EAM Jaishankar slams Canada’s ‘double standards’ on free speech as India-Canada relations hit new low

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday (Oct 21) commented on the worsening relationship between India and Canada, stating that it is hard to believe how relations between the two countries have declined to their current state.

Criticising Canada’s approach to free speech, particularly when it comes to threats directed at Indian officials, Jaishankar said, “When we tell them you have people openly threatening leaders of India, diplomats of India…their answer is ‘freedom of speech’. But if an Indian journalist says the Canadian High Commissioner walked out of South Block looking very grumpy, it is apparently foreign interference.”

“Calling it a double standard would be an understatement. There’s this notion that they can act one way at home, and a different way abroad. They follow their rules, but those same rules don’t apply to others,” he added.

Jaishankar further added, “Canada has asked us to subject our High Commissioner to a police inquiry, and we chose to withdraw our High Commissioner… They seem to have a problem with our diplomats trying to find out about what is happening in Canada, which directly pertains to their welfare and security.”

He pointed out the disparity in treatment, saying, “Canadian diplomats have no problem going around on our military or our police, profiling people, targeting people to be stopped in Canada.”

“When we tell them that you have people openly threatening Indian leaders and diplomats, their response is freedom of speech… If you threaten the Indian High Commissioner, he is supposed to accept it as freedom of speech, but if an Indian journalist says the Canadian High Commissioner walked out of the South Block looking very grumpy, it is apparently foreign interference,” he added.

Jaishankar also said that Canada’s internal politics have created space for extremist elements, allowing them to act in ways that negatively affect India-Canada relations.

Last week, after Canadian police alleged that top Indian diplomats in the country were collaborating with criminal gangs like the Lawrence Bishnoi group, India responded, pointing out that Canada has “consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten, and intimidate Indian diplomats.”

Political relations between Canada and India have taken a sharp downturn following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accusations of India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

(With inputs from agencies)