The Khalistan concern: Canada's probe finds India guilty of attempts to influence Ottawa's politics

Ottawa: Indian officials, including Canada-based proxies, engage in a range of activities that seek to influence Canadian communities and politicians to "align" Ottawa's position with New Delhi's interests on key issues, particularly concerns over Khalistani separatists in Canada, an official probe has found.

The findings in the interim report by Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue, who is leading the independent public inquiry, found evidence of foreign interference in Canada's last two federal elections in 2019 and 2021 but the results of the votes were not affected and the electoral system was robust.

India has previously rejected as "baseless" the allegations of its interference in Canadian elections and asserted that the core issue has been Ottawa's "meddling" in New Delhi's internal affairs.

The report, published on Friday said the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) stands out as the main perpetrator of foreign interference against Canada.

"China has been assessed by Canadian authorities as the most active foreign state actor engaged in interference directed at government officials, political organisations, candidates for political office and diaspora communities," it said.

On India, the report said: "Indian officials, including Canada-based proxies, engage in a range of activities that seek to influence Canadian communities and politicians. These activities include foreign interference, which aims to align Canada’s position with India’s interests on key issues, particularly with respect to how the Indian government perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent Sikh homeland (Khalistan)."

India’s interest in Canada relates to Canada’s large South Asian community. India views part of these communities as fostering an anti-India sentiment, and represents a threat to India's stability and national security, it said.

"India does not differentiate between lawful, pro-Khalistani political advocacy and the relatively small Canada-based Khalistani violent extremism. It views anyone aligned with Khalistani separatism as a seditious threat to India," the report said.

"We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi in February.

"It is not the government of India's policy to interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite on the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs," Jaiswal said in response to a question.

The Canadian probe report said that the targets of Indian foreign interference are often members of the Indo-Canadian communities, but prominent non-Indo-Canadians are also subject to India’s foreign influence activities. These activities may not be directed at influencing Canada’s democratic institutions, but are still significant, it said.

"Indian officials in Canada have increasingly relied on Canadian and Canadian-based proxies and the contacts in their networks to conduct foreign interference. This obfuscates any explicit link between India and foreign interference activities. Proxies liaise and work with Indian intelligence officials in India and in Canada, taking both explicit and implicit direction from them," it said.

"India directed foreign interference activities related to the 2019 and 2021 general elections. A body of intelligence indicates that Indian proxy agents may have attempted to interfere in democratic processes, reportedly including through the clandestine provision of illicit financial support to various Canadian politicians as a means of attempting to secure the election of pro-India candidates or gaining influence over candidates who take office," the report said.

In some instances, the candidates may never know their campaigns received illicit funds. There was no indication of Indian-based disinformation campaigns in the 2021 general election, the report said.

India was mentioned 43 times in the 194-page report.

"In the classified supplement to this report, I review the intelligence relating to potential foreign interference by India in the 2021 general election, its dissemination within the government and actions taken in response. I have not identified any shortcomings with respect to information flow or the government’s response," Marie-Josee Hogue said.

India has been asserting that its "core issue" with Canada remained that of the space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements in that country.

Other countries engaged in interference activities in Canada are identified as Russia, Pakistan and Iran, among others.