Safety concerns lead to more cancelled meetings by Indian officials in Brampton

The Indian Consulate in Canada is cancelling more consular camps due to safety concerns.

In a message posted on social media today (Nov. 21), the Consulate General of India based in Toronto said it fears the locations where the meetings were to be held cannot be safely protected amidst growing sectarian tensions.

Brampton was one of the locations, officials said.

“Due to continued inability conveyed by security agencies to provide minimum security against heightened threats, Consulate has had to cancel some more consular camps,” the message reads.

The camps are meetings held by the consulate to assist the diaspora with various issues related to the homeland including passports and pensions.

Similar camps had earlier been cancelled in Brampton due to conflicts between Sikh and Hindu groups that have led to arrests. Future meetings were also planned because of its large Indian population in the GTA, particularly in Peel Region.

“Consulate is fully sensitive to the difficulties faced by close to 4,000 elderly members of the diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area — both Indian and Canadian nationals — who have been deprived of an essential consular service,” the message continues adding the visits by diplomats to these meetings will be rescheduled.

The move comes despite new measures in both Brampton and Mississauga that prevent demonstrations at places of worship. The consulate says the cancelled meetings were not going to take place at places of worship which led to the safety concerns.

Indian officials say the presence of diplomats at the meetings has made them targets of protestors who disagree with the policies of Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India.

Early this month those seeking a separate homeland for Sikhs demonstrated at a Hindu temple in Brampton because it was believed that Indian diplomats were at the temple.