Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former national security and intelligence adviser Jody Thomas has said that Canada is “working back toward a healthier relationship” with India after months of tense relations following Trudeau’s baseless allegations against India over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Jody Thomas also said that India is cooperating in the investigation into the murder in British Columbia.
The former Canadian NSA said that the Canada-India relationship is changing, and called it an ‘evolution’. In an interview with CBC Talking about India’s strong reaction to Trudeau blaming India for the murder, Thomas said that the reaction by Indian officials was “really unfortunate” and a “bit of a surprise.”
“It’s counterproductive because it’s harmed the people-to-people relationship between Canada and India. We need diplomats there to issue visas and to execute programs on behalf of Canadians and Indians,” Thomas said, talking about India expelling 41 Canadian diplomates as a fallout of the incident.
Jody Thomas said that Royal Canadian Royal Canadian Mounted Police is probing the case very carefully, to ensure “that every ‘T’ is crossed and ‘I’ dotted to have a successful prosecution.”
In another interview with CTV news, Jody Thomas said Canada has made advancements in its relationship with India. “My discussions with my counterparts in India have been fruitful, and I think they’ve moved things forward,” she said.
Moreover, she said that India is now cooperating in the investigation of the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June last year. “I wouldn’t describe them as not co-operating. I think we’ve made advancements in that relationship,” she added. Thomas said that her discussions with her counterparts in India have been fruitful, and things are improving.
Jody Thomas, who retired on 26 January, claimed that relations with India improved following the US Justice Department blaming an Indian for plotting the murder of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Unlike the strong reaction to Canada blaming Indian govt for the murder of Nijjar, the Modi govt had assured cooperation to the allegation of the US, as only individual Indians were blamed for the alleged plot, not the govt.
“The information that they revealed supported our position and our assertions with India. India is working with us, and my counterpart, in particular, far more closely to resolve this,” claimed Thomas.
In December, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had also said that he believes India’s relations with Canada may have undergone “a tonal shift” in the days since US allegation over murder plot of Pannnun.
In September last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had claimed that there were “credible allegations” that the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey in June 2023.
However, India denied the allegations as absurd and motivated. Following that relations between India and Canada have been strained, and both countries expelled diplomates of each other. In December last year Justin Trudeau said that he had made the allegations public as he expected the information to be leaked.
Later in December, in a parallel development, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun.
The Justice Department claimed that an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by US authorities, according to prosecutors. Gupta is currently in custody in Czech Republic and has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
In its response India said it would cooperate with the United States in this probe.