India and Canada: A Tumult in the

Relationship?
In these uncertain times, filled with geo-political upheavals, the Canadian government’s action of
expelling a senior Indian diplomat on grounds of suspicion of India’s hand in assassination of
prominent Sikh Canadian leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar is yet another drop in the wave of change now
spreading in the world. India’s retaliatory action of expelling a Canadian Senior Diplomat and further
changing the VISA regulations certainly did not help the growing tensions. For the millions of Indians
looking forward to their dreams in ‘Kaneda,’ the escalating restrictions and barbed questions to India
about the supposed non compliance with Vienna conventions, comparisons to Israel and a more
fraught parallel to Russia does not hold up hope for the ‘peace talks.’

The strong ties tethered by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations (NATO) based on shared
principles such as democracy, human rights and even the huge diaspora connections accounting for
more than 3% of the total Canadian population disintegrating are majorly the fault of the looming
shadow of Khalistan on it. The Khalistan movement was started in the 1982 with Surjan Singh Gill’s
establishment of ‘Khalistan government in exile’ office in Vancouver, and continues today in a bid for
a separate ‘land of pure’ for the Sikh community. The demand resurfaced prominently during the
violent insurgency in the 1970s and 80s which was followed by the more known ‘Operation Blue
Star’ (1984) and the lesser known ‘Operation Black Thunder’ (1986 and 88). The accusation from
India against Canada of harbouring terrorists is not without reason, as another violent insurgency
rears its head outside of India, turning out to be a big threat to the Internal Security of India. Several
Anti- India activities followed head, one after the other from the horrifying cover of the ‘Sanjh
Savera’ magazine celebrating Indira Gandhi’s murder in 2002 to the Pro Khalistan Referendum of
2022, with the Operation Bluestar Anniversary Parade on June 2023 being the cream of the crop. To
make matters worse the Canadian government seems to be as lackadaisical in its approach to the
maintenance of the Vienna conventions as it accuses India to be, easily promoting the magazine
through government advertisements.

Although none of the two countries involved can claim complete innocence, they should look into
the damage that lack of legal measures against any forms of extremism can bring. The impact on
trade and economy being the greatest, with businesses exercising caution in trading due to the
fringing bilateral ties, leading to a loss of the earlier USD 8.2 billion made in 2022 alone. The
education and the travel industry is not much far behind with both bound to suffer massive setbacks,
especially due to VISA acquirement changes on India’s side. In response, to the changes in VISA
regulations, the Canadian government could decide to further murky the waters relating to the
immigration policy, further tightening it. The bilateral ties between Canada and India has been
pushed to a limit it seems, with India accusing Canada of turning a blind eye towards the several
terrorist incidents orchestrated in India or its citizens by the ‘harboured’ terrorists in the Canadian
lands. Delay in trade discussions meant to be held at October and the frigid disposition of both the
countries representations in G20 are some suggesting factors of the tumultuous change just over the
horizon.

Perhaps, it is not as big of a looming threat to the other countries as China’s rapid ascent towards
absolute power is and thus there have been no big bureaucratic outlash yet it can be discerned that
internally the West as well as several neighbour countries might be dissatisfied with the unusually
powerful response from India. Yet due to spreading tensions with China, India is in a highly strategic
position of favour from the U.S.A, U.K. etc. Being one of the other country beside China on the rise,
the lenses have been focused minutely on every action India takes, as the West and the neighbours
take it as a rising threat to their ‘Soft Power.’ This in turn makes India a viable candidate in the minds
of the Western powers a good roadblock for China’s expansionist policy to the point that they will
willingly bury the hatchet if ‘peace talks’ does start up. Over the years, India has complained about
the amount of external interference in internal affairs, this was perhaps the first time that India has
taken unprecedented action which might hold huge repercussions from the countries involved, if not
for the U.S.A remaining silent simply for the China issue.

To prevent any further speculation, India needs to gear up for peace talks with the aim towards
change. Starting with ground level works in Punjab relating to the prominent drug abuse issue,
unemployment issue and agrarian distress, Punjab needs to be allotted the necessary funds and
support required for the entire overhaul. The government can only ensure justice to all the victims of
the Khalistan movement once they have a strong rebuttal. It is high time that a common ground is
found between the two warring sides. Canada too needs to stop its soft policy continued by PM
Justin Trudeau when it comes to such internal problems snowballing over to another country with
which it shares its diaspora. With careful steps, it will be possible to turn the situation around, yet
only a 100% effort can possibly reforge the bilateral ties to what it was in 1947. A common ground of
cooperation can be on counter terrorism issues, through Joint Working Group, after both the
countries soothe their frayed nerves. A massive cultural exchange along with a viewpoint exchange
needs to take place for the public at large from both the countries.

In a gloomy atmosphere of war and impending wars, the Canada-India issue is an intricate study of
modern-day cold war. All is not fraught yet, if and only if both the countries are willing to make the
‘peace talks’ a success. Perhaps the dream of ‘Kaneda’ is not yet crushed.