Amid a row over the assassination of a Sikh separatist spearhead on Canadian soil,
Forty-one Canadian diplomats have recently left India.
India enquired Canada two weeks ago to remove dozens of its political staff and threatened to take away their immunity if they persisted. Canadian officials called the threat a “defilement of international law”.
Relations have been strained after Canada suspect India of being involved in the 18 June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India has rejected the claims, calling them “absurd”.
Melanie Joly Canada’s foreign minister, confirmed that several Canadian diplomats and their families in India have now left the country.
She informed that India had said that immunity for “all but 21 diplomats” will be “individually removed” by 20 October.
The BBC has stretched out to the High Commission of India in Canada for remark.
Ms. Joly said that the remaining 21 diplomats remains in India, however, the withdrawal means Canada will have to restrict its facilities in the country due to a lack of staff.
Specifically, the change will put a pause on in-person procedures in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Chandigarh, Ms. Joly said. Officials informed there is no timeline on when those services will recommence.
Services will still be accessible out of the High Commission of Canada in Delhi, and application points – which are third-party run – will also remain open, officials informed.
However, the decrease in staff is expected to significantly slow down processing periods for immigration submissions, at least in the short term, said Marc Miller, Canadian immigration minister.
It will be mainly Indian citizens who will be affected, officials said, as well as international students looking to study in Canada.
Indian citizens made up the largest proportion of applicants for temporary and permanent residency in Canada in 2022.
India says Canada had several diplomats in Delhi than India has in Ottawa, and has required equality ever since the row among the two countries erupted,
But the Global Affairs site which lists the Indian representatives in Ottawa suggests they had a similar number.
India stating it would eliminate diplomatic immunity for Canadian representatives is a “violation of international law”, Ms. Joly said during a news conference in Ottawa.
She added that Canada will not respond. If we allow the standard of diplomatic immunity to be broken, no diplomats anywhere in the world would be safe.
Officials said they still welcome Indian citizens who want to visit or transfer to Canada.
Canada-India relations have depreciated to a historic low after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed there was reliable evidence of a possible link between India and Nijjar’s murder.
Mr. Trudeau said this was built on Canadian intelligence, which proposed that “agents of the government of India” were involved in the killing. This, Canada has said, is a violation of its authority.
Nijjar was shot and murdered by two masked gunmen outside the Sikh shrine he led in Surrey, British Columbia. Canadian police termed it as a “targeted attack”, and an enquiry into the murder is ongoing.
He was an opinionated advocate for the formation of a separate state of Sikhs in India called Khalistan – a movement strongly opposed by India – and India had considered him as a terrorist in 2020.
Despite the public allegation, Mr. Trudeau has recurrently informed that Canada is not looking to intensify the rift with India. He has called on Indian officials to collaborate with the enquiry into Nijjar’s death.
