Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
National

Sikh rally in Toronto with multi-party support prompts India diplomatic rebuke

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Apr, 2024 04:08 PM
  • Sikh rally in Toronto with multi-party support prompts India diplomatic rebuke

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh at the Khalsa Day rally in Toronto on Sunday.

The rally commemorates the Sikh faith, and some participants chanted and carried banners emblazoned with slogans calling for a state separate from India, known as Khalistan.

India formally summoned Canada's deputy high commissioner Monday, and the country's foreign ministry decried what it called "disturbing actions being allowed to continue unchecked at the event."

India's foreign ministry didn't specify what it took issue with, but noted there were displays of separatism and alleged this illustrates Canada tolerating "extremism and violence."

New Delhi and Ottawa have been at odds over the issue for decades, and the relationship has been significantly strained since Trudeau accused India of playing a role in the slaying of a Canadian Sikh leader last year. 

Canada insists it will not infringe on free speech, including when Sikh people call for the existence of Khalistan. 

But India says these comments violate its constitution.

India has pointed out instances of people in Canada openly glorifying those linked to the 1985 bombing of an Air India plane, whose passengers were largely Canadian citizens. 

Human-rights groups says the country's Hindu nationalist government has increasingly persecuted minorities in recent years.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly's office did not immediately comment on India's rebuke Monday. 

Joly has repeatedly said she wants to navigate the diplomatic rift with India in private. 

MORE National ARTICLES

Safety board calls for changes after fatal 2021 Nunavut helicopter crash

Safety board calls for changes after fatal 2021 Nunavut helicopter crash
The Transportation Safety Board is calling for improvements after an investigation into a deadly helicopter crash in Nunavut. The helicopter went down in 2021 on a trip to survey polar bear populations on Griffith Island, about 20 kilometres southwest of Resolute Bay, Nvt.  Two crew members and a wildlife biologist were killed. 

Safety board calls for changes after fatal 2021 Nunavut helicopter crash

B.C. wine grapes facing up to 99% production drop due to January cold snap

B.C. wine grapes facing up to 99% production drop due to January cold snap
A new report says British Columbia's wine industry is anticipating "catastrophic crop losses" of up to 99 per cent of typical grape production due to January's intense cold snap. A February report from Wine Growers British Columbia and consulting firm Cascadia Partners says preliminary industry estimates are calling for crops to produce only one-to-three per cent of typical yields for wine grapes, mostly coming from relatively mild Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island.  

B.C. wine grapes facing up to 99% production drop due to January cold snap

BC man banned from investment market

BC man banned from investment market
A Vancouver man convicted of fraud has been permanently banned from B-C's investment market. The B-C Securities Commission says a panel has concluded that Jeffrey Shaughnessy's misconduct was "extremely serious," and the man posed "a significant ongoing risk" to the public and the capital markets had the ban not been put in place.

BC man banned from investment market

North Vancouver RCMP warn of radioactive material in equipment in stolen car

North Vancouver RCMP warn of radioactive material in equipment in stolen car
Police in North Vancouver say a car stolen from an underground parking lot Tuesday had a piece of equipment containing radioactive material inside. Mounties say they responded to a theft call at a gym on Marine Drive, and the vehicle contained a "nuclear soil moisture density gauge" used in construction and other industries.   

North Vancouver RCMP warn of radioactive material in equipment in stolen car

Cold season challenging for cherry growers

Cold season challenging for cherry growers
This season will likely be the most challenging cherry growers have ever experienced in British Columbia, a farmer and industry leader says, after a widespread cold snap damaged trees and buds last month. Sukhpaul Bal, president of the BC Cherry Association, said the deep freeze was especially destructive because temperatures were mild in the preceding weeks.

Cold season challenging for cherry growers

Richmond, B.C., council votes to back safe consumption site after fractious meetings

Richmond, B.C., council votes to back safe consumption site after fractious meetings
Richmond, B.C., resident Edward Cheung says many community members feel they know exactly what will happen if a supervised safe consumption drug site is established in the city. Cheung, whose parents live close to a supportive housing complex that opened in 2019, said in an interview on Wednesday that the neighbourhood has dealt with a spike in petty crime since then, and he is worried something similar would happen with a safe consumption site.

Richmond, B.C., council votes to back safe consumption site after fractious meetings