USA-&-Canada
6 dead after mass stabbing at Canada home, student who lived with family arrested
A 19-year-old student from Sri Lanka is accused of stabbing and killing six people he lived with, including a 2 1/2-month-old baby girl and three other kids from a Sri Lankan family, Ottawa police said Thursday.
Ottawa police chief Eric Stubbs said an “edged weapon” or “knife-like object” was used by the suspect, who was identified as Febrio De-Zoysa. He has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Mass killings are rare in Canada.
Stubbs said the deceased are Sri Lankan nationals who recently came to Canada. He said they include a 35-year-old mother, a 7-year-old son, a 4-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old daughter and the 2 1/2-month-old baby girl as well as a 40-year-old acquaintance of the family.
The police chief said when the first officers arrived at the home the family’s father was outside and screaming for someone to call 911. Police received two emergency calls at 10:52 p.m. Wednesday.
The father is in hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries.
“This was a senseless act of violence perpetrated on purely innocent people,” Stubbs said.
Sri Lanka’s high commission said that it is in touch with relatives in the country’s capital, Colombo.
De-Zoysa made a brief appearance in court Thursday and mumbled his assent as the justice of the peace ordered him not to speak to the father who survived the attack or to four other witnesses who provided statements to the police.
His case was adjourned until March 13 to give him time to find a lawyer.
Police were called to the home in the Barrhaven area just before 11 p.m. Wednesday night. The suspect was arrested quickly after that, and police said there was no continuing threat to public safety.
Don Perera, a neighbor, said he met the family that lived in the home last fall at a Halloween party at the nearby Catholic elementary school. He said the father was from Sri Lanka.
Shanti Ramesh, who lives across the street, was alerted to a commotion late Wednesday. From her balcony, she saw a man sitting on the driveway of the home and yelling before two police officers arrived and carried him away.
On Thursday morning, five marked police cars were parked on the street and in driveways near the home, which is a middle unit of a row of brick townhouses.
Several people in white jumpsuits were going in and out of the home throughout the early morning, while parents and kids walked and biked by on their way to a nearby elementary school.
“Our first reactions are all ones of shock and horror at this terrible violence,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the news distressing for all the city’s residents.
“It's hard to believe,” he said. “It's devastating and heartbreaking.”
Police have identified the victims as Darshani Banbaranayake Gama Walwwe Darshani Dilanthika Ekanyake, the 35-year-old mother; Inuka Wickramasinghe, a 7-year-old boy; Ashwini Wickramasinghe, a 4-year-old daughter, Rinyana Wickramasinghe, a 2-year-old daughter and Kelly Wickramasinghe, a 2 1/2-month-old baby girl.
A sixth victim, Amarakoonmubiayansela Ge Gamini Amarakoon, 40, was also found deceased.
Why is Canada limiting international student permits? Who will be affected? Here are the details
In a move that marks a significant shift in its immigration policy, the Canadian government has announced a plan to limit the number of international student permits over the next two years. This decision, as reported by CBC, comes amidst growing concerns over housing availability and the operations of certain private colleges in the country.
The federal government plans to approve approximately 360,000 undergraduate study permits for 2024, which is a 35% reduction compared to the numbers from 2023. This cap will be distributed across Canadian provinces and territories based on population, leading to potentially sharper decreases in regions where the growth of the international student population has been deemed unsustainable.
Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller highlighted that in some provinces, the reduction in permits might reach around 50 percent. Provinces and territories will have the autonomy to decide the allocation of permits among their universities and colleges. This cap is set to remain for two years, with a reassessment planned for the end of this year regarding the number of permits to be issued in 2025.
Read: US embassy holds “Super Friday” to help meet huge demand for student visa interviews
The immigration minister expressed concerns about the practices of some small private colleges, criticizing their exploitation of international students. He accused these institutions of operating under-resourced campuses, lacking adequate student support, while charging high tuition fees and substantially increasing their intake of international students. In a detailed interview with the CBC, Miller spoke about institutions offering dubious business degrees, with possibly hundreds of such schools operating in Canada, a number that has surged in recent years.
Alongside the permit cap, the Canadian government announced significant changes to the post-graduation work permit program. Starting September, international students enrolled in programs under curriculum licensing arrangements with private colleges will no longer be eligible for post-graduation work permits. Conversely, graduates from master’s and other short graduate-level programs will soon be able to apply for a three-year work permit. Spouses of international students in master’s and doctoral programs will also be eligible for open work permits.
Read: Bangladesh requests Germany to expedite student visa processing
The housing crisis in Canada, exacerbated by the influx of international students, played a critical role in this policy change. Mike Moffatt, an assistant professor at the Ivey Business School at Western University and a senior director at the Smart Prosperity Institute, emphasized the urgent need for such measures. He pointed out the substantial impact of international students on housing markets in various cities, with low-income renters struggling for limited rental spots and investors buying single-family homes for student rentals, which hinders first-time home buyers.
Read more: Australia changes int'l student visa rules
Recent polls indicate increasing public concern about the influence of immigration levels on the housing situation in Canada. This policy shift by the federal government reflects an attempt to address these multifaceted issues, balancing the needs of the education sector, international students, and the broader Canadian community.
