From illness to violence: What's behind 1,203 lost Indian lives in Canada?

Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that most deaths in Canada between 2020 and 2024 were caused due to medical illness or old age

In response to a query in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said that 1,203 Indian citizens died in Canada over the past five years.

The minister said the ashes or mortal remains of 757 citizens were brought back from Canada with the assistance of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), news agency PTI reported.

What caused these deaths?

In a written response to the query, Singh said that most of these deaths caused between 2020 and 2024 were due to natural reasons such as medical illness or old age.

According to the information available with the ministry, 1,203 Indian citizens died in Canada over the five years from 2020 to 2024, Singh said in his response. The MEA was asked to provide the official numbers of Indian nationals who died in Canada over the past five years and explain the reasons that caused the deaths, PTI reported.

 

Breaking down the numbers

Singh also shared a year-wise breakdown of the total number of deaths:

• 2020: 120 deaths
• 2021: 160 deaths
• 2022: 198 deaths
• 2023: 336 deaths
• 2024: 389 deaths

Unnatural deaths were also reported

In his response to the query, Singh informed the Rajya Sabha that some of these deaths were also unnatural, caused due to violence, murder, suicide, and accidents.

Several instances of violence against Indian citizens in Canada have been reported over the past few years. The relationship between the two countries soured in 2023, after the then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had accused India of being behind the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar was labelled as a terrorist in India.

Bringing mortal remains high priority

Singh said that the government’s top concern remains addressing issues related to the transportation of the mortal remains of Indian citizens who died in Ottawa, PTI reported. Resolving these concerns is a matter of high priority, Singh said.

He informed the House that the MEA has a standard mechanism with all the missions abroad to help the Indian citizens in distress, including local burial, cremation, or transportation of mortal remains to India. The government also help the Indian nationals in settling insurance or compensation claims, Singh said.