Ottawa: As tensions between India and Canada escalate, Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman has pointed to a growing loss of trust in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's credibility and leadership. Bordman noted the Indian government's decision to recall its High Commissioner and other diplomats as a clear indication of the deepening rift between the two countries.
He has criticised the Canadian government for failing to curb rising extremism, warning that the "tacit support of extremism from the highest levels of government is starting to have consequences." Given the escalating diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, Bordman highlighted the challenges faced not only by Indian diplomats but also by various minority communities within Canada.
Speaking on incidents where Indian diplomats were endangered and temples were defaced with Khalistani slogans, Bordman said, "This problem is not just for Indian diplomats; a lot of Canadians feel this way... The most violent and anti-Canadian among us get the most preferential treatment."
He detailed how extremist activities have increasingly threatened communities across the country, saying, "Jihadists march through our streets and openly call for the murder of all Jews and ethnic cleansing... A Jewish school was shot up for a second time. Someone drove by and shot twelve bullets into a Jewish girl's school. Canada's sort of gone off the rails."
Bordman also pointed to vandalism against Christian places of worship.
"The tacit support of extremism from the highest levels of government is starting to have consequences. This is why I said a lot of Canadians would resonate with what the Indian government is saying. Jewish Canadians don't feel safe; Hindu Canadians don't feel safe; Christian Canadians don't feel safe -- their churches have been burned," he said, adding that over 100 churches have been vandalized in the last few years, stemming from a lie about residential school mass graves that was pushed again by Justin Trudeau.
According to Bordman, law-abiding, patriotic Canadians are being treated like criminals, while extremists act with impunity. "So the problems that the Indian diaspora is facing here in Canada, and the country at large, are very indicative of the problems that a lot of Canadians feel they're facing, where they are pro-Canada, law-abiding citizens who love the country but are being treated like criminals," he said.
Speaking on incidents where Indian diplomats were endangered and temples were defaced with Khalistani slogans, Bordman said, "On the other hand, you have criminals who hate the country, who are quite literally burning it down live on TV and are getting away with it. So, the Khalistanis feel emboldened enough to make floats about Indira Gandhi and threaten to kill Indian ministers and threaten to burn things down because they've gotten away with it for so many years."
On Trudeau's party recently suffering a humiliating loss in a special election and how dim his chances to secure another term, Bordman said, "The Liberals are going to get smoked in the next election...The Conservatives are on pace for a supermajority...Some polls also project the Conservatives becoming the fourth party..."
The diplomatic fallout comes after allegations by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme, who claimed they have information on certain criminal activity carried out by agents of the Indian government.
India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats hours after it summoned Canada's Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheeler and conveyed that the "baseless targeting" of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.
This move came after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats after police collected evidence they were part of an Indian government "campaign of violence," news agency Reuters reported citing a Canadian government source earlier.
Earlier, on Monday India "strongly" rejected a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats were "persons of interest" in an investigation and termed it as "preposterous imputations" and part of the political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government.
In a hard-hitting statement, India said Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's hostility to India has long been in evidence and his government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists "to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada."
The ties between India and Canada soured after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a parliamentary address last year, claimed that he has "credible allegations" of India's hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023.
India strongly denied the allegations, calling them "absurd" and "motivated." It also accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.
