Canadian officials shared ‘intel’ on India with WaPo, while Trudeau decried leaks about China—Globe and Mail

Report says National Security and Intelligence Adviser Nathalie G. Drouin and dy minister David Morrison shared sensitive information on 'Indian interference' with Washington Post.

File photo of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau | REUTERS/Blair Gable

New Delhi: National Security and Intelligence Adviser Nathalie G. Drouin and Deputy Minister David Morrison shared sensitive information with The Washington Post earlier this month about alleged Indian interference in the country, The Globe and Mail has reported.

Citing two sources, the Canadian daily’s report said Drouin and Morrison, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, “provided sensitive intelligence” about India days before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) publicly alleged that Indian government agents were linked to homicides, extortions and other violent criminal activities in Canada.

Interestingly, The Washington Post report named Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of being behind the operations. However, the information presented was source-based and did not cite any officials.

The Globe and Mail report further said, “The intelligence was not to be reported until RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme held a news conference on Thanksgiving Day.”

The issues raised by the Canadian newspaper, if proven true, highlight the starkly different messaging by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when it comes to allegations of Chinese interference, as compared to the same by India.

While appearing before the Foreign Interference Commission on 16 October, Trudeau attempted to downplay alleged instances of Chinese diplomats targeting Canadian MPs as “what diplomats do”.

The commission was established last year to look into allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections.

At the same hearing, he said a “criminal leaked classified information” to The Globe and Mail on alleged instances of Chinese interference in domestic elections, while his own senior officials were briefing American reporters about alleged Indian meddling.

The Canadian daily pointed to The Post’s reporting on the killing of Sukhdool Singh as an example of intelligence shared with the American newspaper.

The RCMP has not publicly alleged any links between Indian government officials and the killing of Singh. Till date, the Canadian government has only raised the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India.

The American newspaper also reported on a five-hour meeting between Drouin, Morrison and RCMP deputy commissioner Mark Flynn with Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser (NSA) in Singapore on 12 October.

At that meeting, Canadian officials had alleged that Indian Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah was also involved in the chain of command behind New Delhi’s operations in Canada, according to The Washington Post.

The Washington Post was one of the earliest in April to name the Indian government official who allegedly masterminded the attempted murder of New York-based Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, another India designated terrorist.

The US Justice Department has unsealed two indictments regarding the investigations into the plot against, where two Indians citizens — Nikhil Gupta and Vikash Yadav — have been named as the alleged perpetrators.

Gupta is currently located in an American prison, awaiting his next court date, scheduled for 17 January 2025, while Yadav, a former official of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and India’s paramilitary forces, has been dismissed from government service here.

India has set up a high-level inquiry committee into the evidence shared by the US on the foiled plot to assassinate Pannun, while rejecting Ottawa’s allegations of being involved in the killing of Nijjar.

New Delhi maintains that Canada has not shared a “shred of evidence” till date. Trudeau on 16 October conceded that in September 2023, when he personally spoke on the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian authorities did not have “hard evidentiary proof” but only intelligence.

In the year since, the RCMP has claimed to have collected evidence regarding the Nijjar case. In the last week, the diplomatic standoff between India and Canada escalated, with New Delhi withdrawing its high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other diplomats, while expelling six Canadian diplomats from the country.

This is an updated version of the report.

(Edited by Tikli Basu)