India halts some consular visits amid Sikh-Hindu clashes | Canada News Media
Connect with us

News

India halts some consular visits amid Sikh-Hindu clashes

Published

 on

OTTAWA – India’s consulate in Toronto is suspending some of its diplomatic visits to process paperwork at places like religious temples after violence between Sikh and Hindu people.

The violence started Sunday outside the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton, Ont., where police allege people in the crowd were carrying weapons and throwing objects.

The next day there were tense protests outside the temple, leading to another police intervention and calls to ban protests at Brampton religious sites.

The clashes have involved Hindu groups clashing with Sikh separatists, who have protested visits by Indian consular officials to process paperwork for matters such as pensions.

The violence has further heightened tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats last month when the RCMP flagged them as persons of interest in alleged crimes against Canadians.

India’s Toronto consulate says it’s suspending some of its announced site visits, but did not specify which ones have been cancelled.

“In view of the security agencies conveying their inability to provide minimum security protection to the community-camp organizers, (the Toronto) consulate has decided to cancel some of the scheduled consular camps,” the consulate said in a post on X.

The consulate’s website lists planned visits in places like Brampton, Mississauga, Halifax, Windsor and London, Ont.

India’s high commission in Canada did not immediately respond when asked if its Ottawa mission or Vancouver consulate had also suspended consular visits. Officials in those missions have announced what they call “consular camps” across the Prairies this weekend, as well as in Montreal and parts of British Columbia later this month.

Sikh separatists, who advocate for an independent country called Khalistan to be carved out of India, have alleged Indian diplomats use their temple visits to recruit informants to target Khalistan supporters.

While the Canadian government has refused to identify the diplomats it expelled, the federal government does maintain a database of diplomats who are accredited to Canada. That database was updated a week after the expulsions were announced on Oct. 14, and six names that were previously on the list had been removed.

That includes High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and Toronto consul general Siddhartha Nath. The websites of each Indian mission now list interim replacements for both positions.

The database also previously included Bikram Pal Singh Bhatty, a first secretary at the Ottawa high commission, as well as Toronto consular officer Dheeraj Pareek, Vancouver consular officer Rahul Negi and a Vancouver consular employee named Kanwaljit Singh.

Global Affairs Canada would not confirm whether those were the names of the six diplomats who were expelled.

“We are not in a position to provide the names of the six Indian diplomats that are now considered persona non grata. We can confirm that they have left Canada,” wrote spokeswoman Clémence Grevey.

India’s foreign ministry listed the names and ranks of the six Canadian diplomats it also expelled; both countries claimed they had ordered expulsions first.

Yet the spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, refused to identify the six diplomats Canada expelled, when asked at an Oct. 17 press conference.

“For various reasons, we don’t want to reveal their names to you,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

NDP calls on federal government to allow open work permits for temporary workers

Published

 on

OTTAWA – A parliamentary committee is calling on the government to change how it handles permits for temporary workers after a UN report said the system creates “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”

The citizenship and immigration committee released a report on Wednesday calling on Ottawa to work with the provinces to establish permits that allow temporary workers to find work in a specific region or sector.

Right now, most temporary workers have closed permits that tie them to a single employer.

The committee’s report found that system creates conditions that can lead to exploitation and abuse.

NDP MPs Jenny Kwan and Matthew Green say the government needs to take this a step further by allowing all temporary workers access to open work permits in an effort to prevent abuse.

“The reality is, if you’re tied to one specific employer, you are really at their behest to do what they demand of you,” Kwan said.

“No matter what the abuse is, no matter if you’re faced with wage theft, with harassment, with violence, for women, with sexual harassment — you just have to live with it.”

She said the least the federal government can do to curb abuse in the temporary worker system is end the closed work permit system.

The committee also recommended increasing the number of unexpected, on-site workplace inspections and developing a plan to provide more permanent residency pathways to low-wage and agricultural workers.

More than half of workplace inspections take place virtually, according to the report.

These inspections uncovered a 36 per cent increase in non-compliant employers in the last fiscal year, resulting in more than $2 million in fines. The vast majority of employers were found to be in compliance with program rules.

Elizabeth Kwan, a senior researcher with the Canadian Labour Congress and no relation to MP Kwan, testified during the committee’s hearings. She said its recommendations “tinker at the edges” of problems like worker abuse.

“The system discourages employers from improving job quality like wages and working conditions and investing in technology. What it does is that it allows the continued reliance on underpaid and vulnerable workers,” she said.

The government is making changes to the temporary worker program, most recently focused on making it harder for employers to get applications approved to hire temporary workers.

Those changes take effect Friday, raising the minimum for high-wage applications to 20 per cent above a province or territory’s hourly wage.

Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the committee report’s findings.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

NDP asks Speaker to examine social media influencer Lauren Chen’s refusal to testify

Published

 on

OTTAWA – A social media influencer who declined to answer questions about an alleged Russian plot to sow division among the public is a step closer to being sanctioned by Parliament.

New Democrat MP Alistair MacGregor has asked House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus to consider whether Lauren Chen’s refusal to answer questions at a Commons committee meeting amounts to a breach of privilege.

Chen, who is Canadian, was summoned to appear at the public safety and national security committee as part of its study of Russian interference and disinformation campaigns in Canada.

Before Chen’s appearance Tuesday, her lawyer advised the committee she would read a prepared statement but would not respond to questions, citing a right to avoid incriminating herself.

A U.S. indictment filed in September charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a US$10-million scheme that purportedly used social media personalities to distribute content with Russian government messaging.

While not explicitly mentioned in court documents, the details match up with Tenet Media, founded by Chen and Liam Donovan, who is identified as her husband on social media.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading

News

Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

Published

 on

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version