Khalistan supporters chant and wave flags during the Vaisakhi Parade in Surrey, B.C, in April, 2024.Ethan Cairns/The Globe and Mail
The House of Commons public safety committee will launch an emergency study of police allegations that Indian government agents are connected to violent crimes in Canada.
Members of Parliament on the committee unanimously agreed to the study after New Democrats called for it on Tuesday morning. The meeting was agreed to by all parties, according to a letter posted on social media late Tuesday night by B.C. NDP MP Alistair MacGregor.
On Monday, the RCMP and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held separate news conferences at which they alleged that Indian diplomats and consular officials are tied to organized crime in Canada and violent incidents targeting the South Asian community including killings, extortions, harassment, threats and coercion.
The RCMP also said police had identified more than a dozen credible and imminent threats on the lives of people in Canada who are tied to the pro-Khalistan movement, which has the goal of carving out a separate Sikh state from Indian territory.
As police released the information with no specific evidence and before charges were laid, they said they chose to make the rare decision because of the threat to public safety, which they said was increasing.
In the letter signed by the Liberals, Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois, and the NDP, the MPs also said that since September, 2023, at least 13 people have been “warned by the RCMP of grave threats against them.”
“This is very alarming,” the letter says. Given the allegations, the MPs said they are “requesting that the committee urgently convene to discuss these revelations and steps that could be taken by the government to protect Canadians and our country.”
In an interview, Mr. MacGregor said he hopes the committee can hold a series of hearings on the matter, and that look at whether Bill C-70, the new law passed in the spring to help counter foreign interference, is giving police the tools they need to combat the problem.
He said the hearings will allow the “legislative committee to hold the executive to account, to find out what’s going on and to see what additional steps can be taken.”
Mr. MacGregor said he hopes to hear from the RCMP, the Public Safety Minister and expert witnesses who also testified on C-70.
Committee clerk Simon Larouche told The Globe on Wednesday that the meeting is expected to take place on Friday, but has not yet been confirmed.
