MONTREAL: Canada has declared India's Bishnoi gang a "terrorist entity," targeting a group linked to a murder that triggered a breakdown in relations between Ottawa and New Delhi last year.
Canada has accused the notorious syndicate — known for assassinations and extortion in India — of possible involvement in the murder of prominent Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver.
Nijjar, who had advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was shot dead in a parking lot in 2023.
Following the incident, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have alleged that members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government worked with the "Bishnoi Group" to target Sikh activists in Canada.
India furiously rejected those charges, sparking a diplomatic fallout that saw both countries expel top diplomats.
Canada's Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said terrorism designation gave Ottawa "more powerful and effective tools to confront" the Bishnoi group.
A statement from his office called the Bishnoi gang "a transnational criminal organisation operating primarily out of India, with a presence in Canada, that generates terror through extortion and intimidation".
The move comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took office in March, seeks to repair ties with India that collapsed under his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
Carney has courted India as part of an effort to deepen Canada's trade ties in Asia, which the prime minister says is essential to offset the impact of the trade war with the United States.
Carney met one-on-one with Modi at the Canada-hosted G7 meeting in June, stressing "the significant commercial links between Canada and India."