Senior officials of Justin Trudeau govt admit to leaking information against India to US outlet: Report

Two senior officials of the Justin Trudeau-led government acknowledged leaking intelligence and sensitive information against India to Washington Post even before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had publicly alleged India’s involvement in murder, extortion and coercion, as per Canadian media.  

Trudeau’s national-security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin told a parliamentary panel that she was not required to have the Prime Minister’s authorisation to approve the leak. Drouin said leaking of the sensitive information was part of their communications strategy that she and Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison came up with, Canadian media reported. She insisted that no classified intelligence was provided to the US publication the day before six Indian diplomats were recalled from Canada. 

She said they wanted a major US media outlet to have Canada’s version of the ongoing diplomatic row with India. The communication strategy was seen by the Prime Minister’s Office, she said, as per Canadian media.

The information also linked India with the killing of Khalistani activist Sukhdool Singh Gill who was shot in Winnipeg on September 20 last year after Trudeau accused Indian agents of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

“We provided non-classified information on the actions we had taken to co-operate with India and explain how the evidence showed links to the government of India conducting illegal activities against Canadians, including threats to their lives,” Drouin said as per The Globe and Mail.

Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho why the prime minister, his foreign affairs and public safety ministers and RCMP did not share the same information with the public when the six diplomats were recalled. She said she finds it rather unfair that the information was leaked to The Washington Post and not to the Canadian citizens. 

RCMP Commissioner said the information was not given to the public over concerns that it could affect continuing criminal investigations. 

Drouin also detailed Ottawa’s back-channel efforts to persuade India that Canadian authorities had credible evidence. She said that the RCMP asked to travel to New Delhi on October 8 but India blocked it with “an administrative technicality”.