Close X
Friday, November 29, 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

Minister backs shift away from privately owned rooming hotels after B.C. fire inquest

Minister backs shift away from privately owned rooming hotels after B.C. fire inquest
British Columbia's housing minster says the province needs to shift away from accommodating vulnerable people in privately owned rooming hotels — but it won't be fast or cheap. Ravi Kahlon's remarks come after the jury in a coroner's inquest into the deadly 2022 Winters Hotel fire in Vancouver made more than two dozen safety recommendations on Monday.  

Minister backs shift away from privately owned rooming hotels after B.C. fire inquest

Street cleaning grants for Vancouver

Street cleaning grants for Vancouver
The City of Vancouver has approved 2.64-million-dollars in grants in support of street-cleaning programs this year. The grants support programs that supplement street-cleaning work completed by City crews and have been active for 24 years.

Street cleaning grants for Vancouver

B.C. Crown counsel group raises safety concerns, Eby says no move for courthouse

B.C. Crown counsel group raises safety concerns, Eby says no move for courthouse
Premier David Eby says the government is not currently considering the relocation of a provincial courthouse in downtown Vancouver, where the president of the British Columbia Crown Counsel Association says safety concerns are on the rise. A statement from Adam Dalrymple says a recent attack on a prosecutor near the courthouse at 222 Main St. underscores the need for a "serious discussion" about whether it should be moved away from the Downtown Eastside.

B.C. Crown counsel group raises safety concerns, Eby says no move for courthouse

Police apprehend foreign nationals who crossed into Canada on foot from United States

Police apprehend foreign nationals who crossed into Canada on foot from United States
A Calgary man has been arrested for human smuggling after police allege he picked up foreign nationals who crossed on foot into Manitoba from the United States last month. Mounties in Manitoba say they received information from the United States Border Patrol that a group was walking northbound along a rail line toward the Canadian border near the town of Emerson. 

Police apprehend foreign nationals who crossed into Canada on foot from United States

Delta man faces arson charges

Delta man faces arson charges
A man is facing arson charges after allegedly setting fire to the same location in Delta two days in a row. Delta police say one of the incidents happened on February 1st, when an officer saw a fire in the disposal shed of a local restaurant.

Delta man faces arson charges

Suspect charged in Nigeria over sextortion of B.C. boy who died: RCMP

Suspect charged in Nigeria over sextortion of B.C. boy who died: RCMP
Police in British Columbia say a suspect in Nigeria has been charged over the sextortion of a B-C boy who died last year.  Surrey RCMP say officers from their detachment travelled to Nigeria last summer, where they worked with local authorities to arrest two people, one of whom was released.

Suspect charged in Nigeria over sextortion of B.C. boy who died: RCMP