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Journalism of Courage
Since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in his country’s Parliament on September 19 that the Indian government may have “potential links” to the killing of separatist leader Harmeet Singh Nijjar in Canada, the ties between the two countries are under strain.
US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen has now said in an interview with Canada’s CTV that it was “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” that helped “lead” Canada to the claims that PM Trudeau made. “Five Eyes” refers to an intelligence-sharing alliance of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said on Friday the US is “deeply concerned” about the allegations and Washington was “closely coordinating” with Ottawa on the issue and wants to see “accountability” in the case. Other Five Eyes countries, such as the UK and Australia, have also said they are monitoring the situation and communicating with Indian officials.
American Analyst Joshua Holzer wrote in The Conversation recently about the grouping: “The Five Eyes is still very active in the 21st century, even though it’s not as well known as its younger sibling NATO.” The Indian Express also reported earlier that if Ottawa shares information on Nijjar’s killing with its Five Eyes partners, the credibility of its evidence against New Delhi will be tested. So what exactly is this alliance?
According to the Canadian government’s website, “These partner countries share a broad range of intelligence with one another in one of the world’s most unified multilateral arrangements. The Five Eyes agreement stands out from other arrangements because the parties are diverse societies, governed by rule of law and robust human rights and are bonded by a common language. These characteristics aid the partners in sharing information with one another to protect their shared national interests.”
Holzer traced back the alliance’s origins to the Second World War. The UK and the US decided to share intelligence after successfully breaking German and Japanese codes, respectively.
In 1943, the Britain-USA (BRUSA) agreement laid the foundations for what would become the UK-USA (UKUSA) agreement, after UK computer scientist Alan Turing’s visit to Washington and several bilateral visits between the two countries’ officials.
BRUSA was signed between the US War Department and the UK’s intelligence and security agency Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), to “share intelligence information between the two countries to support US forces in Europe, exchange personnel and develop joint regulations for the handling and distribution of highly sensitive material,” according to the UK government’s website.
Following this, the UKUSA was signed in 1946. Canada joined it in 1949, and New Zealand and Australia did so in 1956, forming the alliance. The Agreement was not officially acknowledged though its existence was known about from the 1980s. But in 2010, the UKUSA agreement files were released.
Countries often engage with each other on matters of intelligence gathering and security. In recent years, common interests, such as balancing the rise of China, have led to a closer alignment among the Five Eyes countries. Some have attributed their closeness to a common language and mutual trust built over decades of association.
In 2016, the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council came into being. It includes the non-political intelligence oversight, review, and security entities of the Five Eyes countries. They exchange views of mutual interest, compare best practices, hold conference calls throughout the year and gather in person annually.
However, that closeness has not always meant uniformity in their foreign policy. Since 2021, New Zealand has stayed away from issuing an outright condemnation of Chinese actions regarding Hong Kong’s political systems and its treatment of the Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region, unlike the other four countries. A major reason for this is the deep trade ties between them, with China being the biggest market for New Zealand’s exports.
Meanwhile, the US has also sought to exert its influence through other groupings with like-minded countries on issues of security, like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) featuring itself, Japan, Australia and India. The AUKUS grouping similarly includes Australia, the UK and the US.
Countries like the US, the UK and Australia especially are seen as close to India. They also have significant Indian and Indian-origin populations within them, similar to Canada. Further, they have also seen some instances of pro-Khalistan activities in the last few years.
But due to their historical closeness to Canada and the alliance on one hand, and India increasingly asserting itself when it comes to global affairs on the other, showcasing outright support for India or Canada is unlikely.
However, given the state of ties, these countries, particularly the United States, could play a mediating role in the issue once they have clear intelligence and information on the matter. Canada could also approach the US and other partners to share additional information on the investigation, given their wider networks and capabilities.
