Cancelling consular camps in areas where Canada failed to provide security: MEA

The Indian High Commission building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Holding Canadian authorities responsible for failing to provide “adequate security” to Indian diplomats and consular staff, India on Thursday (November 7, 2024) said it was cancelling a number of consular camps it had planned to help citizens of Indian origin with their documentation requirements.

The decision follows days after violent clashes broke out between pro-Khalistani groups who targeted a temple complex and the Indian-origin community at a consular camp organised by Indian diplomats in the Canadian city of Brampton. The incident, which has led to a further escalation of tensions between India and Canada, was condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called the “cowardly attempts” to intimidate Indian diplomats “appalling” and condemned the attack on the Hindu Sabha Temple.

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“In view of the security agencies conveying their inability to provide minimum security protection to the community camp organizers, Consulate has decided to cancel some of the scheduled consular camps,” said a social media post by the Indian Consulate in Toronto.

Explaining the decision, the Ministry of External Affairs said that consular camps in other cities, including one in Vancouver would go ahead as scheduled, but that despite specific requests from the Indian High Commission and consulates in Canada, some of the camps, mainly in the Toronto area were not provided adequate security. The Indian consulate also shared visuals of two camps at a Sikh Centre and Hindu temple in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where more than 600 certificates were processed on Wednesday.

Speaking at a media briefing in Delhi, Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called on the Canadian government to “uphold the rule of law” and bring those who perpetrated the violence to justice.

“We had asked for security to be provided for our diplomats where the consular camp was to be held and those have not been provided by the Canadian side,” he said. In response to a question, he said that over the last year or so, threats to Indian diplomats have increased, and the government has seen the “attacking, intimidating, harassing” of Indian diplomats. He said the diplomats  have also been “put under surveillance, which is totally unacceptable” and it has been taken up by India with the Canadian government.

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The consular camps are held regularly at the request of the Indian community, Mr. Jaiswal said, but are particularly crowded in November and December as many citizens need “life certificates” verified by the Indian consulate in order to process their pension payments for the next year. 

The Canadian High Commission did not respond to the latest charges by the Ministry, that follow a rapid deterioration in bilateral relations, including the expulsion of each other’s diplomats and the decision by India to bring back its High Commission to Canada, Sanjay Verma, over allegations by the Canadian government of involvement of the Indian government, including Home Minister Amit Shah in the killing of a Khalistani activist in Brampton last year.

Local Peel Region Police issued a statement on Wednesday that they are filing criminal charges against persons responsible for the violence after clashes at the temple premises “escalated well beyond what was acceptable”. Brampton City Mayor Patrick Brown also shared letters from both the Ontario Gurdwara Council condemning the violence by protestors at the temple, and the Hindu Sabha Temple statement suspending a priest for his alleged involvement in the counter-protests. 

While Indo-Canadians or Canadians of Indian origin number 1.86 million or about 5% of the Canadian population overall, the numbers in Brampton are much larger, with about 180,000 people identifying as Indian-origin, representing about 28% of the city’s population. The total number of Hindus and Sikhs in the city, according to the 2021 census, was 280,000.