New Delhi: India has dismissed Canada’s public inquiry report on foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, which cited limited instances of alleged meddling by Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani governments in nominations or riding-level elections but found no significant impact on institutions.
On Tuesday (January 28), Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, commissioner of Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference, issued her seven-volume final report into how foreign governments may have tried to subvert democratic institutions after a 16-month investigation, during which evidence was gathered from 150 witnesses.
In response, India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated late on Tuesday night that it was Canada which has “been consistently interfering in India’s internal affairs.” The statement further noted that such interference has contributed to illegal migration and organised criminal activities.
“We reject the report’s insinuations on India and expect, that the support system enabling illegal migration will not be further countenanced,” said the MEA’s statement.
India’s relations with Canada deteriorated in September 2023 after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that Indian government agents were likely involved in the killing of Canadian national Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
This prompted both sides to expel a senior diplomat from each other’s missions, while India suspended visa issuance to Canadian nationals. Although India later resumed visa services, Canada had to withdraw over 40 diplomats from its missions in India under pressure from New Delhi.
A year later, relations went further downhill in October 2014, when India and Canada expelled six of each other’s diplomats, including their High Commissioners, after Ottawa communicated India’s top envoy and others were “persons of interest” in a wide-ranging investigation.
Public inquiry established to largely investigate China and Russia’s role in elections
The Canadian government established the public inquiry in September 2023 to investigate largely China and Russia’s role in 2019 and 2021 elections that re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party. In January 2024, the Public Inquiry announced that it will also probe India’s involvement and sought relevant documents from the Canadian government.
The initial report released in May 2024 had highlighted China as the most persistent foreign interference threat to Canada. It had also stated that Canadian security agencies had observed that an Indian government “proxy” agent had allegedly tried to give funds to candidates during the 2021 general elections.
These findings were reiterated in the final report’s volume three, which listed “six major instances of suspected foreign interference” outlined by the Canadian government.
The report stated, “Intelligence holdings also reveal that a Government of India proxy agent may have attempted to clandestinely provide financial support to candidates from three political parties in 2021,” adding that “the source of any such financial contribution could have been unknown to the candidates.”
In another section of the same volume, the report alleged that India “conducts foreign interference through its state officials in Canada and through proxies.”
It further claimed that “a body of intelligence indicates that Government of India proxy agents may have provided, and may continue to be clandestinely providing, illicit financial support to various Canadian politicians in an attempt to secure the election of pro-Indian candidates or gain influence over candidates who take office.”
Additionally, it stated, “the Canadian intelligence community has observed Government of India interference seeking to influence nomination processes and decisions made in Parliament.”
The report added, “The intelligence does not necessarily indicate that the elected officials or candidates involved were aware of the interference attempts, nor were the attempts necessarily successful.”
It analysed that since the 1985 Air India bombing, India has perceived that Canada had not taken seriously India’s concern about Khalistani separatism.
“A fundamental tension exists between India’s perspective that certain activities are terrorism, and Canada’s perspective, which protects fundamental freedoms of expression and association. India does not appear to differentiate between lawful pro- Khalistan political advocacy and the relatively small number of Canada-based Khalistani violent extremists”.
It asserted that India’s foreign interference activities attempt to have Canada’s position align with its own about key issues, particularly about supporters of Khalistani separatism.
‘India focuses its foreign interference activities on the Indo-Canadian community’
“India focuses its foreign interference activities on the Indo-Canadian community and on prominent non-Indo-Canadians to achieve these objectives. This interference has targeted all levels of government,” the report noted.
India was accused of using “disinformation” as a critical aspect of its foreign intelligence activities in Canada.
“CSIS [Canadian Security Intelligence Service] assesses that India will likely seek to promote a pro-India and anti-Khalistan narrative in Canada using cognitive warfare techniques,” the report said.
Justice Hogue noted that such a strategy may have been evident during a “disinformation campaign” that followed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks linking India to the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, although the report clarified that “no definitive link to a foreign state could be proven.”
The report also stressed that misinformation and disinformation “pose an even greater threat to democracy”.
China was described as the “most active perpetrator of state-based foreign interference” in Canada, while India was identified as the “second-most active state actor involved in electoral foreign interference in Canada.”
The report also highlighted other instances of foreign interference, stating that China “actively supported” a Liberal Party candidate in a nomination race and that Pakistan “tried to influence Canadian federal politics clandestinely before the 2019 federal election to further Pakistan’s interests in Canada.”
In her final report, Justice Hogue that Canadian democratic processes remained resilient.
“Although there are a very small number of isolated cases where foreign interference may have had some impact on the outcome of a nomination contest or the result of an election in a given riding, there is no evidence to suggest that our institutions have been seriously affected by such interference or that parliamentarians owe their successful election to foreign entities”.
She wrote that while foreign governments’ attempt to interfere were “troubling”, there was “no cause for widespread alarm”.
The report also criticised the Canadian government for its occasional delay in responding to foreign interference, highlighting that “coordination between the various players involved has not always been optimal.” It further noted that “the processes by which information was passed on to key decision-makers, including elected officials, have not been as effective as they should have been”.
