Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, and Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, during a press conference about the probe into ‘violent criminal activity in Canada with connections to India’, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada on October 14, 2024.

In a sharp escalation of diplomatic row between the two countries, Canada on Monday (October 14, 2024) accused India of making a “fundamental error,” as an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil last year saw both countries expel each other’s Ambassadors.

The expulsions came after New Delhi said its envoy had been named among “persons of interest” following the killing of Nijjar.

India “decided to expel” Ottawa’s acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler, his deputy and four first secretaries. In an unusually sharp response, the Ministry of External Affairs described the Canadian allegations as “preposterous imputations”, arguing that the matter was linked with the political challenges that the Trudeau government was facing on the domestic front in Canada.