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'Canada approving visas for criminals': Ex-police official slams Trudeau

India-Canada diplomatic ties have hit their lowest in decades since Justin Trudeau charged India with being involved in the murder of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year

Justin Trudeau, Canada PM

Canada PM Justin Trudeau (Photo: Shutterstock)

Nisha Anand New Delhi

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Amid the ongoing controversy between India-Canada diplomatic relations, former Toronto Police Sergeant (Detective) Donald Best has made a shocking revelation about Canada’s vetting procedures for immigrants, claiming that the country’s visa approval process is flawed. Best alleged that Canada’s current system allows individuals with criminal backgrounds and ties to organised crime in India to enter the country.
 
In an interview with news agency ANI on Tuesday, Best said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remark about Canada’s approving visa for criminals is true. “…It seems that so many people who come to Canada and seek refugee status, not only from India but from around the world, are fleeing their own country because they are wanted criminals,” he said.
 
 
Best also claimed that this is why there are more pro-Khalistan supporters in Canada.
 
Blaming Justin Trudeau’s administration, Best said “unfettered mass immigration” in Canada has negatively impacted housing, economy and social services. He also said that in Canada, which has a population of 40 million people, about 5 per cent of immigrants have arrived in the last about two years. 
 
“We also had great criticism that for some reason, Khalistani separatists and Sikhs have undue influence and they have attained positions of power and authority at all levels municipal, provincial and national out of proportion to their population…,” he said.
 
India-Canada diplomatic ties have hit their lowest in decades since Trudeau charged India with being involved in the murder of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. Nijjar, who was a wanted terrorist in India, was gunned down in Vancouver in June.
 
The ties took a further hit last month when Trudeau alleged that Indian diplomats in Canada Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison admitted last week that he even told the Washington Post that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was directly involved in authorising the attacks on Khalistanis.
 
India has refuted the allegations as baseless and linked them with Trudeau’s vote bank politics.

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First Published: Nov 06 2024 | 10:30 AM IST

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