Federal lawyers seek to shield information in Nijjar murder case on security grounds

Protesters gathered outside the Indian consulate in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday June 18, 2025, marking two years since the assassination of Sikh community leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. (Darryl Greer / The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA — The federal attorney general is looking to shield some information from disclosure on national security grounds in the trial of four men accused of killing Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, an advocate for an independent Sikh homeland and president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was shot dead in his pickup truck in June 2023 while leaving the Surrey, B.C., temple’s parking lot.

In May 2024, four Indian nationals were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to Nijjar’s death.

The case is now before the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

A notice of application filed in Federal Court says the federal attorney general received four notices over the course of 2024 and 2025 flagging sensitive or potentially injurious information in the case.

The attorney general seeks a Federal Court order under the Canada Evidence Act confirming prohibition of disclosure of some of the information to protect international relations and national security.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2026.