Sikh separatist activists protest beside a placard and mannequin of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, outside the Consulate General of India in Toronto, on Oct. 18.COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Indian diplomatic officials have cancelled several consular events in Ontario after police who responded to protests at temples in the Greater Toronto Area this week said holding the meetings at religious facilities was contributing to increased tensions in the community.
The Indian consulate in Toronto said it was scrapping some of the planned gatherings this month because of Canadian “security agencies conveying their inability to provide minimum security protection” to organizers, according to a post on social media late Wednesday.
The announcement followed a letter from Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah to Kapidhwaja Pratap Singh, the acting consul-general of India in Toronto, asking for measures to prevent further risks and expressing “significant concerns” about the diplomatic outreach efforts known as consular camps taking place at temples in the GTA.
“It is our assessment that the location of consular camps in proximity to these religious facilities may be a factor contributing to heightened tensions at these gatherings,” Chief Duraiappah wrote in the letter, which was dated Tuesday.
Brampton’s Hindu Sabha temple was the scene of a melee on Sunday as Indian government officials attended a consular camp at the facility. Videos posted online show that Sikh separatist demonstrators and supporters of the Indian government engaged in brawls outside the temple.
Peel Regional Police said three men were arrested and charged with a range of offences, including assault with a weapon, mischief and assaulting a police officer.
Later Sunday, pro-Indian government demonstrators gathered at the edge of the parking lot at a Sikh gurdwara in Mississauga.
On Monday evening, Peel Regional Police sent in its riot squad to disperse a crowd of protesters who had become violent at another demonstration. Police later appealed for the public’s help in tracking down a person who allegedly sprayed a noxious substance.
The government of India has said its diplomats and consular officials are doing outreach work to help expats fill out paperwork related to pensions at the consular camps, often held in temples and community centres.
But Sikh secessionist groups have been protesting the initiative, accusing the Indian government of using the events as a cover for intelligence-gathering. The Sikh activists have long been calling for an independent country to be carved out of India’s Punjab region.
The Sikh protests have, in turn, inspired counter-protests by supporters of the Indian government in Canada.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said earlier this week that he wants city council to pass a new bylaw to prohibit protests at places of worship.
According to the website of the Indian consulate in Toronto, officials cancelled three consular camps: two planned for this weekend in Brampton and one on Nov. 24 in Cambridge, Ont. Several other meetings remained on the schedule.
Officials with the Indian High Commission in Ottawa and the consulate in Toronto did not respond to messages from The Globe and Mail on Thursday.
The increased tensions in the GTA’s large South Asian communities come amid rising concern about foreign interference in Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alleged that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is engaging in covert campaigns of violence against Sikh separatists in Canada.
The two governments engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions last month after Ottawa officials said they have evidence of New Delhi’s involvement in homicides, extortion and violent crime on Canadian soil.