My Take | Against China, and now India, Canada stands all on its own
With little help from allies, Ottawa keeps finding itself in diplomatic trouble by trying to play by rules that friends and foes alike ignore
First China, now India! For Ottawa, this is starting to look like a pattern rather than bad luck. Washington can easily get Canada in serious trouble, but it won’t offer much help.
Last time, what looked like a routine arrest-and-extradition request from the United States for Huawei’s No 2 turned into the worst diplomatic crisis between Canada and China. Now, it’s facing another crisis of comparable magnitude with India. The latest spat with New Delhi saw Ottawa expel six Indian diplomats this week, including its high commissioner. India retaliated by kicking out six Canadian diplomats.
It all came to a head following a year-long investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – the Canadian equivalent of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ottawa now accuses Indian diplomats in Canada of being involved with gangs that have allegedly committed murders, criminal intimidation, harassment and extortion against Sikh communities in the country.
This follows last year’s accusation made by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau that “agents of the government of India” were implicated in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh community leader in British Columbia. New Delhi had labelled him a “terrorist” who was involved in a subversive movement that is trying to carve out an independent nation in northern India.
Back then, New Delhi responded by asking Canada to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country, resulting in the withdrawal of more than 40 members of the Canadian diplomatic corps. Sikhs account for more than 2 per cent of the total Canadian population, the largest community outside India, and form one of the largest ethnic voting blocs for the Liberal Party.
For a long time, Canada acted like it could usually rely on big brother Washington’s support. That calculus has fundamentally changed, at least since Donald Trump was last in the White House. Yet, the country’s leaders have proved woefully ill-suited to adapt to the new reality.
