A parliamentary committee will probe new allegations of Indian foreign interference in Canada that led to the expulsion of diplomats by both countries in tat-for-tat-moves.
At an emergency meeting on Friday, MPs on the standing committee on public safety and national security agreed to undertake a study concerning the “electoral interference and violent criminal activities carried out by agents the Government of India.”
This came after new revelations from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which said on Monday that it has significant information on criminal activity allegedly orchestrated by agents of the Indian government.
The evidence points to “violent extremism” in both countries, links tying Indian government agents to homicides and violent acts, use of organized crime targeting the South Asian community in Canada, and interference in democratic processes, according to the RCMP.
NDP MP Alistair MacGregor moved the motion to start the probe, which was agreed after amendments in a vote by all members on the committee.
“For the RCMP, indeed, for any police force that is conducting an active investigation to come out with such explosive revelations, I think underscores just how serious this is,” MacGregor said on Friday.
As part of this study, it was agreed that at least six meetings will be held.
The committee will invite senior officials like Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin.
The Conservatives said they would also like to hear from incoming CSIS director Daniel Rogers, as well as Shawn Tupper, the deputy minister of Public Safety Canada and the deputy minister of Global Affairs Canada, David Morrison.
Other witnesses include experts from Canada’s South Asian community, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, any former leadership candidates of the 2022 Conservative Party leadership race and national security subject matter experts.
An additional category of witnesses will also testify on the impact of the disinformation campaign by India, the committee agreed.
Relations between India and Canada have soured since 2023 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian intelligence agencies had credible evidence linking agents of the Indian government to the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
India has long denied any involvement in Nijjar’s killing and accused Trudeau on Monday of pursuing a “political agenda.”
Global News has learned agents working out of India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto were behind dozens of violent crimes across Canada that targeted opponents of the Narendra Modi government.
According to senior sources familiar with the matter, supporters of the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab region, as well as rivals of the Modi government, were targeted.
NDP’s MacGregor also put forward a second motion on Friday calling on all federal party leaders to apply for the “appropriate security clearance level in the next 30 days in order to review classified information and take necessary actions to protect Canadians.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested Wednesday that Canadian intelligence agencies have information that multiple Conservative politicians are “engaged or at risk” from foreign interference schemes.
Trudeau noted that list of names include Liberal politicians as well as those from “other parties,” without expanding on what the parliamentarians were suspected of doing.
The second motion got pushback from Conservative MPs on Friday who instead pressed for the release of names of all parliamentarians who are alleged to have interfered with and knowingly colluded with foreign powers.
“These names have to have to come out … and there’s only one person who can do that, and that’s the prime minister of Canada,” said Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman.
“Canadians deserve to know which members of Parliament in which party, no matter what, are colluding with foreign governments, wittingly or unwittingly.”
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May argued that releasing such names would “break the law” and could place Canadian intelligence assets “at risk.”
Making names public poses “a threat to Canadian security and can actually jeopardize lives,” May said.
MacGregor proposed that any release of names should ensure that it protects national security and those who gathered the intelligence.
The committee will reconvene next week on Tuesday.
— with files from Global News and Reuters