Canada removes 41 diplomats from India after New Delhi threatens to revoke their immunity
Canada has recalled 41 of its diplomats from India after the Indian government said it would revoke their diplomatic immunity, the foreign minister said Thursday, in an escalation of their dispute over the slaying of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
The moves come after Canada's allegations that India may have been involved in the June killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in suburban Vancouver. India has accused Canada of harboring separatists and "terrorists," but dismissed the allegation of its involvement in the killing as "absurd" and has taken diplomatic steps to express its anger over the accusation.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that 41 of Canada's 62 diplomats in India have been removed, along with their dependents. Joly said exceptions have been made for 21 Canadian diplomats who will remain in India.
India-Canada row: Trudeau speaks with Jordan King and UAE President
"Forty-one Canadian diplomats and their 42 dependents were in danger of having their immunity stripped on an arbitrary date and this would put their personal safety at risk," Joly said. "Our diplomats and their families have now left."
Joly said removing diplomatic immunity is not only unprecedented but contrary to international law, and said for that reason Canada wouldn't threaten to do the same thing with Indian diplomats.
"A unilateral revocation of the diplomatic privilege and immunity is contrary to international law and a clear violation of the Geneva Convention on diplomatic relations. Threatening to do so is unreasonable and escalatory," Joly said.
Joly said India's decision will impact the level of services to citizens of both countries. She said Canada is pausing in-person services in Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bangalore.
India's Ministry of External Affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had previously called for a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India, saying they outnumbered India's staffing in Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last month that there were "credible allegations" of Indian involvement in the slaying of Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader who was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver.
Canada is here to cooperate with and support Bangladesh, says its high commissioner
For years, India had said that Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, had links to terrorism, an allegation Nijjar denied.
India also has canceled visas for Canadians, and Canada has not retaliated for that. India previously expelled a senior Canadian diplomat after Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat.
Trudeau has previously appeared to try to calm the diplomatic clash, telling reporters that Canada is "not looking to provoke or escalate."
The allegation of India's involvement in the killing is based in part on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally, a separate Canadian official previously told The Associated Press.
The official said that the communications involved Indian officials and diplomats in Canada and that some of the intelligence was provided by a member of the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Canada. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The latest expulsions by India have escalated tensions between the countries. Trudeau had frosty encounters with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the recent Group of 20 meeting in New Delhi, and a few days later, Canada canceled a trade mission to India planned for the fall.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with India's foreign minister amid the simmering row. A U.S. official said the topic was raised. U.S. officials have acknowledged that the fallout from the allegations could have an impact on relations with India, but have been careful not to cast blame in the killing of Nijjar.
Nijjar, a plumber, was also a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan. A bloody decade-long Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
US rejects report saying India-Canada dispute is threatening Washington’s ties with Delhi
The Khalistan movement has lost much of its political power but still has supporters in the Indian state of Punjab, as well as in the sizable overseas Sikh diaspora. While the active insurgency ended years ago, the Indian government has warned repeatedly that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller noted that in 2022 India was the top country for permanent residents, temporary foreign workers and international students in Canada. Miller said as a result of India's decision to remove immunity Canada's immigration department will be significantly reducing the number of Canadian employees in India. Miller said the lower staff levels will hamper the issuing of visas and permits.
Senior Canadian officials said India was firm on the number and rank of Canadian diplomats for whom it would lift diplomatic immunity. India also indicated it would cancel various permits, such as those permitting spouses to work in India and allowing the use of diplomatic plates on cars, officials said.
Nelson Wiseman, a political scientist at the University of Toronto, said there would be no point in Canada retaliating over India's latest move.
"The expulsions of the Canadian diplomats reveal the thin skin of the Indians; it suggests that they know they are complicit in the murder of a Canadian in Canada," Wiseman said. "They are trying to deflect attention from their lack of cooperation with Canada in the investigation of the murder."
Canada's House of Commons elects first Black speaker
Canada’s House of Commons on Tuesday elected Greg Fergus as its new speaker, making the Liberal lawmaker the first Black Canadian to hold the position.
The election was triggered by the resignation of Anthony Rota, who stepped down last week after he invited — and honored — a man who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II.
Just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke before the Canadian parliament last month, Canadian lawmakers gave 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka a standing ovation when Rota drew attention to him. Rota introduced Hunka as a war hero who fought for the First Ukrainian Division.
Read: Killing of Sikh separatist: India tells Canada to withdraw over 40 diplomatic staff, reports say
Observers later began to publicize the fact that the First Ukrainian Division also was known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, or the SS 14th Waffen Division, a voluntary unit that was under the command of the Nazis. Rota later apologized saying he had not been aware of that.
Fergus, 54, is a Quebec Liberal lawmaker.
Read: Despite dispute, Canada remains committed to its relationship with India: Trudeau
After lawmakers elected him to the role through a secret ballot, he promised to lead with respect, and encouraged his fellow lawmakers to respect each other. Canadians are watching, he noted.
“The speaker, to use the old hockey analogy, is nothing more than a referee,” Fergus said in his first speech from the chair. “And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that nobody pays good money to go see the referee. They go to see the stars: you.”
