Canada’s spy agency CSIS confirms India still main perpetrator of foreign interference

Ottawa: The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said that India remains one of the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada, according to the National Post.

The CSIS has identified the Indian government as a key actor in transnational repression activities in Canada in recent years.

In an email to the National Post, CSIS spokesperson Eric Balsam confirmed that this assessment remains unchanged, marking the first time a Canadian security agency has publicly contradicted a controversial statement made by a senior government official last week.

“CSIS’s threat assessment of the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada has not changed,” Balsam said in a statement to the newspaper.

As recently as February 3, CSIS Director Dan Rogers cited “China, Russia, India and others” as countries the agency has identified as the most active perpetrators of foreign interference targeting Canada.

The assessment increases pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday in New Delhi, to clarify whether his government believes Indian agents are involved in transnational repression activities in Canada.

Last Wednesday, during a background briefing for reporters on Carney’s 10-day visit to India, Australia and Japan, a senior government official said that India was no longer interfering in Canadian affairs.

“We’re confident that that activity is not continuing,” the official said, referring to previous allegations that agents of the Indian government were linked to violent crimes or threats in Canada, including the 2023 killing of Sikh-Canadian leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

However, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she didn’t agree with the official’s comments. “The words of the senior official are not words that I personally would use,” she told reporters in New Delhi.

The controversy sparked outrage within Canada’s Sikh community, which argues it has faced repression efforts by the Indian government for decades.

Several Members of Parliament within Carney’s own caucus also expressed shock over the official’s comments and publicly disagreed.

“Any suggestions these threats have been resolved do not reflect the current security reality facing Canada,” Ruby Sahota, Carney’s secretary of state for combating crime, wrote on social media.