Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed on Monday that the country’s intelligence services implicated Indian authorities in the murder in Canada of a leader of the Sikh community.

“Any involvement by a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian on Canadian soil constitutes an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he told the Lower House of the Canadian Parliament.

Following Trudeau’s statement, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced the expulsion of a “key diplomat” from India, responsible for Indian intelligence in the country.

Canada “will not tolerate any form of interference” and the government “will protect Canada’s sovereignty,” he said.

The prime minister added that Canada “has expressed its deep concerns to the highest security and government officials in India” regarding the June 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the western city of Surrey. from Canada.

Singh Nijjar, shot dead by unknown assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple, had been accused of terrorism by the Indian authorities for having advocated the creation in the state of Punjab of an independent country, Khalistan, for the Sikh minority .

Trudeau briefed the country’s top political leaders on Monday on Canadian intelligence findings on India’s involvement in the assassination and said that at the G20 summit, held in India on September 9-10, he had demanded explanations from his Indian counterpart, Narendra. Modi.

“In the strongest possible manner, I recommend that the Indian government work with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” said the president, who called what happened “extremely serious.”

On September 1, the Canadian government announced the suspension of negotiations with India for the signing of a free trade agreement, without explaining the reasons. Canada also canceled a trade mission to India that should have taken place in October.

About 1.8 million people of Indian origin live in Canada, of whom about 770,000 are Sikh. The leader of the social-democrat New Democratic Party (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, the fourth party in the Canadian Parliament, is Sikh.