Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nationwide safety and intelligence adviser has acknowledged leaking delicate data to The Washington Submit concerning the Indian authorities’s alleged involvement in hostile actions on the Canadian soil. The data — leaked by Nathalie Drouin and David Morrison, deputy minister of overseas affairs — implicated India’s House Affairs Minister Amit Shah as allegedly directing such actions from New Delhi.
Testifying earlier than the Commons public security committee, Drouin acknowledged that she didn’t want Trudeau’s authorization to leak the knowledge. She additionally clarified that no labeled intelligence was shared with The Washington Submit, which printed the main points a day earlier than India recalled six Indian diplomats over Thanksgiving at the same time as Canada claimed to have expelled them.
The Globe and Mail reported that the leaked data not solely pointed to Shah but additionally linked India to the killing of Sikh activist Sukhdool Singh Gill, who was shot in Winnipeg on Sept. 20, 2023. This incident occurred two days after Trudeau’s assertion within the Home of Commons alleging India’s involvement within the June 2023 gangland homicide of Sikh separatist chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. Whereas no expenses have been filed in Gill’s case, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme famous on October 14 that proof implicates India in a number of killings, though solely Nijjar’s identify was specified.
Drouin acknowledged that the choice to leak data to The Washington Submit was a part of a method she and Morrison devised to make sure a serious US outlet reported on Canada’s stance in its escalating foreign-interference dispute with India. The technique, she added, was seen by the Prime Minister’s Workplace.
“We offered non-classified data on our actions and the proof linking the Indian authorities to unlawful actions concentrating on Canadians, together with life-threatening threats,” Drouin testified, including that comparable briefings had been shared with Canadian opposition leaders.
When Conservative public security critic Raquel Dancho requested why data was shared with The Washington Submit earlier than being made out there to the Canadian public. “Canadians wouldn’t know until they had been capable of learn The Washington Submit. I discover it unfair that particulars had been launched to them however not offered to Canadians,” she mentioned.
When Dancho additional requested on why Canadians first discovered from the U.S. publication of allegations in opposition to India’s House Affairs Minister regarding hostile actions in Canada, Morrison defined that he confirmed Shah’s identify when The Washington Submit journalist talked about it.
Commissioner Duheme mentioned he didn’t launch the knowledge publicly, because it might intervene with ongoing investigations. “It’s investigative materials we usually preserve inside,” he remarked, noting the intelligence shared with The Washington Submit was not deemed labeled underneath Canada’s nationwide safety requirements.
