The last few days have been particularly embarrassing for PM Justin Trudeau and Canada. After engaging in a diplomatic spat with India over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist—evidence of which is yet to be furnished by Trudeau, Canada suffered the ignominy of honouring a Nazi soldier who fought for Hitler.
The incident sparked a severe backlash from countries around the globe and the Jew community, which blamed Canada and PM Justin Trudeau of anti-semitism for celebrating a man who was a part of a regime that mercilessly killed millions of Jews during the World War II.
Having left red-faced by the entire episode, Trudeau promptly tried to distance himself from the blunder, blaming ‘Russian propaganda’ for the Canada parliament’s bestowal of honouring to a Nazi soldier.
Earlier, Trudeau’s unsubstantiated allegations in the Canadian parliament that India was behind the killing of a Khalistani terrorist residing in Canada triggered a stern reaction from New Delhi, leading to a diplomatic standoff between the two countries. India has staunchly denied the allegations, while Canada is yet to provide evidence to back its claims that Indian diplomats were hand-in-glove with the militants who assassinated Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani extremist designated as terrorist by India.
While the two issues may seem disparate and disjointed superficially, a common thread links them—Canada’s scant regard for international organisations and sensitivities of other countries while being a haven and breeding ground for extremists and terrorists of all hues. Be it Khalistani extremists that dream of slicing away the Indian state of Punjab to create a mythical Khalistan country or the Nazis that killed millions of Jews with abandon and without regret, Canada has been the place where they not only enjoyed state patronage and security but also received honour as witnessed recently.
However, Canada’s support for terrorists and extremists is not a recent phenomenon. While it has risen significantly in the last few decades, particularly under the current PM, Justin Trudeau, Canada has a longstanding tradition of shielding and protecting terrorists wanted elsewhere, perhaps to use them as instruments of their geopolitical policy.
Ahmed Ressam who planned to bomb Los Angeles airport
In the 1990s, Canada housed Algerian terrorist Ahmed Ressam, who later executed the foiled plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport in late December 1999.
Ressam and other Islamic terrorists left Algeria in 1992 for France, where he lived for illegally until 1994. In 1994, he left for Canada on a forged passport. The immigration officials suspected Ressam of carrying a fake passport. But Ressam requested political asylum, alleging in his sworn statement that he was implicated in a fake case of terrorism and subjected to torture in Algeria. The immigration officials in Canada bought his story without verifying it with Algeria, France, or the Interpol, releasing him pending a hearing on his refugee status.
Canada’s then Immigration Minister, Elinor Caplan, defended the move stating that using a false passport to enter Canada was not deemed a severe offence. She highlighted that numerous genuine refugees often turn to this tactic.
Ressam resided in Montreal for a period of four years. He established his residence in an apartment building that was subsequently recognised by Canadian and international law enforcement as the Montreal base of operations for a terrorist cell associated with the Osama Bin Laden network. This cell was specifically linked to an Algerian terrorist organisation known as the Armed Islamic Group, or GIA.
In March 1998, Ressam travelled to Afghanistan for undertaking jihadi training. A year later, in 1999, he returned to Canada via Pakistan, South Korea, and Los Angeles, which is when he was struck with the inspiration of bombing the Los Angeles International airport. Back in Montreal and armed with the knowledge of making bombs, he got chemicals and equipments that helped him in making explosives designed to explode buildings. Later in the same year, he was arrested near the American city of Seattle while on his way to bomb the Los Angeles International airport.
Nazi veterans allowed entry and stay in Canada after WWII
Nevertheless, this wasn’t the only instance when Canada was caught sheltering individuals with a dubious background. The North American country also shares a sordid history with Ukrainian Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a military outfit founded by the Nazis.
Decades before the Galicia Division veteran Yaroslav Hunka received an invitation to Parliament Hill, Canada turned a blind eye and even provided official cover for the Nazi battalion 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS that later claimed to consist of Ukrainian fighters. The organisation was initially established by Nazis, operated under Nazi command, and fought solely to further Nazi objectives.
