New Delhi: Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference has highlighted China as the primary instigator in meddling with the electoral process. This comes alongside Canadian security agencies’ observation of a “Government of India proxy agent” attempting to channel funds to candidates during the 2021 general elections.
After 21 days of hearings, the initial report of the Commission conducting the “Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions” was released on Friday, May 3.
In the report, Commissioner Justice Marie-Josée Hogue said that while foreign interference is done not just by one country, China stands out as the “most persistent and sophisticated foreign interference threat to Canada”.
Further, according to Canada’s intelligence records, countries such as Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran are flagged as potential actors engaged in foreign interference within Canada.
In the chapter on Indian activities, the report says that Canadian intelligence reported that “a Government of India proxy agent may have attempted to clandestinely provide financial support to candidates in 2021”.
It added that the source of any such financial contribution could have been unknown to the candidates.
According to the report, Indian officials based 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 the foreign interference activities. Proxies liaise and work with Indian intelligence officials in India and in Canada, taking both explicit and implicit direction from them,” wrote the Commission.
It describes India’s interest in influencing Canadian polities as largely related to the Khalistan issue.
“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,” the report stated.
It also stated that India was largely interested in the large South Asian community, with sections harbouring “an anti-India sentiment”. The report on India did not differentiate between lawful, pro-Khalistani political advocacy and the relatively small Canada-based Khalistani violent extremism.
The report was released on the same day that Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced the arrests of three Indian nationals for the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian national termed a Khalistani terrorist by the Indian government.
Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had accused the Indian government of being involved in the killing, which led to an overnight deterioration in bilateral relations.
An unsealed indictment by US prosecutors in November 2023 claimed that an unnamed Indian government official had directed an attempt to target a pro-Khalistani lawyer in New York. The US prosecutors had also claimed that the Nijjar’s death was also part of the same conspiracy.