Read more: Blinken meets Indian foreign minister as row between India and Canada simmers
Canada’s interests currently pale in comparison to India’s massive strategic importance: BBC cites experts
Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to the stage at the House of Commons and made an explosive announcement by accusing “agents of Indian government” of killing a Canadian citizen – a prominent Sikh separatist whom India has accused of terrorism – on Canadian soil.
The accusation, swiftly condemned and denied by New Delhi, has torpedoed the Indo-Canadian diplomatic relationship.
Following Trudeau’s public accusations, the diplomatic confrontation between both countries has reached an all-time high.
Also read: Intelligence from 'Five Eyes' nations helped Canada link India to Sikh’s killing, US diplomat says
As part of the confrontation, the North American country has expelled the “Canadian station chief of India’s intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW),” accusing him of interfering in Ottawa’s “internal affairs.”
Meanwhile, in a tit-for-tat move, India has also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat and later suspended all visa services for Canadian nationals.
Amid these diplomatic measures, one thing is very significant to note that both India and Canada are allies of the United States, or in other words, the West.
India is one of the most significant allies of the US and one of the important frontiers of Washington’s confrontation with Beijing.
Also read: How India’s relations with Canada hit rock bottom
In the midst of such cold geopolitical realities, one might wonder where Justin Trudeau stands on the world stage.
According to the BBC, Trudeau has been facing the cold reality of geopolitics “alone” in the past week.
“In the public eye at least, Trudeau has appeared to be left largely on his own as he goes toe to toe with India, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with a population 35 times bigger than Canada’s,” BBC reports.
It is worth noting that Canada has received the intelligence regarding New Delhi’s “spy ops” from Five Eyes intelligence alliance – made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Also read: India asks citizens to be careful if traveling to Canada as rift widens over Sikh leader’s death
However, according to BBC, Trudeau’s allies in the intelligence network have provided “seemingly boilerplate public statements, all stopping far short of full-throated support.”
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said his country took “very seriously the things that Canada is saying.” Using nearly identical language, Australia said it was “deeply concerned” by the accusations.
Also read: Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Sikh activist whose killing has divided Canada and India?
Meanwhile, Ottawa’s southern neighbour, the United States, said it expects Delhi to cooperate with Ottawa in investigating the assassination.
Citing experts, BBC noted that Canada’s interests currently pale in comparison to India’s massive strategic importance.
“The US, the UK, and all these Western and Indo-Pacific allies have built a strategy that largely focuses on India, to be a bulwark and counterweight to China. That’s something they can’t afford to toss out the window,” Xavier Delgado, a researcher at the Wilson Centre’s Canada Institute told BBC. “The fact that they haven’t come out and rushed to Canada’s defence is indicative of the geopolitical reality,” he added.
Also read: Canada expels Indian diplomat as it investigates Sikh activist's killing
Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing, official says
The allegation of India's involvement in the killing of a Sikh Canadian is based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally, a Canadian official told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The official said the communications involved Indian officials and Indian diplomats in Canada and that some of the intelligence was provided by a member of the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Canada.
The official did not say which ally provided intelligence or give details of what was contained in the communications or how they were obtained. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Also read: How India’s relations with Canada hit rock bottom
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported the intelligence.
The revelation came as India stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens and told Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff as the rift widened over allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of suspected Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist.
Ties between the two countries have plunged to their lowest point in years after Trudeau told Parliament Monday there were "credible allegations" of Indian involvement in the assassination on Canadian soil.
Also read: India asks citizens to be careful if traveling to Canada as rift widens over Sikh leader’s death
Nijjar, a plumber who was born in India and became a Canadian citizen in 2007, had been wanted by India for years before he was gunned down in June outside the temple he led in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver.
Speaking Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Trudeau acknowledged the complicated diplomatic situation.
"The decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons was not done lightly," he said. "There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with."
"We are not looking to provoke or cause problems but we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians."
The bombshell allegation set off an international tit-for-tat, with each country expelling a diplomat. India called the allegations "absurd."
Also read: India suspends visa services for Canadians amid diplomatic row
Canada has yet to provide public evidence to back Trudeau's allegations, and Canada's U.N. ambassador, Bob Rae, indicated that might not come soon.
"This is very early days," Rae told reporters Thursday, saying that while facts will emerge, they must "come out in the course of the pursuit of justice."
"That's what we call the rule of law in Canada," he said.
Meanwhile, the company that processes Indian visas in Canada announced services had been suspended. Canadians are among the top travelers to India, with 277,000 Canadian tourists visiting the country in 2022, according to India's Bureau of Immigration.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi blamed the visa suspension, which includes visas issued in third countries, on safety issues.
Also read: Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Sikh activist whose killing has divided Canada and India?
"Security threats being faced by our High Commission and consulates in Canada have disrupted their normal functioning," Bagchi told reporters. He gave no details on the alleged threats.
The announcement quickly rippled across Canada, especially among people with ties to India.
Maitreyi Bhatt, a 27-year-old Indian citizen whose partner is Canadian and needs a visa, was distraught because her wedding is scheduled for late October in India, when he was to meet her family for the first time.
