In a stunning news conference Monday, the head of the RCMP accused the Indian government of playing a role in “widespread violence” in Canada, including homicides, and warned that it poses “a serious threat to our public safety.”
Commissioner Mike Duheme laid out the national police force’s allegations just hours after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats. India quickly retaliated, ordering six Canadian diplomats leave the country within a week.
“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” Duheme said during a rare news conference at RCMP headquarters on Thanksgiving Monday.
“Despite law enforcement’s actions, the harm has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety.”
Duheme said his officers, working with other law enforcement agencies, have obtained evidence linking Indian government agents to homicides and other violent acts in Canada, including coercion and extortion.
The commissioner said there have been “well over a dozen” credible and imminent threats to members of the South Asian community, specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement.
Duheme told reporters in Ottawa that Mounties have also collected evidence showing that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion.
“Some of these individuals and businesses were coerced and threatened into working for the government of India,” he said.
“The information collected by the government of India is then used to target members of the South Asian community.”
Duheme said police have also identified serious issues of violent extremists working in both India and Canada; the use of organized crime to create perceptions of unsafe environments and target people in the South Asian community in Canada; and interference in democratic processes.
The ongoing inquiry into foreign interference has already heard evidence that India interfered in the last two Canadian elections.