US asserts support for Canada amid row with India over Sikh leader's murder

The United States has said that it's asserting its support for Canada in the midst of a foreign-affairs crisis that places it in an uncomfortable quandary. 

The US vehemently denied the idea that it has been reluctant to speak publicly on Canada's behalf amid allegations by Prime Minister Justice Trudeau that the Indian government participated in the extrajudicial killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. 

This was after a report in the Washington Post said Ottawa had tried and failed for weeks to get its allies to publicly condemn the murder. 

A senior US administration official reached out to CBC News to dispute that characterization. "Reports that Canada asked the US to publicly condemn the murder and that we refused are false and we would strongly push back on the rumours that we were reluctant to speak publicly about this," the official said.  

"In fact, we very clearly and very publicly have done the opposite by expressing deep concern shortly after PM Trudeau made the announcement."

The official then pointed to a statement made Monday night by Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, which called on the Indian government to cooperate with the Canadian investigation.

But the allegation comes at a time when the United States is desperately courting India as an ally in the midst of Washington's increasingly intense rivalry with its neighbour, China. Just weeks ago, India's prime minister received a warm welcome at the White House. 

"It would be a mistake to think that this is suddenly going to become a huge global issue when in reality it is an issue that affects us," Bob Rae, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, told Power & Politics regarding the allegation that the Indian government was involved in the murder of a Canadian citizen.

Allies not keen to take sides

Canada's other Five Eyes allies showed little inclination to wade into an escalating row between Ottawa and New Delhi over allegations that Indian agents were involved in the assassination of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., on June 18.

Most opted to treat the allegation as a matter still to be investigated — in spite of the fact that the Trudeau government feels it has enough information to make an accusation in Parliament and expel a diplomat.

US National Security Council spokesperson Adm. John Kirby was perhaps the most supportive of Canada. "They are certainly serious allegations," he said Tuesday, "and we believe in order to determine how credible they are, there needs to be a thorough investigation.

"Prime Minister Trudeau has called for that, and so we'll see how Canada moves forward on this. It's certainly well within their capacity to do this, and we urge India as well to participate and cooperate in that investigation."

"It is important to find out exactly what happened."

Australian PM Anthony Albanese, who earlier this year hosted India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Australia, refused to comment on the matter at all. "I don't talk about Five Eyes intelligence at a press conference, funnily enough," he said in response to a question about India's alleged role. "That's why it's called intelligence. It's because we don't speculate on what the intelligence is. So I don't intend to talk about Five Eyes intelligence here or anywhere else."

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly put out a tweet that made no mention of India at all. "All countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law. We are in regular contact with our Canadian partners about serious allegations raised in the Canadian Parliament. Important that Canada's investigation runs its course and the perpetrators brought to justice."

On Sept 12, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian G20 delegation finally left India after an embarrassing extended stay caused by airplane issues, one member of the delegation was absent.

National Security Adviser Jody Thomas had quietly left India to fly to London, UK Her mission was to tell the UK government in person that Canada's relations with India were about to get a whole lot worse.

There was also a flurry of conversations between Prime Minister Trudeau and the leaders of the US, the UK and France.

The Canadian government was aware that requesting support from those allies was no small thing. Canada's explosive allegations against India come at a sensitive time for all nations involved.

For India, it stains the country's international image just as it celebrates its moment in the sun, weeks after sending a successful mission to the moon and then hosting the world's leaders in New Delhi. It now finds itself accused of rogue state behaviour similar to that of Saudi Arabia and Russia.

For Canada's allies, the accusation presents the risk of alienating the world's most populous country just when they least want to do so.

Nuclear power India is the world's most powerful non-aligned country at a time when the world is increasingly dividing into two blocs. The Modi government has resisted taking sides on the Ukrainian war that has turbocharged those antagonisms.

The West has worked to pull India to its side and has had reasons to hope that was happening.

The United States has finally succeeded in drawing India into something that resembles a formal alliance: the "Quad" of the US, India, Australia and Japan.

After a false start in 2007 that petered out just a year later, the Quad was re-established in 2017 but really only began to act cohesively in 2021.