Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Indian government has made a “fundamental error” as he accused it of supporting a campaign of violence against Canadians on Canadian soil.

The prime minister spoke to reporters Monday, hours after the head of the RCMP laid out stunning allegations accusing agents of the Indian government of playing a role in “widespread violence” in Canada, including homicides, and warned that it poses “a serious threat to our public safety.”

Earlier in the day, Canada announced it’s expelling six Indian diplomats. India has denied the allegations and quickly retaliated, ordering six Canadian diplomats to leave the country within a week.

India made ‘fundamental error’ supporting criminal activity against Canadians, Trudeau says

“I think it is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians, here on Canadian soil. Whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts, it is absolutely unacceptable,” Trudeau said during a Thanksgiving Monday news conference.

“No country, particularly not a democracy that upholds the rule of law, can accept this fundamental violation of its sovereignty.”

The claims have heightened tensions in an already charged relationship, which deteriorated last year after Trudeau announced Canada had evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of Canadian Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi has denied the allegation.

Monday’s explosive accusations allege a wider criminal campaign.

“The RCMP chose to come out today and disrupt the pattern of Indian diplomats collecting—through questionable and illegal means—information on Canadian citizens,” Trudeau said. That information was fed to criminal organizations that “would then take violent actions from extortion to murder,” he said.

Trudeau wouldn’t say much more about the alleged roles of the diplomats and consular staff, adding some of the cases are before the courts.

“As those trials unfold, much more will be known,” he said.

RCMP warns of public threat

Calling it an “extraordinary situation,” Commissioner Mike Duheme held a news conference Monday morning to alert Canadians of what he repeatedly called a public safety threat.

Duheme said his officers, working with other law enforcement agencies, have obtained evidence linking Indian government agents to homicides and other violent acts in Canada, including coercion and extortion.

The Mounties, he said, have learned a “significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada.”

“Despite law enforcement’s actions, the harm has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety,” he said.

The commissioner said there have been “well over a dozen” credible and imminent threats to members of the South Asian community, specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement.

Duheme told reporters in Ottawa that Mounties have also collected evidence showing that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies.

“Some of these individuals and businesses were coerced and threatened into working for the government of India,” he said.

“The information collected by the government of India is then used to target members of the South Asian community.”

Duheme said police have also identified serious issues of violent extremists working in both India and Canada; the use of organized crime to create perceptions of unsafe environments and target people in the South Asian community in Canada; and interference in democratic processes.

The ongoing inquiry into foreign interference has already heard evidence that India interfered in the last two Canadian elections.

When asked how many Indian diplomats are alleged to be involved in the serious allegations the RCMP detailed, Duheme said he could only say “several” given the ongoing nature of the investigations.

He said while the RCMP is usually reluctant to share details of ongoing investigations, the seriousness of the threat compelled it to publicly disclose information.

Canada says it shared evidence with India

Duheme said the Mounties’ evidence was presented directly to the government of India.

First, he said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn attempted to meet with law enforcement counterparts in India to present evidence that government agents were involved in criminal activity in Canada.

The attempts were unsuccessful, so Flynn met with officials from the Indian government over the weekend, along with Canada’s national security adviser, Nathalie Drouin, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison, Duheme said, reading from a prepared statement.

India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunities and to co-operate in the investigation, but didn’t, according to a statement from Global Affairs Canada.

That prompted the Canadian government to issue six expulsion notices to Indian diplomats and consular staff.

Speaking at the same news conference as Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada had to take steps because “it is sitting diplomats that were involved in violent incidents.”

In response, India’s ministry of external affairs announced that it is withdrawing its envoy, High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, along with “other targeted diplomats and officials” from Canada.

In a statement, New Delhi rejected the “preposterous imputations” of the Canadian assertion, accusing Trudeau of having a “political agenda” centred around “vote-bank politics,” a term referring to voting blocs from specific communities.

“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” it said in the statement, released Monday.

India also announced it is expelling six Canadian diplomats, including acting high commissioner Stewart Wheeler, and hinted that it could take further action. The Canadians have until Saturday night to leave the country.

“India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” said the ministry statement.

Wheeler on Monday reiterated Trudeau’s accusation, saying in a statement: “Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.

“Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into those allegations.”

The World Sikh Organization of Canada said the RCMP’s announcement confirms “the lived experience of Sikhs for the past four decades.”

“India’s criminal activities in Canada must end. India’s targeting of Sikhs must end. We expect Canada’s elected officials to unite in condemning India’s foreign interference and its efforts to obstruct justice,” said president Danish Singh.

WATCH | B.C. premier calls allegations against Indian government ‘very serious’: 

B.C. premier calls allegations against Indian government ‘very serious’

Monday’s swift expulsions are just the latest deterioration in the India-Canada relationship. Following Trudeau’s announcement last fall in the Nijjar case, Canada pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

Soon after Canada’s allegation, the U.S. claimed that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023, and said it had indicted an Indian national who was working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.

Unlike its response to Canadian allegations, however, India expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, dissociating itself from the plot, and has launched an investigation.

Joly reiterated pleas Monday for India to cooperate with Canada’s investigation.

“They’re doing it with the U.S.  They can do it with us as well,” she said.  “We don’t want diplomatic confrontation with India.”

NDP leader briefed on allegations

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he was briefed on the latest allegations Monday and urged his opposition colleagues to do the same, and to “hold the Modi government accountable and refuse to look the other way.”

“We support today’s decision to expel India’s diplomats and we’re calling on the government of Canada yet again to put diplomat sanctions against India in place, ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Network (RSS) in Canada, and commit to pursuing the most severe consequences for anyone found to have participated in organized criminal activity on Canadian soil,” he said in a statement.

The RSS is a Hindu nationalist organization that has been accused by groups like National Council of Canadian Muslims of being a right-wing paramilitary organization.

When asked if Canada is considering further action, Joly said she’s in contact with her G7 counterparts and “and everything is on the table.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Trudeau of failing to take national security seriously.

“Our government’s first job is to keep our citizens safe from foreign threats,” he said in his statement.

“We expect the full criminal prosecution of anyone and everyone who has threatened, murdered or otherwise harmed Canadian citizens.”