The head of the RCMP, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, and several contenders in the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race have been summoned to testify before a House of Commons committee regarding recent bombshell allegations of Indian state-sponsored interference in Canada.
On Friday, the national security committee agreed to call RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, along with ministers Mélanie Joly and Dominic LeBlanc, for a series of six meetings to investigate the allegations. The inquiry was prompted by a motion from NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, following Canada’s decision to expel six Indian diplomats accused of working with criminal organizations to target Sikh separatists in the country.
RCMP Commissioner Duheme revealed earlier this week that a special investigative unit had been established in February to investigate cases of extortion, coercion, and violence—including murder—linked to agents of the Indian government. He emphasized the severity of the threat, stating that in several instances, Canadian citizens were warned about risks to their personal safety.
India has strongly denied the allegations and responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats from New Delhi. This diplomatic standoff escalated when the U.S. Justice Department charged an Indian government employee with attempting to orchestrate the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
In response to these developments, the House committee voted to call Patrick Brown and other Conservative leadership candidates, particularly in light of a June report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) that mentions alleged Indian interference in a Conservative leadership race, though the year is not specified. Brown, who was disqualified from the 2022 Conservative leadership race, had previously revealed that he was briefed by CSIS on foreign influence attempts in Brampton, amid concerns about Chinese interference in Canadian politics.
Additionally, the committee is deliberating on another NDP motion requiring all party leaders to apply for top-secret security clearances within 30 days. A Conservative amendment has also been proposed, calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to release the names of parliamentarians identified in top-secret documents as being engaged in or at risk of foreign interference.
At the foreign interference inquiry this week, Trudeau accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of refusing to obtain the necessary security clearance to access the names in the documents. Poilievre, in turn, demanded that the names be made public, accusing Trudeau of withholding crucial information. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May cautioned that releasing the names could be dangerous, noting that no sitting MP is a witting participant in foreign interference but some are described as “semi-witting.”
The committee is set to reconvene on October 22 to further debate the motions.