‘On notice, won’t tolerate…’: Canada Foreign Affairs Minister’s word of caution for remaining Indian diplomats

“We won’t tolerate any diplomats that are in contravention of the Vienna Convention,” Joly added.

The deepening chill between the two countries comes amid India rejecting allegations by the Justin Trudeau government on the involvement of Indian diplomats in the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The RCMP had reported threats against members of the South Asian community, particularly those aligned with the pro-Khalistan movement. Joly confirmed that these threats were serious enough to warrant public disclosure, marking an unprecedented level of alleged ‘transnational repression’ on Canadian soil. She noted that this kind of interference had not been observed in Canada before, drawing comparisons to similar actions by Russia against other nations.

“There was definitely a threat and that’s exactly why the RCMP decided to take the extraordinary measure of making public the fact that Canadians were being intimidated, victims of extortion or even death threats because agents and diplomats from India were linked to these criminal actions,” Joly said.

Relations between India and Canada have been under a severe strain since September last year, when Trudeau told the Canadian Parliament that there was evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Nijjar in June 2023. India had rejected the allegations, calling them motivated.