Canada wants to withhold ‘sensitive’ information from trial over Sikh leader’s killing
Global News
Allowing the information to be disclosed 'would be injurious to international relations and national security,' the Attorney General of Canada argued.
Canada’s justice department is fighting to prevent “sensitive” national security information from emerging at the upcoming murder trial of four Indian men accused of gunning down a B.C. Sikh leader in 2023.
In an application to the Federal Court, lawyers representing the Attorney General of Canada asked for permission to withhold some evidence at the prosecution of the alleged killers of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Court documents released to Global News do not specify which details they are seeking to keep confidential, but they argued that releasing them “would be injurious to international relations and national security.”
The case against the suspected killers of the Sikh temple president is being closely watched because of allegations the government of India ordered the murder as part of a campaign to silence its political opponents abroad.
The claims, first made public in September 2023 by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, set off a diplomatic rift between Canada and India. Ottawa later expel Indian diplomats and consular officials from the country.
Since taking office, Prime Minister Mark Carney has reengaged with India and sought to expand trade relations. Canadian Sikhs have called that a betrayal, given India’s alleged targeting of them.
It is not unusual for federal lawyers to ask a judge to allow them to refrain from disclosing national security information in trials. Often, it occurs when the information in question was provided by a foreign agency.
“In Canada, the Attorney General has the power to apply to the Federal Court for an order to, in essence, protect certain types of information from being released publicly and to the defence,” said University of Calgary law professor Michael Nesbitt.
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