Canada and India at a crossroads

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/10/2023 (911 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The last time Canadian diplomacy made world headlines, Lester Pearson cooled the hot war at the Suez Canal in 1957 and earned the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sure, there were spats with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, leading to the occasional removal of diplomats over spying allegations, but these disputes were usually swept under the diplomatic carpet with rare moments of government efficiency.

Those days of quiet Canadian diplomacy are over, owing to the June 18 slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh-Canadian. Video shows he had been gunned down in his truck outside a gurdwara, a place of worship, by a group of masked people in Surrey, B.C.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau basically accused India being behind Nijjar’s killing in Parliament Sept. 18, saying Canadian agencies were “pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen.”

The Indian government, which had issued an arrest warrant against Nijjar for advocating for a separate Sikh state, Khalistan, in India’s Punjab region, called Trudeau’s accusations “absurd” and politically motivated.

India also accused Canada of harbouring Khalistani terrorists and extremists who threaten its sovereignty.

Trudeau had raised the matter with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sept. 10 at the G20 summit in New Delhi, and a government release stated Trudeau “raised the importance of respecting the rule of law, democratic principles and national sovereignty.”

Canada also expelled the head of India’s foreign intelligence service in Canada, and in a tit-for-tat move, India has told a Canadian diplomat to pack his bags and leave. Tuesday, India told the Canadian government that 41 of its 62 remaining diplomats had to leave.

Nijjar was the president of the gurdwara where he was killed, and many of his fellow followers believe foreign interference was involved because of his efforts on behalf of the Khalistan movement, which is outlawed in India.

The worsening relations between the two democratic, Commonwealth countries has left countries allied with both Canada and India in an uncomfortable position.

India has 1.4 billion people, making it a focus for countries’ exports, including goods from Canada, and as a bulwark against China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

India has built up relations with the United States, and in June they formed a new partnership that will deepen economic and defence ties.

The U.S. expressed concern about Nijjar’s slaying after Trudeau’s speech in Parliament and asked the Indian government to co-operate with Canada’s investigation.

Diplomacy is a trickier endeavour than it was during the Cold War, when foreign relations with allies and belligerents was easier to understand for those not privy to back-channel negotiations and global power politics.

India is not just an important trade partner, it is the homeland for about two million Indo-Canadians, including about 770,000 Sikhs.

India has suspended the issuance of visas to Canadian travellers and Ottawa has warned Canadians about travel to India, especially to Punjab, where the Golden Temple of Amritsar, one of Sikhism’s most sacred gurdwaras, is located.

Trudeau has many detractors within Canada, judging by his latest approval ratings, but his relations with other countries, most notably China, have also become more rocky since he took over as prime minister in 2015

Trudeau was correct to mention Nijjar’s killing and to defend Canada’s sovereignty when speaking with Modi.

He must also carefully weigh his diplomatic tone because Canada can rarely, if ever, use the second half of the famous foreign-policy advice — “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” — Theodore Roosevelt created for the U.S. in the early 1900s.