The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation of a Sikh activist’s death that has inflamed relations with India, sources tell CBC News.
That intelligence includes communications involving Indian officials themselves, including Indian diplomats present in Canada, say Canadian government sources.
The intelligence did not come solely from Canada. Some was provided by an unnamed ally in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
In a diplomatic crisis that unfolded progressively behind the scenes, Canadian officials went to India on several occasions seeking co-operation in the investigation of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death.
The Sikh leader was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., on June 18 and reportedly had been warned by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that he was at risk.
Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Adviser Jody Thomas was in India over four days in mid-August, then again for five days this month.
That last visit overlapped with a tense meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Canadian sources say that, when pressed behind closed doors, no Indian official has denied the bombshell allegation at the core of this case — that there is evidence to suggest Indian government involvement in the assassination of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.
“I can assure you that the decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons … was not done lightly,” Trudeau said Thursday in New York after attending the United Nations General Assembly.
“It was done with the utmost seriousness.”
The Canadian government has not released its evidence and has suggested it could emerge during an eventual legal process.
On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau called on India to cooperate with an investigation into the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia and said Canada would not release its evidence.
Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible allegations linking Indian government agents to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi. Nijjar, 45, was a Canadian citizen.
Traditional Canadian allies have so far taken a relatively cautious approach to the matter. Political analysts said this was partly because the United States and other major players see India as a counterweight to the growing influence of China.
Sources confirmed that the intelligence including communications involving Indian officials, among them Indian diplomats present in Canada, was provided by an unidentified ally in the Five Eyes alliance.
Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing network that includes the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The United States is in touch with both Canada and India over Ottawa’s allegations, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, confirming for the first time that Washington was talking to New Delhi about the matter.
“There’s not some special exemption you get for actions like this,” Sullivan told reporters when asked about Trudeau’s statement about possible Indian involvement. “It is a matter of concern for us, it is something we take seriously.”
U.S. President Joe Biden and several members of the Five Eyes raised the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the G20 this month, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The Indian foreign ministry said Canada had not shared any specific information about the murder. Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020.