Canada's CSIS Report Names India, China Among Foreign Interference Threats
Khalistan extremism identified as major national security threat; report notes historical Indian efforts to influence Canadian politicians, journalists and Indo-Canadian community
Quick Look
- Canadian intelligence agency CSIS has included India and China in a list of countries allegedly involved in foreign interference and espionage in Canada.
- The 2025 report identifies Khalistan extremism as a major national security threat, noting that Canada-Based Khalistani Extremists leverage Canadian institutions to promote violent agendas and raise funds.
- The report names Pakistan, Russia and Iran alongside India and China.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
India-Canada relations deteriorated sharply after the 2023 killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, which India denied involvement in. The diplomatic freeze included expulsions of diplomats and suspended trade talks. PM Carney's visit earlier this year marked efforts to rebuild ties.
NEW DELHI: A Canadian intelligence agency has included India and China in a list of countries involved allegedly in foreign interference and espionage in Canada. In the case of India, however, Khalistan extremism was identified as a major national security threat to Canada, a point New Delhi has belaboured with Ottawa for long. The report by Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) comes in the middle of efforts by PM Mark Carney to repair the relationship with India that saw him visiting the country earlier this year. In the past 12 months, Carney and his counterpart Narendra Modi have successfully managed to drag the relationship out of a deep freeze that it had descended into over the killing of a Khalistan separatist — Hardeep Singh Nijjar — allegedly by Indian agents in 2023. Apart from India and China, the report named Pakistan, Russia and Iran as main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada. The same report for 2024 too had accused the same five countries of external interference. However, the latest report has significantly tempered down its earlier references to India. The 2025 report says that "historically" India has cultivated covert relationships with Canadian politicians, journalists and members of the Indo-Canadian community to exert its influence and advance its interests. This, it said, "transnational repression activities, such as surveillance and other coercive tactics meant to suppress criticism of the Government of India and create fear in the community." However, unlike the last time, there was no mention of the Nijjar issue in the report or what it had described last year as escalation in India's repression efforts against the Khalistan movement. On Khalistan, the report said that some CBKEs (Canada-Based Khalistani Extremists) were well connected to Canadian citizens "who leverage Canadian institutions to promote their violent extremist agenda and collect funds from unsuspecting community members that are then diverted toward violent activities." The report also flagged threat from Sikh extremists who, it said, use Canada as a base to "promote, fundraise or plan violence primarily in India".
Open Questions
- What specific evidence supports the CSIS claims of Indian covert influence operations
- Will the tempered language in the 2025 report lead to improved India-Canada relations
- What specific transnational repression activities is the report referring to
