'Canada is a rule-of-law country,' Trudeau says of charges in B.C. Sikh activist's killing
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted Canada as a "rule-of-law country" in comments on Saturday about arrests made in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, as he sought to re‐ assure Sikh Canadians that persecution won't be toler‐ ated.
Trudeau's comments came a day after three Indian men were arrested in Ed‐ monton and charged with murder in the death of Hard‐ eep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh pop‐ ulation. A few months later, Trudeau cited credible allega‐ tions of Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.
"This is important be‐ cause Canada is a rule-of-law country with a strong and in‐ dependent justice system, as well as a fundamental com‐ mitment to protecting all its citizens," Trudeau said Satur‐ day at a Toronto gala cele‐ brating Sikh heritage and cul‐ ture.
"As the RCMP stated, the investigation remains on‐ going, as does a separate and distinct investigation not limited to involvement of the three people arrested yester‐ day."
WATCH | Major arrests in Nijjar case:
The prime minister ac‐ knowledged that many in Canada's Sikh community are feeling unsafe following Nij‐ jar's killing, adding: "Every Canadian has the fundamen‐ tal right to live safely and free from discrimination and threats of violence in Cana‐ da."
Nijjar was a Canadian cit‐ izen campaigning for the cre‐ ation of Khalistan, an inde‐ pendent Sikh homeland carved out of India. The pres‐ ence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labelled Nijjar a "terror‐ ist."
Police in Canada said they had worked with U.S. law en‐ forcement agencies, without giving additional details, and suggested more arrests might be coming.
RCMP Assistant Commis‐ sioner David Teboul, the force's commander for the Pacific region, said Friday that he wouldn't comment on the alleged links between the three men arrested and
Indian officials but noted the force is "investigating con‐ nections to the government of India."
Earlier on Saturday, Indian External Affairs Minister Sub‐ rahmanyam Jaishankar said his country will wait for police in Canada to share in‐ formation on the three Indi‐ an men they arrested and charged.
Jaishankar said he had seen news of the arrests and that the suspects "apparently are Indians of some kind of gang background ... we'll have to wait for the police to tell us."
"But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed or‐ ganized crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada," he said.
At an event on Saturday in the state of Odisha, Jais‐ hankar criticized the Canadi‐ an government for allowing people with links to orga‐ nized crime into the country. He also singled out Canada in a denunciation of several countries where he said proKhalistan voices held sway.
"Our biggest problem right now is in Canada, be‐ cause in Canada, actually to‐ day the party in power in Canada ... [has] given these kind of extremism, sepa‐ ratism, advocates of violence a certain legitimacy in the name of free speech," Jais‐ hankar said.
Sanjay Verma, India's high commissioner to Canada, said India hopes to get regu‐ lar updates from Canadian authorities regarding the three arrested Indians.
"I understand that the ar‐ rests have been made as a result of investigations con‐ ducted by the relevant Cana‐ dian law enforcement agen‐ cies. This issue is internal to Canada and therefore we have no comments to offer in this regard," Verma said.