"I've been crying all day," she said. "It's so difficult. I was just so excited for him to meet my family."
She said the venue is booked and the couple has non-refundable flights. She said her partner went to the Indian Consulate in Toronto but was escorted out by security.
Also read: What to know about the Sikh movement at the center of the tensions between India and Canada
"People like me are just caught up in this and it's just not fair," she said.
Sukhwinder Dhillon, a 56-year-old grocery store owner in Montreal, said he had a trip planned to India to see family and sort out his deceased father's estate. Dhillon, who came to Canada in 1998, makes the trip every two or three years and has lost two family members since he was last home.
"My father passed, and my brother passed," Dhillon said. "I want to go now. ... Now I don't know when we'll go."
Bagchi, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman, also called on Canada to cut its diplomatic corps in India, saying they outnumbered Indian diplomats in Canada.
The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi said Thursday that its consulates in India were open and continue to serve clients. It said some of its diplomats had received threats on social media, adding that Canada expects India to provide security for its diplomats and consular officers working there.
Also read: Canada expels Indian diplomat as it investigates Sikh activist's killing
On Wednesday, India warned its citizens to be careful when traveling to Canada because of "growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate-crimes."
India's security and intelligence branches have long been active in South Asia and are suspected in a number of killings in Pakistan. But arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.
India has criticized Canada for years over giving free rein to Sikh separatists, including Nijjar. New Delhi had accused him of links to terrorism, which he denied.
Nijjar was a local leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan. A bloody Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
While the active insurgency ended decades ago, the Indian government has warned that Sikh separatists are trying to stage a comeback and pressed countries like Canada, where Sikhs comprise over 2% of the population, to do more to stop them.
At the time of his killing, Nijjar was working to organize an unofficial Sikh diaspora referendum on independence from India.
New Delhi's anxieties about Sikh separatist groups in Canada have long been a strain on the relationship.
In March, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government summoned the Canadian high commissioner in New Delhi, its top diplomat in the country, to complain about Sikh independence protests in Canada.
Signs of a broader diplomatic rift emerged at the summit of the Group of 20 leading world economies hosted by India earlier this month. Trudeau had frosty encounters with Modi, and a few days later Canada canceled a trade mission to India planned for the fall. A trade deal between the two is now on pause.
How India’s relations with Canada hit rock bottom
India and Canada are embroiled in their biggest diplomatic spat in living memory, resulting in tit-for-tat moves that saw Canada expel the station chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW, the Indian intelligence agency. Within hours, the Indian government responded in kind and expelled the Canadian intelligence agency’s station chief in India.
“The concerned diplomat has been asked to leave India within the next five days,” said a press release issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), adding, “The decision reflects the Government of India’s growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”
Also read: India asks citizens to be careful if traveling to Canada as rift widens over Sikh leader’s death
The language of the press release is not what you usually see between friendly nations. And it has kept getting worse. But how did it all come to this? And could it have been avoided?
Roots of the conflict
The row exploded into a full-blown international crisis on Monday, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament that Canadian security agencies were “actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar’s death”.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver with a large Sikh population (Canada is home to the world’s largest population of Sikhs outside the Indian state of Punjab). Nijjar was known as an ardent supporter of a separate Sikh homeland, Khalistan, to be carved out of Punjab, and was designated as a “terrorist” by India in July 2020. The Khalistan Tiger Force chief was the fourth Khalistani separatist to be killed on foreign soil in 2023, and fuelled speculation within India itself that RAW was mounting a secret operation to eliminate such elements in the Indian diaspora.
Trudeau said any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”, adding he had raised the murder with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Also read: Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Sikh activist whose killing has divided Canada and India?
Analysts are of the view that Trudeau’s decision to go public with the accusation in the way that he did was driven at least partly by the torrid time he endured in New Delhi during the G20 summit, held September 9-10. After the summit was over, Trudeau remained stranded in Delhi for two days as his aircraft experienced technical difficulties. By all accounts, he spent those two days holed up in his room at the Lalit Hotel with his son, who was travelling with him.
If the Canadian leader spent those two days checking out the Indian media, he would have seen they were full of reports essentially trolling him, on him being rebuked by his counterpart Narendra Modi during the summit itself. The two prime ministers did not hold a formal bilateral meeting at the summit, but in a brief conversation on the sidelines, Trudeau said the pair discussed foreign interference and “respect for the rule of law.”
Meanwhile the Indian MEA in a handout said Modi conveyed “strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada. They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship."
Also read: What to know about the Sikh movement at the center of the tensions between India and Canada
"The nexus of such forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well,” it added.
The Khalistan movement in Canada
Asked about India's concerns over the increasing activities of Khalistani elements in Canada, Trudeau said at a press conference that his country “will always defend freedom of peaceful protest, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech” but at the same time asserted that it will always prevent violence and push back against hatred. This did not go down well with his hosts, and drove much of the criticism in the media.
For Trudeau, it must have felt like groundhog day all over again. He endured an even more torturous trip in 2018, when he had to wait till the fifth day of a six-day state visit to gain an audience with Modi. Speaking to CNN at the time, Dhruva Jaishankar, a fellow at Delhi-based think tank Brookings India, said that Modi’s apparent cold shouldering of Trudeau was significant.
