Voices Pushpesh Pant Sumeet Bhasin Sheila Kumar Ganesh Saili Shampa Dhar-Kamath mata amritanandamayi MAGAZINE Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment the canadian press NEW DELHI July 14 2024 SUNDAY PAGES 12 The Canada Catastrophe INDIA DEFACED: Vandalism of Hindu temples and Gandhi statues show Separatism clout in Canada KILL SHOT: The killing of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar created a raging diplomatic storm FLAGGING HATE: Anti-Semitic acts like bombing Jewish institutions have busted Canada’s multicultural myth PAPA’S BOY: Pierre Trudeau’s anti-India stance has rubbed off on son Justin Trudeau damaging bilateral ties Canada and India are at war again diplomatically after Ontario accused New Delhi of ‘foreign interference’ even as Canada hosts a vast criminal network of terrorists, money launderers, human traffickers, cartel bosses, oligarchs and kleptocrats and Khalistani separatists T By ravi shankar he context of liberty is civilisation. The marker of civilisation is law and order, not the amorality of power politics. Once upon a time, before the Trudeaus—father and son—entered politics, Canada was multicultural, like a falafel stall in Tel Aviv, patronised by a Turkish man with a Hindu wife. It was different from 1880s’ America, where even Presidents owned slaves. Canada was free man’s land where the euphemistic Underground Railroad was the route to freedom for slave fugitives and freed Blacks. The phrase appeared in 1839 in a Washington newspaper that reported a young slave escaping his owners on a train that “went underground all the way to Boston”. The Underground Railroad was a vast network of clandestine routes and safe houses in America that lasted till the mid-19th century operated by free African Americans, liberal sympathisers and abolitionists to reach Canada. By 1850, around 1,00,000 slaves had escaped to the Land of Maple Syrup. Canada, however, refuses to escape its anti-India legacy Last week, the Canadian Secu. rity Intelligence Service (CSIS) accused India of foreign interference and espionage activities on its soil. The Indian government simply scoffed. Canada’s NSA Jody Thomas named India as one of “a number of state and non-state proxies” interfering in Canadian politics. At a recent conference at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, she named Russia and Iran too. CSIS incompetence is legendary; leaks of internal documents indicated China has the most sophisticated election interference network in Canada. David Vigneault, director of CSIS, lost his job after the leaks. The Canadian Underground Railroad still exists, but not to carry slaves seeking freedom. Travelling first class are criminals, secessionists, anti-Semitics, Islamic radicals and Sharia seekers, all protected by Justin Trudeau’s government, its judicial system, an incompetent intelligence apparatus and the police. Their targets: India and Israel. In June, the Canadian Parliament observed ‘one minute silence’ in the memory of Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in British Columbia: a cynical cause celebre for Trudeau and a diplomatic travesty for India. Why is Trudeau’s Canada so imbalanced psychologically and diplomatically? Three reasons: DNA, political survival and the PM’s naiveté about complex cultural crises. His father Pierre was the patriarch of India-negativism. In 1974, when India under Indira Gandhi carried out nuclear tests, Pierre turned his back on India’s nuclear energy programme. Canadian nuclear scientists working on a new reactor in India were asked to pack their bags. The restless ghosts that haunt Indo-Canadian ties are those of 329 dead passengers of Air India Flight 182 that was blown up mid air on its way from Canada to India: the deadliest act of aviation terrorism until 9/11. Prior warnings by IB about the bombing, and requests by the Indians on June 1, 1985 to act were brushed aside. Later reports revealed that Canadian spies heard about an explosives test in a forest carried out by Babbar Khalsa International boss Talwinder Singh Parmar: the bomb test was dismissed as a gunshot, probably fired by a local hunter. “There was enough evidence for Pierre Trudeau to have stopped that act of terror. But he did not. Even after the tragedy they took their own time in tracing the accused , and putting them on trial. That shows the lack of purpose on their part—for some local political reasons—to actively pursue terrorists who are anti-India,” says Rajiv Dogra, former Indian Ambassador to Italy and Romania. Hunting is legal in Canada, except hunting terrorists. Trudeau Senior comes across as a racist bigot, if historians are to be believed: he turned down Indira Gandhi’s request to extradite Parmar. His explanation bordered on colonial paranoia: “India was insufficiently deferential to the Queen (of England)—the Queen/King of England is also the constitutional monarch of Canada, but