India’s foreign minister has confirmed that he discussed his country’s row with Canada over the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader with top United States government officials during a visit to Washington, DC, this week.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday that he laid out India’s concerns about Sikh separatist movement supporters in Canada during talks a day earlier with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on September 18 that his government was investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader in western Canada.
“They [Blinken and Sullivan] obviously shared US views and assessments on this whole situation and I explained to them … the concerns which I had,” Jaishankar said during an event at the Hudson Institute, a conservative US think-tank.
“Hopefully we both came out of those meetings better informed.”
New Delhi has consistently rejected Ottawa’s allegations of involvement in Nijjar’s killing, calling them “absurd” and politically motivated.
That denial was echoed by Jaishankar on Friday, who said the official Indian government response to Trudeau, “both in private and public”, has been “that what he was alleging was not consistent with our policy”.
‘Climate of fear’
Jaishankar also said the US and India viewed Canada differently, accusing Ottawa of harbouring what he called “terrorists” and organised crime, referring to Sikh separatists whom New Delhi views as a security threat.
“It’s a very toxic combination of issues and people who have found operating space there,” he said.
The Canada-India dispute escalated further last week as the two nations expelled diplomats from each other’s respective countries, and New Delhi suspended visa services in Canada because of purported threats against its consular staff.
Jaishankar said Indian diplomats in Canada “are unsafe going to the embassy or to the consulates” because of a “climate of fear”.
“Because there is freedom of speech to make threats and intimidate diplomats, I don’t think that’s acceptable,” Jaishankar later told reporters.
Canada also has reported threats on social media against its diplomats in India.
Trudeau said last week his country would defend its citizens and the “rules-based system” and called on India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation into the killing.
But Ottawa has not released specific evidence to back up its accusations of India’s involvement in the killing of Nijjar.
Jaishankar reiterated on Friday that India is open to looking into “anything relevant and specific” that Canada may put forward.
For its part, Washington previously voiced support for the Canadian probe, with Sullivan saying the feud with India has not caused friction between the US and Canada.
“I firmly reject the idea that there is a wedge between the US and Canada,” Sullivan said last week. “We have deep concerns about the allegations, and we would like to see this investigation carried forward and the perpetrators are held to account.”
‘Hold perpetrators accountable’
The US, arguably Canada’s closest ally, has been deepening ties with India – which it sees as a counterweight to China in the Asia-Pacific region – amid Washington’s growing competition with Beijing.
A US Department of State readout describing the meeting between Jaishankar and Blinken on Thursday did not mention Canada or the killing of Nijjar.
Instead, the State Department hailed a US-brokered project to create a trade corridor from India to Europe, including via rail through Saudi Arabia and Israel, which President Joe Biden has viewed as a major achievement.
But India has faced criticism from progressives in the US Congress for its human rights record under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I’m deeply concerned over allegations that Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered by the Indian government, especially in light of rising threats to the Sikh community,” Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee said in a social media post on Thursday.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
