MUMBAI — Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is refusing to answer questions about whether the government believes India is still engaged in foreign interference.
Anand was repeatedly pressed on the question by reporters at a media availability in Mumbai, where Prime Minister Mark Carney is visiting India as part of an ongoing reset of the trade and diplomatic relationship with India.
Ahead of Carney’s trip, a federal official said Carney would not be making this trip if Canada still believed agents of the Indian government were involved in extortion or threats of violence in Canada.
“Foreign interference, transnational repression is taken extremely seriously by our government and it will continue to be taken seriously because no country has a pass when it comes to domestic public safety,” Anand said.
Canada’s relationship with India disintegrated over the past two years, after Ottawa said in 2023 Canada had evidence linking Indian government agents to the murder of Canadian Sikh activist. In 2024 when RCMP said there was evidence of a wider campaign of intimidation and violence.
Anand she will continue to raise concerns by the Sikh community with her counterparts in India.
Some Canadian Sikhs are calling on the government to take a firmer stand on India, while Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal said on social media Thursday he firmly denounces the federal official’s remarks to reporters because they contradict assessments from Canadian security agencies.
Vincent Rigby, a former national security and intelligence adviser to the federal government who now teaches at McGill University, said it “strains credibility” to suggest India has stopped harmful meddling in Canadian affairs.
In Mumbai this afternoon, both Anand and Carney put the focus on academic partnerships with India, appearing at an event focused on showcasing university talent and innovation.
Anand announced a new Canada-India strategy on talent and innovation, launched by Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada, which includes 13 new partnerships between Canadian and Indian universities.
Carney then toured some of the booths at the event, stopping to hear presentations and chat with the researchers.
Earlier in the day, he received a private tour of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya history museum, which included the textiles and painting galleries.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2026.
– With files from Jim Bronskill in Ottawa
Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
