Important for Canada and India to ‘work together’: RCMP chief
Mike Duheme, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) accompanied National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie G Drouin during India visit in September
Toronto: A key Canadian law enforcement official has said that it was important for the country to build a relationship with India and to “work together”.
Mike Duheme, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, “It’s important just to build relationships with India.”
Duheme added, “We all want the same things. They’re facing terrorist acts in their respective country. And we want to make sure that we work together and identify these key people,” according to the outlet CTV News.
Duheme was asked about the ongoing RCMP investigation into violent criminal activity in Canada linked to India. He responded, “That file is before the courts, so I’m not going to discuss that. It’s following its path.”
Duheme also revealed he had accompanied National Security and Intelligence Advisor (NSIA) Nathalie G Drouin in September.
After returning from the visit, Drouin told reporters in Ottawa, “We have found a way to address mutual concerns and for leaders to be able to talk about trade relationships.”
Asked about her meeting with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in New Delhi on September 18, Drouin said, “It was a productive meeting where we established a channel of communication to talk about respective concerns.”
“We have a common understanding and common goal here. They want us to be very clear in terms of One India and the respect of the integrity of their territory and what we want is safer streets in Canada,” she added.
The case that is currently before a court is that relating to the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. That murder led to cratering of the relationship after then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing. India described those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
A year later, matters worsened as India withdrew six diplomats and officials after Canadian authorities asked New Delhi to waive their immunity so they could be questioned in connection with violent criminal activity in the country. In retaliation, India expelled six Canadian diplomats.
In an interview with CTV that aired on Sunday, India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Dinesh Patnaik described the allegations levelled in October last year as “preposterous and absurd”.
He stressed that India does not engage in extraterritorial action and pro-Khalistan figures in Canada were not targeted. “They never were. I find that very strange that allegations have become evidence,” he said, adding that such matters were “in the past now”.
He referred to the law enforcement and security dialogue between the two countries under which sovereignty, territorial integrity and criminal activities are being discussed.
People in both countries, he noted, had to feel “safe”.
