(OTTAWA) National security adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says India is a top source of foreign interference in Canada, a designation that Ottawa has so far essentially limited, at least publicly, to authoritarian regimes.
“When I talk about foreign interference and economic security, I am now talking about a number of state actors and non-state agents,” Jody Thomas said last Friday. This includes Russia, Iran, India. That said, the actor who comes back the most on these questions, and it comes as no surprise to anyone, is China. »
The remarks of M.me Thomas, speaking at a conference organized by the Canadian Institute of Global Affairs, come months after the Liberals highlighted India as part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy to establish closer economic and scientific ties in this region. – and reduce Canada’s dependence on China.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment.
New Delhi sometimes points out that elements in Canada are behind interference in India’s internal affairs, in particular a Sikh-led separatist movement, which has sometimes resorted to violence. One thinks in particular of the 1985 bombing against an Air India flight, which was to operate between Toronto and New Delhi.
Vina Nadjibulla, a professor at the University of British Columbia, finds it “striking” that Mme Thomas listed India with the other three countries, and she feels that these concerns pose a challenge for Canada to forge closer ties with this country. “It obviously has to do with our diaspora communities and the politics there,” Ms.me Nadjibulla during another part of the conference last Friday.
“The diplomatic relationship we have with India is improving rapidly, but I think we would be wrong if we did not recognize some of the diaspora policies and local issues here in Canada that will have a significant impact. »
The targeted diasporas
Federal agencies have suggested in recent years that India wields undue influence in Canada, but rarely by specifically naming the country – and almost always in internal documents.
Documents released through the Access to Information Act last year cited the potential for foreign interference stemming from concerns by Indian students that Canada was slow to grant required study permits. The heavily redacted records indicated that social media was an active component of these student activism campaigns.
A 2018 report obtained by The Canadian Press warned that Indo-Canadians and Chinese-Canadians were among diaspora groups facing “the risk of these communities being influenced, overtly or covertly, by foreign governments with their own agendas.” .
The report was prepared for deputy ministers who were attending an in camera seminar on national security. “The lines between legitimate advocacy and lobbying and the pressures imposed to advance the economic and political interests of foreign actors are becoming increasingly blurred,” the report said.
In the same year, a predecessor of Mme Thomas, Daniel Jean, suggested that rogue elements of the Indian government sought to embarrass Mr. Trudeau during his official visit to India in February 2018.
Jaspal Atwal – a man with a serious criminal record and a history of violence – had been invited to two events with the Prime Minister during this trip. However, a report by the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had not warned Mr. Trudeau’s close guard of this risk.
The report begins by exploring whether foreign interference may have played a role in this incident, but the public version of the report does not include most information related to this theme, including the committee’s six findings.
The report also lists the multiple times India raised Sikh extremism with high-level Canadian officials, and how Ottawa had responded to this concern.
The New Democratic Party has often cited India as a source of foreign interference in Canada. The NDP also believes that Ottawa should limit its ties with that country because of human rights concerns.