Agency struggles to find answers for Brampton travellers as India suspends visa services for Canadian citizens

Travellers and the transportation sector at large have been rattled by the sudden ramp-up in tensions between Canada and India and a travel agency in Brampton says its struggling to find answers for clients.

India halted all visa services for citizens of Canada and told it to reduce its diplomatic staffing Thursday following claims by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week of “credible allegations” India may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen and Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar was gunned down on June 18 outside a Sikh cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia. A prominent member of a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, Nijjar was involved in promoting the Khalistan referendum in Brampton last September.

The allegations led Brampton City Council to call on police and Ottawa to ensure places of worship are kept safe , with Coun. Gurpartap Singh Toor saying the prime minister’s statement “brings validation to the decades of Canadian voices that have always spoken about the presence of foreign interference and intelligence reporting by the government of India.”

“People are a little scared,” said Urvi Chawla, who works at Sahib Travel Agency in Brampton and says the agency has been inundated with questions about visas and flight availability.

“‘Should I make the booking or not? What about relations between India and Canada?'” Chawla said, paraphrasing her customers. “We don’t have any answers, because we don’t know … but the flights are going.”

Canada has also expelled an Indian diplomat, and India followed by expelling a Canadian diplomat on Tuesday. It called the allegations being investigated in Canada absurd and an attempt to shift attention from the presence of Nijjar and other wanted suspects in Canada.

In 2021, 80,000 Canadian tourists visited India, making them the fourth largest group, according to India’s Bureau of Immigration.

The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi said Thursday that all of its consulates in India are open and continue to serve clients. It said some of its diplomats had received threats on social media, prompting it to assess its “staff complement in India.” It added that Canada expects India to provide security for its diplomats and consular officers working there.

As home to one of the largest populations of Sikhs outside of India, Brampton City Council unanimously threw its support behind a letter to the Minister of Public Safety requesting an investigation into any potential foreign interference in the killing of Nijjar.

For years, India has said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, has links to terrorism, an allegation he denied.

Canada has yet to provide any evidence of Indian involvement in the killing. India’s security and intelligence branches have long been active in South Asia and are suspected in a number of killings in Pakistan. But arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.

The Vancouver Police Department beefed up security outside India’s Consulate after Trudeau’s announcement this week, and India’s National Investigation Agency said Wednesday it has intensified its crackdown on Sikh insurgents operating in India.

— with files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press