“This is quite clearly a strong signal that India is very unhappy with the Trudeau government for its approach to this (Khalistani separatist) issue,” said Jaishankar.
What Canada would describe as ‘political activism’ or protests on its soil by the large Sikh population in the country (numbering 770,000 or 2.1 percent of the population in the latest census) has been a flashpoint between Delhi and Ottawa throughout Trudeau’s time in office. After appointing four Sikhs to his first cabinet in 2015, Trudeau boasted about having more Sikh ministers than Modi, who was elected a year earlier. Soon however, attention turned to his perceived proximity to individuals sympathetic to the Khalistani cause, straining bilateral relations.
Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan’s ties to the movement received particular focus. Today he remains part of Trudeau’s cabinet, serving as minister of international development. The current Trudeau administration, following the elections in 2019, is a minority government dependent on the New Democratic Party for its majority in parliament. The NDP is headed by Jagmeet Singh, described in the Indian media as “an arch-Khalistani separatist”. In the wake of Trudeau’s speech in parliament on Monday, Singh has vowed to hold Narendra Modi “accountable”.
Also read: Canada expels Indian diplomat as it investigates Sikh activist's killing
In a sharply-worded rebuttal on Tuesday, the Indian MEA said the allegations made by Trudeau were “absurd and motivated”. It went on to add: “Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.”
How serious is the threat?
That ‘long-standing’ concern stretches back to at least 1982, when the Indian government asked for the extradition of a Khalistani militant, Talwinder Parmar, wanted for the murder of police officers in Punjab. But the Canadian government, then led by Justin’s father Pierre Trudeau, refused. Stunningly, Parmar, who was the head of Babbar Khalsa, a Khalistani separatist group, would go on to bomb an Air India plane, the Kanishka, in 1985, which blew up midair off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard.
A commission of inquiry set up under Justice John Major gave a report in 2010, which squarely blamed Canadian police and intelligence for grave negligence. Canadian authorities should have known that Air India Flight 182 was a terrorism target, Major said, adding that the failure of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP, or ‘the Mounties’) and Canada’s spy agency Canadian Security and Intelligence Services (CSIS) to prevent the tragedy was “inexcusable.”
Also read: India dismisses allegations of killing Sikh activist in Canada as 'absurd', expels senior Canadian diplomat
Some of the evidence presented in the inquiry rings eerily similar to some of the rhetoric Nijjar and his associates were reportedly engaging in recently. Parmar, who was killed by Indian police in 1992 after sneaking into the country, told his followers in 1984 that "Indian planes will fall from the sky." That same year, one of his associates, Ajaib Singh Bagri, told the founding convention of the World Sikh Organization, another entity designated as ‘terrorist’ by India: "Until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest!"
It was the same year that Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, in Amritsar to flush out separatists who had taken refuge there. The operation killed around 400 people, according to official figures, but Sikh groups say thousands were killed. It was part of a crackdown on an armed insurgency that lasted around a decade. The dead included Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, whom the Indian government accused of leading the armed insurgency.
On Oct. 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who ordered the raid on the Golden Temple, was assassinated by two of her bodyguards, who were Sikh. Her death triggered a series of anti-Sikh riots, in which Hindu mobs went from house to house across northern India, particularly New Delhi, pulling Sikhs from their homes, hacking many to death and burning others alive.
There is no active insurgency in Punjab today, but the Khalistan movement still has some supporters in the state, as well as in the sizable Sikh diaspora beyond India. Canadian journalist Terry Milewski, who has tracked the movement since the Air India bombing, told a broadcaster in his country recently that the Khalistan movement had died down everywhere in the world, “except in Canada.” The Indian government has warned repeatedly over the years that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
India has also been asking countries such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom to take legal action against Khalistan activists. Earlier this year, Sikh protesters pulled down the Indian flag at the country’s high commission in London and smashed the building’s window in a show of anger against the move to arrest Amritpal Singh, a 30-year-old separatist leader who had revived calls for Khalistan and stirred fears of violence in Punjab.
Protesters also smashed windows at the Indian consulate in San Francisco, setting fire to it briefly, and skirmished with embassy workers. The Indian government also accused Khalistan supporters in Canada of vandalising Hindu temples with “anti-India” graffiti and of attacking the offices of the Indian High Commission in Ottawa during a protest in March.
For its part, the Canadian government has consistently maintained that their Indian counterparts had failed to present them with the requisite evidence to take action against these elements, many of whom are now Canadian citizens.
Against this background, it was seen as almost a matter of time before India started taking matters into its own hands, as part of a more assertive, muscular foreign policy under Modi. Of the four Khalistani leaders killed in 2023, two were gunned down in Pakistan, which India considers an enemy state. In May, Avtar Singh Khanda, who allegedly planned the attack on the Indian High Commission in London, died in the UK. Although he was suspected to have been poisoned, UK authorities said he was suffering from blood cancer. Understandably, none of these deaths had the potential to generate the kind of backlash as the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil, by operatives possibly working for a friendly state.
