Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday he will attend the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., later this month after accepting an invitation from Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The invitation prompted anger from the World Sikh Organization of Canada which wrote to Carney in May asking him not to invite Modi as tensions remain high between Canada and India over accusations about Indian government agents being involved in the murder of a Canadian activists for Sikh separatism in British Columbia in 2023.
Carney extended the invitation to Modi in a phone call between the two leaders on Friday morning. The summit runs from June 15 to 17.
"As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests. Look forward to our meeting at the summit," Modi said in a social media statement.
In a Canadian readout of the call Carney said he and Modi agreed to continue a discussion on law enforcement to address "security concerns."
Tensions between Canada and India have been high since former prime minister Justin Trudeau first informed the House of Commons in September 2023 that Canada was looking at "credible allegations" that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot outside a gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., in June 2023.
At the time of his death, Nijjar was organizing a non-binding referendum in Canada on establishing a Sikh state in Punjab, to be called Khalistan.
The Indian government rejected Trudeau's accusation and said Canada was supporting "Khalistani terrorists."
In May 2024, Four Indian nationals were arrested and charged in connection with Nijjar's death.
In October 2024, the RCMP said it had evidence linking agents of India's government to homicides and other criminal acts in Canada, including coercion and extortion.
In response, the federal government announced it had expelled six Indian diplomats and consular officials "in relation to a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the Government of India."
In a media statement, Global Affairs Canada said that it had asked India to waive diplomatic and consular immunities "and to co-operate in the investigation," but India declined.
India responded in kind by expelling six diplomats, including Canada's high commissioner.
Later that month, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges against an Indian government employee in connection with an alleged foiled murder-for-hire plot targeting a Sikh separatist leader in New York City.
Balpreet Singh, legal counsel and spokesman for the World Sikh Organization of Canada said Carney's invitation to Modi is a "betrayal of Canadian values."
"It is the betrayal of our community. And the timing could not be worse. Today is the day we commemorate the 41st anniversary of the Indian government's storming of our holiest shrine, Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar," Singh said.
"And the summit to which Mr. Modi is being invited falls on the anniversary of the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar two years ago. So for us, this is unacceptable, it's shocking and it's a complete reversal of the principled stand that Prime Minister Trudeau had taken."
Singh said that the World Sikh Organization wrote Carney a letter on May 21 asking that Modi not be invited to the G7. While India is not a G7 member, the country has been invited to the summit by the host nation every year since 2019.
"We didn't want to make this into a public issue but there was no response. There was no acknowledgment of receipt. But this is, it really boggles the mind," Singh said. "How can a country that has engaged in criminal operations in Canada, which is engaged in multiple murders, extortions, receive a red-carpet welcome?"
During the final days of the federal election campaign, former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said that in December 2023 he was put under heavy police protection due to a credible threat to his life.
He said the RCMP did not identify a specific source for the threat but the implication was that it originated with a foreign government.
Singh said the World Sikh Organization doesn't plan on sending further correspondence to the prime minister about Modi's invitation.
"What's the point? I mean, we sent something out on May 21 and received no response," he said. "And clearly, our voices don't matter to him."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum are among the other non-member world leaders invited to the summit. As of May 28, Sheinbaum had not said whether she would attend.
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Manish Swarup