Ottawa: Canada’s Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) unveiled its 2025 report to Parliament on Friday, explicitly identifying Canada-based Khalistani extremists (CBKE) as a continuing danger to national security.
According to the CSIS document, these groups persist in pushing a violent extremist ideology. The report referred to the 40th anniversary of the Air India Flight 182 bombing, carried out by CBKE suspects and still Canada’s worst terrorist incident, claiming 329 lives — mostly Canadian. No such attacks linked to CBKEs took place in Canada during 2025, as reported by The Economic Times.
Extremists Exploit Institutions & Funds
The report warns: “Ongoing involvement in violent extremist activities by CBKEs continues to pose a national security threat to Canada and to Canadian interests. Some CBKEs are well connected to Canadian citizens who leverage Canadian institutions to promote their violent extremist agenda and collect funds from unsuspecting community members that are then diverted toward violent activities.”
Beyond Khalistani threats, CSIS points to foreign meddling in Canadian affairs by various nations amid global turbulence. “In 2025, the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada remained the People’s Republic of China (PRC), India, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Pakistan. However, with shifting geopolitical realities and an increasingly multipolar global environment, these were not the only foreign states that sought to interfere in Canada.”
India’s Influence Tactics Draw Scrutiny
CSIS details India’s approach: “Historically, India has cultivated covert relationships with Canadian politicians, journalists, and members of the Indo-Canadian community, to exert its influence and advance its interests. This has included transnational repression (TNR) activities, such as surveillance and other coercive tactics meant to suppress criticism of the Government of India and create fear in the community. Given the presence in Canada of supporters of the Khalistan separatist movement, Canada must remain vigilant regarding potential TNR activities. India acts to counter perceived threats to its domestic stability, including Khalistan separatism. In Canada, advocacy for Khalistan separatism is lawful political activity.”
This intelligence snapshot covers 2025, but dynamics have evolved since Mark Carney became prime minister. Canadian authorities recently affirmed no current ties between India and violence on Canadian soil, ahead of Carney’s India trip this year.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme backed this in a CTV interview, stating: “Well, what I quoted in 2024 was based on the criminal investigation that we had at the time. The government official who made that quote, I’m not quite sure who briefed him. What I’m saying is that that particular file at that time, yes, I did say you had agents or proxies from the government. But what we’re seeing right now in transnational repression. the dots don’t always connect to a foreign entity.”
Bilateral strains peaked over Canada’s stance on Khalistani activists and claims of Indian agents’ role in the 2023 slaying of designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar near a gurdwara. New Delhi dismissed those accusations as “politically motivated.”