acts entirely on the advice of the Canadian Government.” What Justin learned at his father’s knee is being applied to Canadian politics. “This anti-India bias seems to have been inherited in the Trudeau family Justin has carried on from where his . father left off. He is motivated by the same factors—number of extremist Sikhs who form a voting block in some constituencies,” says Dogra. His political survival depends on pandering to minorities such as Muslims and Sikhs because wining margins in Canadian elections are notoriously thin, which makes minority votes crucial. “The Sikh community is not big enough to ever rule the country but they are good enough , HOSTILE ALLIES: Justin Trudeau and Narendra Modi: Last week’s accusations about India’s interference has caused a rift between both the nations Justin Trudeau has carried on from where his father left off. He is motivated by the same factors—number of extremist Sikhs who form a voting block in some constituencies. Rajiv Dogra, former Ambassador to Italy and Romania In Canada, Sikh extremists manage to capture some political space and manage to have their Parliament and Prime Minister speak sympathetically about this group. Ajay Bisaria, former High Commissioner to Canada to tip the scales. That’s how Trudeau has benefitted hugely . He understands that if he is to remain in power, it will have to be on the basis of support from the Sikh party That’s the . reason why he has to prove to this votebank that he is their man. If Khalistan is what they are ostensibly looking for, he will support it. Trudeau doesn’t really care whether Indo-Canadian relations prosper and reach new heights. He cares for his domestic support base,” says Bharat Karnad, emeritus professor, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. Trudeau is stuck like many British politicians between nationalism and an Islamic immigrant invasion. Way back in 2017, a study found that Canadian attitudes to government policy mirror variable underlying values in every region of Canada. Many white Québeckers joined Muslim rights activists to publicly protest Bill 21, a law that bans wearing the hijab at work; while other residents in other provinces supported the restrictions. In a poll held last year, the largest segment of Quebec’s population (30 per cent) have “Very Negative” views toward Islam: twice that of in the rest of Canada (16 per cent). This percentage of “Very Negative” segment in Quebec is similar across the rest of Canada with one important exception: negativity towards Jews and, surprise, surprise, Christians, compared to elsewhere in the country . Being Hindu in Canada could be dangerous to health in some circumstances. The US-based secessionist group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), released a video that asked “Indo-Hindus” to “leave Canada; go to India” last year. The Indian government recently declared SFJ as an “unlawful association”. Since 2021, threats and attacks by Khalistanis and Islamists are part of Hindu temple life in Canada. Temples have been vandalised, broken into and their walls defaced with anti-India slogans. Statues of Mahatma Gandhi are vandalised. The unkindest cut came from Environment Canada, the nation’s environment department, which classified Diwali as a “cause for air pollution”, while Canada Day or New Year’s Eve see similar fireworks. The Canadian police is one of the most biased forces in the Western world: when a 21-year-old Indian university student was kidnapped, stripped naked, kicked in the face in 2022, and told “you don’t belong here”, the cops denied it was a race crime. In July at Khalsa Day festivities in , Toronto, Trudeau smiled as separatists raised pro-Khalistan slogans. South Block has advised Indians in Canada to “exercise extreme caution and remain vigilant”, pointing at a “deteriorating security environment”, which could put the tens of thousands of Indian students at risk. Canada has been a favourite destination for Indian students and job seekers, because it had a reputation for being more tolerant and less racist than other white countries; that is, until now. When Trudeau was exposed as a pro-Khalistani public advocate—there are five pro-Khalistani Sikhs in his Cabinet—Indian student applications began to drop. In 2023, there were around 3,19,000 Indian enrolled students, which was 37 per cent of international students. In 2022, it was 41 per cent. New Delhi-Toronto vibes have never been so bad. During G20, Trudeau experienced plane trouble; intelligence sources say off the record that he wasn’t allowed to land until an acceptable statement was arrived at. Worse, Canadian investigators refused to back his claim that “Indian agents” did it (Nijjar killing). Justice MarieJosée Hogue, in charge of overseeing the public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections that names Turn to page 2
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