‘Indians Don’t Feel Safe In Canada’: Envoy Patnaik Flags Security Concerns, Credits Carney For Easing Strained Ties

<p>India&rsquo;s High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh K Patnaik, has voiced serious concerns about the safety of Indian nationals in the country, while simultaneously crediting Canada&rsquo;s new Prime Minister Mark Carney for steering bilateral ties back towards normalcy after a period of unprecedented strain.</p>
<p>In an interview with CTV News, Patnaik said he found it &ldquo;unusual&rdquo; that a high commissioner should require security protection in a country like Canada. &ldquo;Canada cannot look at this situation as an Indian problem. It&rsquo;s a Canadian problem. There are Canadians who are creating this problem,&rdquo; he said, adding that Indian nationals currently &ldquo;don&rsquo;t feel safe&rdquo; there.</p>
<p>Without directly naming pro-Khalistan extremist groups, the envoy said there were &ldquo;security scenarios where there is a group of people who are actually terrorizing, keeping the relationship under hostage&hellip; how do we deal with them? How do we deal with the law-and-order situation?&rdquo;.</p>
<p>His comments come amid a reported surge in the number of Indians leaving Canada over safety concerns and growing instances of hate-motivated incidents involving the Indian community.</p>
<h3><strong>Envoy Patnaik credits Canadian PM Mark Carney for restoring normalcy</strong></h3>
<p>In the same interview, Patnaik acknowledged that relations between New Delhi and Ottawa had been on a downward spiral since former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau&rsquo;s allegations linking Indian agents to the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.</p>
<p>He dismissed Trudeau&rsquo;s claims as &ldquo;preposterous and absurd&rdquo;, saying they lacked any substantial evidence. &ldquo;What we needed was dialogue to be able to talk to each other, not make allegations in the press without proof,&rdquo; Patnaik told CTV&rsquo;s Question Period.</p>
<p>The envoy, however, credited the new leadership in Ottawa for resetting the tone of the bilateral relationship. &ldquo;We might have been here a little earlier or later. You can&rsquo;t keep two large countries apart for long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The revival of the High Commission was inevitable, it just took some time. Donald Trump played a role, but I think it&rsquo;s your new Prime Minister Mark Carney who played a very big role in getting things back to normal.&rdquo;</p>
<h3><strong>&lsquo;Relationship good but can be much better&rsquo;: Envoy Patnaik</strong></h3>
<p>According to Patnaik, the two nations are now in a phase of rebuilding trust. &ldquo;Security agencies are talking to each other, there&rsquo;s dialogue between the RCMP and the NIA, and both our NSAs have met. The process of rebuilding the relationship is underway,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>Following Carney&rsquo;s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, India and Canada have resumed ministerial-level talks. Canada&rsquo;s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand visited India recently, with both sides issuing a joint statement affirming their intent to expand cooperation in trade and security.</p>
<h3><strong>India&rsquo;s concerns about Lawrence Bishnoi gang</strong></h3>
<p>Patnaik also noted India&rsquo;s concerns about the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which operates across both countries and has been proscribed by New Delhi. He emphasised the need for stronger internal security collaboration to address cross-border criminal activity.</p>
<p>When asked whether India now considers Canada a &ldquo;reliable partner&rdquo;, the envoy replied, &ldquo;Not yet.&rdquo; He expressed hope that Canada could become dependable in the future, provided &ldquo;extraneous factors should not interfere with economic activities.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Right now, the relationship between the two countries is good, and can be much better. The initial steps have been taken,&rdquo; Patnaik added, describing the reopening of embassies and renewed dialogue as signs of a positive new chapter.</p>
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