Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : Canada can’t stop foreign interference without meeting India: Minister and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
“If we believed that the government of India was actively interfering in the Canadian democratic process, we probably wouldn’t be taking this trip,” the official added.
Federal Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree initially responded by saying he believes there to be “outstanding” security issues with India. Ruby Sahota, the secretary of state for combatting crime, issued a statement on Saturday rejecting any notion that threats coming from India were over.
“Any suggestions these threats have been resolved does not reflect the current security reality facing Canada,” Sahota said in a post on X.
“Attempting to minimize these threats risks eroding public confidence and overlooks the ongoing efforts to protect communities targeted by intimidation and violence.”
Relations between Canada and India plummeted when, in 2023, former prime minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that Canadian security agencies were investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent pro-Khalistan Sikh activist gunned down outside of a temple in Surrey, B.C.
India has denied the allegations. Four Indian nationals have since been charged in Nijjar’s death.
The 2025 final report from the Foreign Interference Commission named India the “second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada.”
But speaking on the sidelines of an announcement on university partnerships in Mumbai, High Commissioner of India to Canada Dinesh Patnaik flatly rejected the assertion that India meddles in Canada’s affairs.
“We don’t do that in any country,” he told reporters on Friday.
Asked specifically about the comments made by the government official, Patnaik dismissed India’s involvement in any violence in the first place,
“It’s not a question of, it is no longer happening. It never happened.”
Patnaik said recent meetings between India and Canada’s national security and intelligence advisor earlier this month and back in November “has been able to clear a lot of the things that were perceived before.”
“There is a perception that India is taking action in Canada, which never was. India never did,” he said.
He then added: “And so today, if somebody is saying the right thing, take it as it is.”
Advocates of Canada’s Sikh community, meanwhile, have warned that Carney’s trip to India to drum up new investments and diversify its market access sends the wrong signal to community members and, in particular, pro-Khalistan activists who remain in fear.
Sukh Dhaliwal, the Liberal MP who represents the riding where Nijjar was killed, denounced the comments made by the senior official about India’s alleged ties to violence, going so far as to say the government ought to examine their suitability for role.
“I understand and appreciate deeply in my conversations with the Sikh caucus that the sentiments that the Sikh community in Canada are feeling are very serious, and I too, have concerns and will continue to raise those concerns at the table in my conversations with Indian diplomats,” Anand said on Saturday.
As domestic security tensions continue to hover around Carney’s trip, the prime minister on Saturday delivered a speech about the Canada-India business relationship to the Canada-India Growth and Investment Forum.