Sikh Canadians say state violence a continued threat ahead of Carney going to India

Moninder Singh, centre, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council (BCGC), speaks to reporters outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, B.C., on Monday, September 18, 2023, where temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in his vehicle while leaving the parking lot.

OTTAWA — Some Canadian Sikhs are calling on the government to take a firmer stand on India as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to travel there this week on a mission to expand Canada’s non-U.S. trade.

B.C. Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who received a warning from Vancouver police on Sunday about a credible threat to his life, said he suspects that threat is linked to the Indian government.

Singh said this is the first duty-to-warn report he’s received from police since 2022. This one is different, he added, because it’s the first warning to be extended to his wife and children.

“No other Sikh activist, with a dozen plus of us having (received police warnings) across the country, has had the family brought into it,” Singh said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press.

“That was a bit alarming, that underhandedness has reached out to people’s families as well when it comes to Indian transnational repression.”

The ongoing tensions threaten to cast a shadow over Carney’s trade mission.

Asked Wednesday during a pre-trip briefing with reporters if agents of the Indian government are currently involved in extortion or threats of violence in Canada, a federal official said Ottawa has a very robust diplomatic engagement with India.

The official, who was speaking on background, said Canada is confident the activity isn’t continuing, and said if it was Canada would not be having the types of discussion being held.

He said if Canada believed India was actively interfering in Canada’s democracy, Carney would not be taking this trip.

At a press conference Wednesday night, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said “no country will ever have a pass in terms of the domestic safety and security of Canada.”

She said the rule of law and adherence to the Criminal Code are of “utmost importance” to the government.

The minister also said there is an ongoing “law enforcement dialogue” taking place between India and Canada, which will continue in 2026 and beyond.

Singh said he suspects he’s been targeted by the Indian government due to his work on a campaign calling for the creation of a separate Sikh homeland out of Indian territory. He said other Sikh separatist activists across Canada have received similar warnings.

Singh worked with Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose 2023 murder in Surrey, B.C., was linked to agents of the Indian government by both then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and the RCMP. Both Singh and Nijjar received duty-to-warn notices from police about a year before Nijjar’s murder, Singh said.

Inderjeet Gosal, a Khalistan referendum co-ordinator with Sikhs for Justice, said he has also been warned by police about threats to his life.

Sikhs for Justice held a rally on Parliament Hill Wednesday. Gosal described it as an effort to push the government to demand accountability and justice for Nijjar’s murder.

Carney invited Modi to the G7 in Kananaskis, Alta., last year. Both Canada and India reinstalled top diplomats after that meeting.

Canada expelled six top Indian diplomats in October 2024 after the RCMP said they had refused to co-operate with a police investigation into allegations that Indian agents had engaged in violent criminal activity and acts of harassment in Canada.

India expelled six top Canadian diplomats in response.

The goal of Carney’s upcoming trip is to expand trade ties with India -- part of his government’s work to diversify trade relations in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to upend global commerce with his tariff regime.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Wednesday the RCMP commissioner and other top security officials continue to discuss public safety and national security with Indian officials.

The minister added that India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, was in Canada for talks two weeks ago.

Anandasangaree also said talks with India about security and public safety are mostly not happening at the political level -- an apparent reversal of Ottawa’s approach to the issue since September 2023, when Trudeau publicly linked the Indian government to Nijjar’s murder on the floor of the House of Commons.

“We will continue to have those conversations. Some of them are very difficult conversations, but we are very clear that any issues around safety and security will be at the level of the officials,” Anandasangaree said.

“They will continue to stress the importance, and certainly (India has) shared some irritants that they have in Canada, and we will work toward collaboration on issues of transnational organized crime … So there is a dialogue that is ongoing that will ensure the safety and security of all Canadians.”

The relationship between India and Canada has for decades been hindered by tensions over Sikh separatists in Canada calling for the creation of an independent country, to be called Khalistan, out of Indian territory.

India has long claimed Canada is allowing Sikh extremists to threaten and commit violence in both countries and that Ottawa hasn’t done enough to prevent a repeat of the 1984 Air India bombing.

Ottawa has long insisted that acts of violence must be prosecuted, but peaceful calls for Sikh separatism are protected free speech in Canada. India has claimed that Canada is protecting Canadians, Indians and dual nationals who are guilty of terrorism.

B.C. Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents the riding where Nijjar’s murder took place, said Wednesday he has shared his constituents’ concerns about Carney’s trip with the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Canadian lives matter and Canadian lives and the rule of law takes priority. That’s what I’m going to say,” Dhaliwal said on his way into the weekly Liberal caucus meeting.

“We have to do trade with other nations, but at the same time our record on human rights, protecting the rule of law, Canadian lives and Canadian sovereignty is our duty.”

Then-NDP leader Jagmeet Singh revealed last spring that he had received a warning about a credible threat to his life from the RCMP and was placed under police protection.

Singh said that while the RCMP did not tell him the specific source of the threat, the implication was that it came from a foreign government.

Gosal said at the Parliament Hill rally that he and others are ready to make their voices heard at the ballot box if MPs don’t hold India accountable.

“We will make sure that we do not vote for you. We put our votes to someone that will be our voice,” he said.

Moninder Singh said a coalition of Sikh organizations has sent letters to 20 Sikh MPs and party leaders calling for a public inquiry into Indian transnational repression and “maximum disclosure” of information about Indian foreign interference.

Singh said that if those MPs don’t follow through, they won’t be welcome to speak at Sikh events or at 40 Gurdwaras between B.C. and Quebec.

Singh said that he and his family are trying to go about their normal lives, even as this latest threat hangs over their heads.

“Our kids have watched since Hardeep’s assassination everything that’s been happening around them. So they’re understanding, but I think it does kind of change things -- where you can go, like going to the mall or the movies or dinner … for me, that was over years ago with these duty warrants. And now we have to start looking at that as a family unit as well,” he said.

“So there’s things that change and it’s by no means the end of the world, but a duty to warn of an imminent threat to someone’s life could be the end their world if they’re not careful.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2026.

-- With files from Kyle Duggan.