Trudeau on Tuesday said Canada is not trying to provoke India by suggesting it was linked to the murder of Nijjar, but wants New Delhi to address the issue properly. He told reporters that the case had far-reaching consequences in international law.
"The government of India needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness. We are doing that; we are not looking to provoke or escalate," he said.
The two countries, meanwhile, issued travel advisories for their respective citizens, with Indians warned by their government to watch out for “politically-condoned hate crimes” in Canada.
Nijjar was shot as he was leaving the parking lot of the Sikh temple where he served as president in British Columbia. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.
After the killing, a lawyer and spokesperson for Sikhs For Justice, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, said he had spoken to Nijjar by phone the day before he was killed and that Nijjar had told him that Canadian intelligence had warned him that his life was at risk.
Notably Pannun too is designated as a terrorist by the Indian government, and in the wake of Nijjar’s killing, there was talk in the Indian media of him being targeted next, as India’s ‘top priority’. He himself has been issuing dire threats to ‘Indo-Hindus’ to leave Canada
The entire affair has also caused talks over a trade deal between the two nations to break down. As things stand, Trudeau will have to come forward and present what evidence he has, if India continues to be dismissive of the allegations he brought. Yet that may only serve to escalate the situation further. Ultimately, he may have to make a very difficult choice between preserving his own credibility, or preserving relations with India.
Alternatively, there is a view within India that the Khalistan movement, in its present state, does not merit the kind of attention it has received from the Modi government.
Hartosh Singh Bal, executive editor of The Caravan, told Al Jazeera “The Khalistan movement has a long history and during the 1980s, there was a violent military movement on Indian soil. But ever since – at least in India, in the state of Punjab, where the Sikhs are the majority – the Khalistan movement has been virtually non-existent, enjoys no political support and goes up and down depending on the attention the Indian government pays to it.”
He went on to add that the kind of activism the movement’s adherents abroad were involved in “could have ideally been easily ignored”.
Now however, the entire issue has reached a juncture from where it may well be impossible to ignore. And the fallout will be monitored closely in the days ahead around the world.
Hurricane Idalia hits Florida with 125 mph winds, flooding streets, snapping trees and cutting power
Hurricane Idalia tore into Florida at the speed of a fast-moving train Wednesday, splitting trees in half, ripping roofs off hotels and turning small cars into boats before sweeping into Georgia and South Carolina as a still-powerful storm that flooded roadways and sent residents running for higher ground.
"All hell broke loose," said Belond Thomas of Perry, a mill town located just inland from the Big Bend region where Idalia came ashore.
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Thomas fled with her family and some friends to a motel, thinking it would be safer than riding out the storm at home. But as Idalia's eye passed over about 8:30 a.m., a loud whistling noise pierced the air and the high winds ripped the building's roof off, sending debris down on her pregnant daughter, who was lying in bed. Fortunately, she was not injured.
"It was frightening," Thomas said. "Things were just going so fast. ... Everything was spinning."
After coming ashore, Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. as a high-end Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph). The system remained a hurricane as it crossed into Georgia with top winds of 90 mph (150 mph). It weakened to a tropical storm by late Wednesday afternoon, and its winds had dropped to 65 mph (100 kph) by Wednesday evening.
As the eye moved inland, high winds shredded signs, blew off roofs, sent sheet metal flying and snapped tall trees. One person was killed in Georgia. No hurricane-related deaths were officially confirmed in Florida, but the Florida Highway Patrol reported two people dying in separate weather-related crashes just hours before Idalia made landfall.
The storm was bringing strong winds to Savannah, Georgia, Wednesday evening as it made its way toward the Carolinas. It was forecast to pass over Charleston, South Carolina, early Thursday morning before turning east and heading out to the Atlantic Ocean.
Idalia spawned a tornado that briefly touched down in the Charleston suburb of Goose Creek, the National Weather Service said. The winds sent a car flying and flipped it over, according to authorities and eyewitness video. Two people received minor injuries.
Along South Carolina's coast, North Myrtle Beach, Garden City, and Edisto Island all reported ocean water flowing over sand dunes and spilling onto beachfront streets Wednesday evening. In Charleston, storm surge from Idalia topped the seawall that protects the downtown, sending ankle-deep ocean water into the streets and neighborhoods where horse-drawn carriages pass million-dollar homes and the famous open-air market.
Preliminary data showed the Wednesday evening high tide reached just over 9.2 feet (2.8 meters), more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) above normal and the fifth-highest reading in Charleston Harbor since records were first kept in 1899.
Florida had feared the worst while still recovering from last year's Hurricane Ian, which hit the heavily populated Fort Myers area, leaving 149 dead in the state. Unlike that storm, Idalia blew into a very lightly inhabited area known as Florida's "nature coast," one of the state's most rural regions that lies far from crowded metropolises or busy tourist areas and features millions of acres of undeveloped land.
That doesn't mean that it didn't do major damage. Rushing water covered streets near the coast, unmoored small boats and nearly a half-million customers in Florida and Georgia lost power. In Perry, the wind blew out store windows, tore siding off buildings and overturned a gas station canopy. Heavy rains partially flooded Interstate 275 in Tampa and wind toppled power lines onto the northbound side of Interstate 75 just south of Valdosta, Georgia.
