Canada’s Five Eyes allies showed little inclination Tuesday to wade into an escalating row between Ottawa and New Delhi over allegations that Indian agents were involved in the assassination of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. on June 18.
Most opted to treat the allegation as a matter still to be investigated — in spite of the fact that the Trudeau government feels it has enough information to make an accusation in Parliament and expel a diplomat.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adm. John Kirby was perhaps the most supportive of Canada.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he has ‘confidence’ in the RCMP’s ability to protect Canadians after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India’s government of being involved in the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
“They are certainly serious allegations,” he said Tuesday, “and we believe in order to determine how credible they are, there needs to be a thorough investigation.
“Prime Minister Trudeau has called for that, and so we’ll see how Canada moves forward on this. It’s certainly well within their capacity to do this, and we urge India as well to participate and cooperate in that investigation.”
“It is important to find out exactly what happened.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as they attend a plenary session at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Australian PM Anthony Albanese, who earlier this year hosted India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Australia, refused to comment on the matter at all.
“I don’t talk about Five Eyes intelligence at a press conference, funnily enough,” he said in response to a question about India’s alleged role. “That’s why it’s called intelligence. It’s because we don’t speculate on what the intelligence is. So I don’t intend to talk about Five Eyes intelligence here or anywhere else.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly put out a tweet that made no mention of India at all.
“All countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law. We are in regular contact with our Canadian partners about serious allegations raised in the Canadian Parliament. Important that Canada’s investigation runs its course and the perpetrators brought to justice.”
On Sept. 12, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian G20 delegation finally left India after an embarrassing extended stay caused by airplane issues, one member of the delegation was absent.
National Security Adviser Jody Thomas had quietly left India to fly to London, U.K. Her mission was to tell the U.K. government in person that Canada’s relations with India were about to get a whole lot worse.
There was also a flurry of conversations between Prime Minister Trudeau and the leaders of the U.S., the U.K. and France.
