Diplomatic relations between Canada and India risk continuing to deteriorate following the accusations against the regime in New Delhi publicly declared by Justin Trudeau on Monday.
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“Already since 2023, things haven’t been going very well, but it’s getting worse,” says Maïka Sondarjee, assistant professor at the School of International Development and Globalization at the University of Ottawa.
“These are very serious accusations,” she adds. “There has been an extremely rapid escalation in the last few days.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed a report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Monday which demonstrated “the existence of links between agents of the Government of India and homicides and violent acts” on Canadian soil .
He subsequently expelled six Indian diplomats allegedly involved in criminal activities in the country.
“The message is that there is a sovereignty of countries which is extremely important to respect and the Indian government cannot act against Canadian citizens because we remember, it was not Indian citizens who were on Canadian soil,” analyzes Ms. Sondarjee during her interview on the 8:30 p.m. bulletin.
For its part, India quickly responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats.
For the specialist in international relations, this escalation undertaken by the Canadian government has the effect of a real cold shower on its diplomatic link with India.
Moreover, she mentions that there is little chance that New Delhi will decide to collaborate with Canada on the investigation, in particular because of the “public insults” and “public accusations”.
And in fact, Ms. Sondarjee questions Justin Trudeau’s way of working.
“I think in terms of international diplomacy, this is not necessarily the best line to follow,” she says. “In any case, while all the countries want to get closer to India, we are clearly throwing cold water on this relationship.”
Watch Maïka Sondarjee’s interview in the video above.