Less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of where Idalia made landfall, businesses, boat docks and homes in Steinhatchee, Florida, were swallowed up by water surging in from Deadman's Bay. Police officers blocked traffic into the coastal community of more than 500 residents known for fishing and foresting industries.
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State officials, 5,500 National Guardsman and rescue crews were in search-and-recovery mode, inspecting bridges, clearing toppled trees and looking for anyone in distress.
Because of the remoteness of the Big Bend area, search teams may need more time to complete their work compared with past hurricanes in more urban areas, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management.
"You may have two houses on a 5-mile (8-kilometer) road so it's going to take some time," Guthries said.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia "an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.
On the island of Cedar Key, downed trees and debris blocked roads, and propane tanks exploded.
RJ Wright stayed behind so he could check on elderly neighbors. He hunkered down with friends in a motel and when it was safe, walked outside into chest-high water. It could have been a lot worse for the island, which juts into the Gulf, since it didn't take a direct hit, he said.
"It got pretty gnarly for a while, but it was nothing compared to some of the other storms," Wright said.
In Tallahassee, the power went out well before the center of the storm arrived, but the city avoided a direct hit. A giant oak tree next to the governor's mansion split in half, covering the yard with debris.
In Valdosta, Georgia, Idalia's fierce winds uprooted trees and sent rain flying sideways. Jonathon Wick said he didn't take the approaching hurricane seriously until Wednesday morning, when he awoke to howling winds outside his home. After rescuing his young nephews from a trampoline in their back yard where the water rose to his knees, he brought them to his car and was climbing into the driver's seat when a tree toppled right in front of the vehicle.
"If that tree would have fell on the car, I would be dead," said Wick, who ended up getting rescued by another family member.
One man was killed in Valdosta when a tree fell on him as he was trying to clear another tree out of the road Wednesday, said Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk. Two others, including a sheriff's deputy, were injured when the tree fell, Paulk said.
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More than 30,000 utility workers in Florida were gathering to make repairs as quickly as possible in the hurricane's wake. Airports in the region, including Tampa International Airport, planned to restart commercial operations either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday. By midday Wednesday, more than 900 flights had been canceled in Florida and Georgia, according to tracking service FlightAware.
At 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Tropical Storm Idalia was about 60 miles (95 kilometers) west of Charleston, South Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northeast at 21 mph (33 kph).
Officials in Bermuda warned that Idalia could hit the island early next week as a tropical storm. Bermuda on Wednesday was being lashed by the outer bands of Hurricane Franklin, a Category 2 storm that was on track to pass near the island in the north Atlantic Ocean.
President Joe Biden called the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina on Wednesday and told them their states had his administration's full support, the White House said.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau slams Facebook for blocking Canada wildfire news
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday accused Facebook of putting profits over people’s safety during the emergencies created by Canada’s record wildfire season.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced earlier this summer it would keep its promise to block news content from Canada on its platforms because of a new law that requires tech giants to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.
Fires raging in Canada have pushed tens of thousands of people from their homes and threatened cities such as Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories. About 30,000 people were under evacuation orders in British Columbia.
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“Right now, in an emergency situation where up to date local information is more important than ever, Facebook is putting corporate profits ahead of people's safety,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Cornwall on Prince Edward Island.
“It is so inconceivable that a company like Facebook is choosing to put corporate profits ahead of insuring that local news organizations can get up to date information to Canadians,” the prime minister said.
Government ministers called on Meta on Friday to lift its Canada news ban, which applies to local outlets as well as national media such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Read: Poor air quality from Canadian wildfires affects people as far as away as North Carolina
The company, which is headquartered in Northern California, stood by its decision and said in a statement about the wildfires that people in Canada can continue to use Instagram and Facebook “to connect with their communities and access reputable information, including content from official government agencies, emergency services and non-governmental organizations.”
The country's residents and visitors are not able to view or share news on the Meta-owned social networks, including news articles, videos and audio posted by outlets inside or outside of Canada.
Meta has not been alone in its action. Google’s owner, Alphabet, also said it planned to remove Canadian news links in response to the new law, although it hasn’t followed through yet. The Online News Act, passed in late June after lengthy debate, is set to take effect later this year.
“This is Facebook’s choice," Trudeau said. “In a democracy, quality local journalism matters, and it matters now more than ever before when people are worried about their homes, worried about their communities, worried about the worst summer for extreme events that we’ve had in a very long time.”
British Columbia Premier David Eby said it is unacceptable that Meta hasn't reversed its decision to block Canadian news from being shared online.
Read: Millions breathing hazardous air as smoke from Canadian wildfires streams south over US
“I find it astonishing that we are at this stage of the crisis and the owners of Facebook and Instagram have not come forward and said ‘We’re trying to make a point with the federal government, but it’s more important that people are safe,'" Eby said.
He added that many people in British Columbia rely on media shared through Facebook to access information about the wildfires.
Meta took similar steps in the past. In 2021, it briefly blocked news from its platform in Australia after the country passed legislation that would compel tech companies to pay publishers for using their news stories. It later struck deals with Australian publishers.
