the CIGF”, “is accompanied by a disturbing discourse (…) which pits Hindus against minorities in India, such as Muslims and Sikhs” , we can read in particular in the report RSS Network in Canada.
He noted several disturbing statements from the vice-president of the organization, Anil V. Shringri. “No matter where Muslims go, they kill innocent children and rape women,” he wrote on X in June 2017, according to the report. This message is no longer visible online.
Source: The “RSS Network in Canada” report
But our Investigation Office also noted other, more recent messages. “Only Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom tolerate Sikh militancy. Encouraging terrorism goes against humanity,” Mr. Shringi also said earlier this year on X.
Taken from Anil V. Shingri’s X account
“Anti-Canadians”
The report also describes how organizations like the one led by Dr.r Dwivedi would act in Canada to advance the interests of the pro-Hindu government, describing Sikhs and Muslims as “terrorists”, “anti-Canadians” or “anti-Indians”.
“This sectarian, discriminatory and often hateful antipathy (…) constitutes a direct threat to Muslims and Sikhs as well as to the social fabric of Canada,” we can read.
An analysis shared by Catherine Viens, associate researcher at the Center for Studies and Research on India, South Asia and its Diaspora at UQAM. “One of the BJP’s strategies is to portray members of non-Hindu communities as violent and dangerous terrorists. Hindus are the “good” ones. (…) The influence on this subject in the diaspora helps the BJP in the long term to stay in power (…) and to advance its Hindu agenda,” she said in an interview.
Freedom of expression
Criticisms that the D rejects out of handr Dwivedi and which he attributes to a “political agenda” of the Muslim and Sikh diaspora. “They are not happy to see that India is in full economic development,” he says. However, he indicated that he did not always agree with the comments made by his vice-president on social networks.
For his part, Anil V. Shringi demanded “freedom of speech and expression in Canada.”
“My [messages] Personal information is an expression of my personal freedom and is not linked to any organization with which I work. And I personally stand in solidarity with people who are against terrorism, against violence. I am not at all anti-Muslim,” he wrote to us.
Allegations to be taken seriously, according to Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated last week that India must “take seriously” Canadian allegations of Indian agents being responsible for the murder of a Sikh activist in June.
He made the comments after US authorities announced they had arrested a man allegedly hired by an Indian intelligence official to organize the murder of a Sikh activist in New York.
The suspect allegedly told an undercover agent that he had three Canadian targets, in addition to the assassination he wanted to organize on American soil.