Canadian police warn Sikh activist of life threat as Carney announces India visit
As Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to India this week for trade talks, police have warned a Canadian Sikh leader of a “credible threat” to his life.
Moninder Singh, who heads the Sikh Federation of Canada, said a member of the Vancouver Police Department issued the warning on Sunday.
The tip-off about the threat came from a confidential informant, the officer told Singh, whose wife and children were also considered at risk.
A Sikh activist, who lives in Surrey, BC, shared an audio recording of the police visit, along with a photo of the police officer’s business card, with Global News.
“From time to time, the VPD conducts what is called a ‘Warning Operation’ when we receive information about a threat,” said a police spokesperson.
“I will not be able to comment on any ‘Duty to Warn’ incidents that occurred over the weekend as there will be an ongoing criminal investigation.”
Police did not provide further details but Singh believes it is the latest attempt by the Indian government to silence Canadian opponents.
in 2022, Singh and fellow activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar became the first to receive warning duty. Nijjar was shot down the following year, the Indian government alleged.
Since then, the police have periodically warned Singh of new threats against him but last weekend was the first to involve his family.
Since he is not a businessman like those who are often preyed upon by Indian gangsters, he suspects that he is being targeted because of his activism.
Singh is an outspoken critic of human rights in India, and is an advocate of the Khalistan movement that supports independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab.
The RCMP has previously linked these threats to the Indian government, and Singh believes this is the case with this latest warning from the police.
“India is using criminal gangs, gangs in Canada, to do their dirty work,” he said. “India touches them and they go out and do this political murder.”
“So I feel like the reason they’re targeting me, for my political speech, my support for the Sikh state, Khalistan, or exposing India’s poor human rights record, I think it goes back to India.”
Carney’s India visit ‘slap in the face’
For Singh, the incident underscored concerns that Carney is once again reaching out to India without regard for the safety of Canada’s large Sikh community.
Under pressure to diversify Canada’s trading partners amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected tariffs, Carney turned to India.
Get daily world news
Get the day’s top news, politics, economics, and current affairs, delivered to your inbox once a day.
But national security officials have reported that the Indian government is responsible for foreign interference, disinformation and international repression in Canada.
The RCMP believe the Indian government collaborated with the Bishnoi gang to attack political opponents, particularly Nijjar, who was killed outside a Surrey Sikh temple in 2023.
Gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi and his Canadian lieutenant Goldy Brar are said to have killed the Indian. Organized crime is also partly responsible for the current violence in Canadian cities.
After Nijjar’s murder, the FBI uncovered a similar plot by an Indian intelligence officer to kill Canadian lawyer and activist Gurpantwant Singh Pannun in New York.
After that, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme accused India of organizing a wide range of violent crimes, prompting Canada to expel six Indian diplomats in October 2024.
Indian diplomats and agents were engaged in “undercover operations” such as gathering information on members of Canada’s South Asian community, he said.
“This information was shared with the highest levels of the Indian government, who then directed the commission of serious criminal activity against Indo-Canadians through Lawrence Bishnoi’s organized crime network,” said National Security Adviser, Nathalie Drouin.
“Bishnoi is currently in jail in India, and he is able to order these acts through his gang, which has a criminal network in India and around the world,” he said.
“Serious crimes committed in Canada include murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery and other extreme violence.”
At the same time, Canada’s foreign interference investigation called India “the second most active country involved in foreign election interference in Canada.”
In an interview on Monday, Singh said he had received no assurances from Canadian officials that those issues had been resolved, or that India had promised to stop.
Strengthening ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government without addressing national security threats was premature, he said.
“There is a lot of unfinished business,” said Singh, adding that many Sikhs in Canada felt betrayed by seeing Carney and his officials meet with their Indian counterparts.
“It’s a bit of a slap in the face of the Sikh community that we have all these problems going on and we’re talking to a country that is responsible for all of that.”
“We do not respond to them in any way.”
‘The proof lies with the complainant,’ said the Indian ambassador
For all the Canadian revelations about India’s actions, New Delhi has denied it and put the blame on former prime minister Justin Trudeau, while saying it needs to see evidence before taking action.
“The burden of proof is on the complainant, not the accused,” India’s High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik told Global News in an interview on Monday.
Patnaik vowed that if such evidence comes to light, India will take action, even if it involves senior officials in Modi’s government.
He said he had no response to the latest annual report of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which talks about India’s role in the killing of Nijjar.
The killings showed “a major escalation of India’s repression efforts against the Khalistan movement and a clear intention to target North Americans,” CSIS wrote.
“I won’t say anything about it,” said Patnaik, who replaced the high commissioner who was expelled from Canada for his role in violence against Canadians.
“In the same way when we have our report, it says that Canada is supporting the separatist movement in India, that Canada is supporting the Khalistani movement in India,” he said.
“That’s how our agencies look at it.”
Asked about the extortion of Indians working for India-based criminal groups such as the Bishnoi gang, he said that was a Canadian problem.
An RCMP report released to Global News under the Access to Information Act said the Bishnoi gang “works for the Indian government.”
“You have to face it. When you start pointing fingers outside, that’s a different thing. It’s very easy to point fingers outside,” said the high commissioner.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