Rain from Tropical Storm Hilary lashes California and Mexico, swamping roads and trapping cars
Tropical Storm Hilary inundated streets across Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninunsula with deadly floodwaters Sunday before moving over Southern California, where it swamped roads and downed trees, as concerns mounted that flash floods could strike in places as far north as Idaho that rarely get such torrential rain.
Forecasters said Hilary was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, bringing flash floods, mudslides, high winds, power outages and the potential for isolated tornadoes.
Hilary made landfall along the Mexican coast in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Ensenada, then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.
Read: Powerful Hurricane Hilary heads for Mexico's Baja. Rare tropical storm watch issued for California
At least 9 million people were under flash-flood watches and warnings as heavy rain fell across normally sunny Southern California ahead of the brunt of the storm. Desert areas were especially susceptible along with hillsides with wildfire burn scars, forecasters warned.
Mud and boulders spilled onto highways, water overwhelmed drainage systems and tree branches fell in neighborhoods from San Diego to Los Angeles. Dozens of cars were trapped in floodwaters in Palm Springs and surrounding desert communities across the the Coachella Valley. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
The National Weather Service's Los Angeles office reported in the evening via X, formerly known as Twitter, that “very heavy rain” was continuing in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The highest rainfall totals so far were 6.15 inches (15.62 centimeters) at Leona Valley and 5.94 inches (15.1 centimeters) at Lewis Ranch, the agency added, saying there was significant flooding and urging people to stay off the roads.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest school system, said all campuses would be closed on Monday.
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“There is no way we can compromise the safety of a single child or an employee, and our inability to survey buildings, our inability to determine access to schools makes it nearly impossible for us to open schools," Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a media briefing. San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes from Monday to Tuesday.
Southern California got another surprise in the afternoon as an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely and was followed by smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, according to a dispatcher with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
Hilary could wallop other Western states with once-in-a-century rains, with a good chance of it becoming the wettest known tropical cyclone to douse Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. Hilary was expected to remain a tropical storm into central Nevada early Monday before dissipating.
By Sunday evening, Hilary had moved over San Diego and was headed north into inland desert areas. Around midday, it had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (97 kph).
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Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said that while Hilary had weakened from a Category 4 hurricane, it’s the water, not the wind, that people should watch out for most — some areas could get as much rain in hours that they typically get in a year.
“You do not want to be out driving around, trying to cross flooded roads on vehicle or on foot," Brennan said during a briefing from Miami. “Rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States in the past 10 years, and you don’t want to become a statistic.”
Hilary is just the latest major climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed over 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.
The Mexican cities of Ensenada and Tijuana closed all beaches and opened a half-dozen shelters at sports complexes and government offices.
One person drowned Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia when a vehicle was swept away in an overflowing stream. Rescue workers saved four other people, said Edith Aguilar Villavicencio, the mayor of Mulege township.
Mexican army troops fanned out across Mulege, where some of the worst damage occurred Saturday on the eastern side of the Baja Peninsula. Soldiers used bulldozers and dump trucks to help clear tons of boulders and earth clogging streets and roads that were turned into raging torrents a day earlier.
Power lines were toppled in many places, and emergency personnel were working to restore power and reach those cut off by the storm.
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Brennan said rainfall could reach between 3 and 6 inches (7 centimeters and 15 centimeters) in many areas. Forecasters warned it could dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) — a year’s worth of rain — in some isolated areas.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has officials inside California’s emergency preparedness office and teams on standby with food, water and other help.
In coastal Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, 19-year-old Jack Johnson and his friends kept an eye on the huge waves, determined to surf them at some point Sunday.
“It’s really choppy out there, not really surfable yet, but I think we can find a good break somewhere later,” Johnson said. “I can’t remember a storm like this.”
The weather service said tornadoes were possible in eastern San Diego County.
Los Angeles authorities scrambled to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters, and officials ordered all state beaches in San Diego and Orange counties closed.
Across the region, municipalities ran out of free sandbags and grocery shelves emptied as people stockpiled supplies. California’s Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park were closed.
Death Valley's Furnace Creek Visitor Center received more than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain by 1:30 p.m., with up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) more possible overnight. “For comparison, Furnace Creek’s average annual rainfall is 2.2 inches (5.6 centimeters),” the park said in a statement, calling the rainfall “unprecedented.”
To the north in Nevada, Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency and activated 100 National Guard troops to assist with problems from predicted flooding in western Clark and Nye counties and southern Esmeralda County. In Arizona, wind gusts neared 60 mph (97 kph) in Yuma County, where officials gave out thousands of sandbags.
“I urge everyone, everyone in the path of this storm, to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials,” President Joe Biden said. Biden said in a later statement that he was being briefed on the storm and was prepared to provide federal assistance.
Meanwhile, one of several budding storm systems in the Atlantic Ocean became Tropical Storm Emily on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was far from land, moving west in the open ocean. Also, Tropical Storm Franklin formed in the eastern Caribbean. Tropical storm watches were issued for the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
In Sept. 1939, a tropical storm that roared into California ripped apart train tracks, tore houses from their foundations and capsized many boats, killing nearly 100 people on land and at sea.