After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unprecedented and explosive allegation that the Indian government had a hand in the June killing of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Canada found itself at the centre of a geopolitical rift that has affected other international players with ties to India.
India has denied Trudeau’s allegations and since branded Canada a “safe haven for terrorists, extremists” and “anti-India activities.” It also accused Nijjar, who actively supported the push for an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region of India called Khalistan, of leading a militant separatist group. His supporters reject this claim.
Meanwhile, Canada’s allies in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, are weighing their next moves as the political fallout from Trudeau’s accusation continues.
The history of tensions surrounding the Khalistan movement in India and abroad goes back decades, but experts say Canada is seen as the country where the movement is the strongest, and as a result, has drawn sharp criticisms from India, especially in the face of Trudeau’s allegations that India was involved in Nijjar’s killing.
What is Khalistan? A look at the movement for an independent Sikh state
Featured VideoSome Sikhs have historically been seeking an independent Sikh homeland in northern India called Khalistan. Experts say the history of the movement is complex, emotional and evolving.
No consensus among Sikhs on independence
India raising concerns about what it calls “Sikh extremism” isn’t new, and neither is Canada’s response.
In 2012, India’s foreign minister raised the issue of “the revival of anti-India rhetoric in Canada” with then Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was visiting the country. While Harper said Canada was a supporter of a united India, he refused to silence peaceful pro-Khalistan discourse.
“We can’t interfere with the right of political freedom of expression,” Harper said, noting that the movement was marginal within the Indian diaspora in Canada.
Trudeau echoed Harper’s response when he was questioned about the presence of Sikh Khalistani militants in Canada at the G20 in New Delhi last month.
Trudeau walks past Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sept. 9 at the G20 summit in New Delhi, where he was questioned about Sikh Khalistani militants in Canada. He said Canada would ‘prevent violence and push back against hatred,’ but noted the actions of a few don’t represent the entire Sikh community. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
“We are always there to prevent violence and push back against hatred,” the prime minister said. But he also noted that the actions of a few do not represent the entire Sikh community in Canada.
Canada has the largest Sikh population outside of India, with about 770,000 people, or about 2.1 per cent of the country’s population. In other Five Eyes countries, Sikhs constitute less than one per cent of the population.
While Canada may have a comparatively large Sikh population, there’s no consensus within the community on the need for an independent Sikh state, according to Baljit Nagra, an associate professor of criminology specializing in race relations at the University of Ottawa.
“There is only a small portion of the community that supports Khalistan,” she said.
That support began growing in the 1980s following deadly anti-Sikh riots in India. That helped spur closer connections between the Khalistan movement in India and Canada, according to Satwinder Bains, the director of the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in B.C.
Bains says Canada’s focus on multiculturalism rather than assimilation has allowed Sikhs who immigrate here to retain their culture and maintain close ties to relatives and political movements back home, even during times of strife and unrest.
Canada’s connection to the Khalistan movement
Featured VideoThe National breaks down Canada’s connection to the movement calling for an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan and how it contributed to tensions between Canada and India even before Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed. Plus, CBC’s Salimah Shivji explains how the Khalistan movement resonates in India.
In the case of Sikh separatism, that has, at times, included sending money back home to support more militant arms of the Khalistan movement, she says.
Canadian Sikhs are also active in Canadian politics and have promoted their causes on the national political stage. That has sometimes helped elevate certain causes that India would prefer to ignore.
For instance, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is Sikh, spent much of his early political career as an MP in Ontario lobbying the province to recognize India’s 1984 anti-Sikh riots as an act of genocide.
A motion condemning the riots as a genocide was passed in Ontario in 2017. In 2018, Singh, who had by then become the federal NDP leader, said the same should be done at the federal level. The federal government has so far not done this.
Khalistan supporters stomp on a cardboard cutout of Modi during a protest at the Consulate General of India in Toronto last month. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
India concerned about violent symbolism
During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said violent acts by Sikh separatists have been “normalized in Canada in the name of freedom of speech.”
“We don’t think freedom of speech extends to incitement of violence, that’s a misuse of freedom; it’s not a defence of freedom,” he said.
Neilesh Bose, an associate professor of history at the University of Victoria, says India takes issue with the violent symbolism sometimes displayed by those in the separatist movement. For example, India’s foreign minister criticized Canada over a float in a June parade in Brampton, Ont., that portrayed the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.
There have also been multiple protests outside Indian consulates in Canada this year that saw demonstrators burn Indian flags and stomp on cardboard cutouts of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Neilesh Bose, a South Asian history professor at the University of Victoria, says if Canada could address the extremism India sees as a threat, it could help calm India’s fears. (Submitted by Neilesh Bose)
”I think the threat posed to India is often exaggerated,” Bose said, “but India holds reasons to view the movement the way it does, especially given the longer history of the Khalistani movement and events such as the Air India bombing of 1985.”
Attempts within the Sikh diaspora to push for independence have been made through more legitimate channels such as referendums.
The pro-Khalistan organization Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which India has designated a terrorist group, has organized multiple unofficial referendums in Canada and other countries asking if an independent Sikh homeland should be created in northern India.
The group says it intends to bring results to the United Nations to garner support for Sikh self-determination.
Though some experts say the referendums won’t ultimately result in any meaningful change, Rupinder K. Liddar, a PhD candidate in political science at McGill University in Montreal, says they’re a way to express political opinion and keep those in the Sikh separatist movement engaged.
Having an outlet for such opinions, even if it’s outside India, is seen as particularly important because, as many experts have noted, since Modi became prime minister in 2014, his government has tried to silence political dissent in general.
“There’s finally a place in which they feel safe to express their political opinions, which is not necessarily the case in Punjab,” Liddar said.
Reluctance to upset India
Though Canada’s Five Eyes allies say they’ve urged India to co-operate in the investigation into Nijjar’s death, the allegations come at a sensitive time in the world, when many countries don’t want to risk alienating India.
To that end, all of the other Five Eyes countries have been quicker than Canada to make public statements about keeping anti-Indian sentiments in check.
In July, an attack on the Indian consulate in San Francisco, including an arson attempt, prompted the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans to denounce it as a criminal offence.
Modi welcomes British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to the G20 summit on Sept. 9. According to Sunak, his government is working very closely with India’s to tackle what he calls ‘pro-Khalistani extremism’ in the U.K. (Getty Images)
During his visit to the G20 summit in India last month, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was working closely with the Indian government to tackle “pro-Khalistani extremism.”
To Liddar, such responses demonstrate that Western democracies are wary of damaging their valuable economic and geopolitical relationships with India.
“Part of speaking for or not speaking for this issue is being framed as supporting and not supporting the Indian government,” she said.
The University of Victoria’s Bose says that if Canada can continue its investigation into Nijjar’s killing while also opposing any elements of extremism India sees as a threat, “it would go a long way” to calm India’s fears.
“I think India might change their attitude,” he said.
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.
