Consular officials at the Indian consulate in Vancouver were recently informed by Canadian authorities that they have been and continue to be under “audio and video surveillance”, Minister of State for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh informed Parliament on Thursday.
In a written response in Rajya Sabha, Singh also said that private communications of consular officials have also been “intercepted”, prompting the government of India to lodge “a strong protest” with the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi “as these actions were a flagrant violation of all diplomatic provisions”. The MoS was asked if there were any instances of cyber surveillance or other forms of surveillance targeting Indian diplomats in Canada.
In three different responses in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the Indian government expressed its immense displeasure with the Canadian government.
The bilateral relationship between the two countries is at a historic low, prompted by allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Indian government agents were linked to the murder of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, accusations that India has dismissed as “absurd”. Ties worsened last month after Canadian law enforcement agencies sought to question six Indian diplomats in the case. India withdrew the six diplomats – Canada said they had been expelled – and expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats from New Delhi.
MEA was asked if it was a fact that Canada had declared India a “cyber threat adversary”. Singh replied in the affirmative and said that inclusion of India in the Canadian government’s Centre for Cyber Security’s biennial National Cyber Threat Assessment report under “Section 1 – Cyber threat from state adversaries” was “yet another example of Canada’s negative approach to ties with India”. Other countries in this chapter are China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
{{/usCountry}}MEA was asked if it was a fact that Canada had declared India a “cyber threat adversary”. Singh replied in the affirmative and said that inclusion of India in the Canadian government’s Centre for Cyber Security’s biennial National Cyber Threat Assessment report under “Section 1 – Cyber threat from state adversaries” was “yet another example of Canada’s negative approach to ties with India”. Other countries in this chapter are China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
{{/usCountry}}In another response on Thursday, Singh said, “India has had, and continues to have a challenging relationship with Canada primarily because of the political space provided by the Canadian government to extremist and secessionist elements who advocate an anti-India agenda, and have been misusing Canadian freedoms for carrying out violent activities that threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Singh was also asked about the steps taken to ensure the safety of Indian diplomats. He said that the Indian government was in constant engagement with the Canadian side on the issue. While Canadian authorities have been able to provide protection to diplomats and diplomatic properties, “they have recently expressed their inability to provide security cover to our Consular Camps from the violent acts of secessionist and extremist elements”, hampering consular and passport-related services, Singh said.