Carney is in India to talk trade. The local diaspora has mixed reaction

Trade trip comes after 2024 tensions between the two countries saw diplomats expelled

Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit India to diversify trade away from the United States is being met with mixed reaction in Toronto's Indian diaspora communities.

Carney’s trip is raising questions within the local Sikh community on whether the government is putting deals with New Delhi over the lives and safety of its members, but it's also earning praise from some Toronto business owners who see it as a chance to boost the economy.

“[It] feels like a betrayal, it feels like our community doesn't really matter,” said Balpreet Singh, legal counsel and spokesperson for the World Sikh Organization of Canada.

But for Tasneem Bandukwala, executive director of the Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area (BIA), the trip is a welcome development in thawing the icy relationship between the two countries.

“I think what Prime Minister Carney is doing is a very strategic move in the right direction,” she said.

Is India a threat or not? Criticism follows Carney on trade trip

Tensions between India and Canada escalated in 2024 when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) alleged that Indian government agents were playing a role in violence against Canadians, including homicide and extortion.

Canada expelled six Indian diplomats in response. India retaliated with the same move shortly after and has denied all the allegations.

A year before that, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada had evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of Canadian Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“We all know India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with the consumer base, and Canada needs a partner like that as a market," Bandukwala said.

Singh, however, said he’s not aware of anything that the Canadian government has done to address the Sikh community’s concerns before this trip.

“It's difficult to see our government re-engage with India without any sort of accountability or safeguards — and in fact gaslighting the community saying that ‘no, no, the violence has stopped from India, India is no longer involved,’” said Singh.

“It’s just completely ridiculous.”

A Canadian government official speaking to reporters at a background briefing on the trip Wednesday said that Ottawa is confident the activity India was accused of “has not continued” and there is now "robust diplomatic engagement" on security issues.

Trip part of a road map laid out this summer: professor

The road map for Carney’s India trip was laid out on the sidelines of the G7 summit in South Africa earlier this year, when Carney met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sanjay Ruparelia, a political science professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning Friday.

“Since September, both sides have said that there’s greater law enforcement, co-operation and national security dialogue,” he said.

Ruparelia said it’s hard to imagine such a big delegation would arrive in India if they didn’t see substantial progress on the security concerns they’ve had.

“The safety of Canadians is first and foremost,” said Ruparelia. “At the same time, I think the previous strategy that played out [under Trudeau] had reached an impasse.”

“This government has taken a second approach. They’re going to engage at the highest levels across the board in the hope and the effort that they will see greater co-operation and accountability for the concerns that the previous government had alleged.”

Alina Snisarenko is a Toronto-based journalist. She currently works as a digital writer for CBC Toronto and has previously worked as an associate producer with CBC Radio's Metro Morning. You can reach her with story ideas or tips at alina.snisarenko@cbc.ca.

With files from Ali Chiasson, Laura Hull and Metro Morning