The Galicia Division, officially designated as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, belonged to a group of “foreign” units within the Waffen-SS that were established during World War II. In the aftermath of the conquest of a new region in Europe, the Nazi commanders would call for volunteers to enlist in the Schutzstaffel (SS), an exclusive corps devoted to the Nazi Party and distinct from the German army.
The Nazis built respect SS units belonging to various nationalities, including French, Norwegian, Dutch, and even units formed from British and American prisoners of war. In 1943, the Nazi occupiers of the present-day Ukraine recruited a unit of ethnically acceptable Ukrainians to reinforce their invasion and domination of the Soviet Union.
After the war, an inordinately high number of Galicia Division members made their way to Canada. The existing immigration policy during that period was to decline entry to veterans of the German Wehrmacht or the SS. However, a 1986 federal public inquiry into war criminals present on Canadian soil revealed that a disproportionate number of the Galicia Division had been accorded a cabinet-level exemption in 1950.
Naturally, the revelation sent shockwaves throughout Canada, most notably among the Jewish community that felt betrayed for allowing Nazi soldiers accused of perpetrating unspeakable atrocities to reside in the country. The decision was strongly objected by the Canadian Jewish Congress at the time. However, the opposition was sidelined on the basis that the division’s soldiers had volunteered “not out of allegiance to the Germans but due to their animosity toward the Russians and the Communist regime.”
During the early 1980s, Simon Wiesenthal, a famous Nazi-hunter, passed a list of 217 names to the Canadian government. The list included former Galicia Division officers who were reported to be “residing outside Europe.” Subsequent investigation validated that at least 11 individuals from this list had retired and eventually passed away in Canada.
But in 1986, a public inquiry ultimately declared that “war crimes charges” against the division had “never” been substantiated. Consequently, the commissioners did not advocate for the deportation of Galicia Division veterans, emphasising that the Ottawa authorities were well aware of their Nazi affiliations when allowing them entry.
Canada courting Khalistani extremists
More recently, Canada has transformed from a democratic nation that believed in holding fast to the rules based world order to a safe haven for Khalistani terrorists. Increasingly, Khalistani elements fantasising the creation of a separate homeland from Sikhs have emigrated to Canada, where they have not only managed to earn citizenship but also enjoy state patronage, despite the fact that successive Indian governments have demanded Ontario stops shielding terrorists involved in anti-national activities against India.
Besides Nijjar, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the leader of the outlawed terrorist group Sikh Forum for Justice, is another Khalistani terrorist who continues to operate freely in Canada, often issuing threats against Indian diplomats, Hindus, and the Indian government over his delusion of carving out a separate homeland for Khalistanis.
Earlier this month, Pannun made a public appearance at the Khalistan referendum event organised by SFJ at a gurdwara in British Columbia, Canada. In it, the Khalistani terrorist delivered an provocative speech calling for ‘Balkanising India’. He was seen escorted by a team of security guards.
Notably, the referendum was organised in Canada on the same day when Canadian PM Justin Trudeau visited India to attend the G20 Summit, where PM Narendra Modi conveyed India’s strong concerns about the continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada.
In the video, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Khalistani terrorist heading the Sikh Forum for Justice and henchman of the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI held PM Modi, HM Amit Shah, NSA Ajit Doval and EAM S Jaishankar responsible for the killing of his close aide Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Khalistani terrorist who was shot dead by two unidentified persons in Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia.
Ontario’s oversight on Khalistani terrorists have resulted in a spate of temple attacks in Canada. On September 8, Khalistani terrorists vandalised the Shree Mata Bhameshwari Durga Devi Society in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Pictures emerged on social media showing anti-India graffiti with the slogan “Punjab is not India” sprayed on the walls of the Hindu temple.
The frequency of such vandalism attacks on temples and against nationalist Indians have only increased in the last few months, underscoring the inability and perhaps the undeclared support by Canadian authorities to the Khalistani vandals. With Justin Trudeau’s party receiving crucial support from Jagmeet Singh’s political party for remaining in power has further emboldened Khalistanis to carry out their unlawful activities with impunity.