VANCOUVER: Canadian lawyer and MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena in British Columbia, Dallas Brodie, has welcomed PM Narendra Modi’s G7 Summit invite, calling it a chance to improve Canada-India ties.
She highlighted India’s value as a democratic nation with a vast, educated, and motivated population, adding, “Canada could do nothing but benefit from a positive relationship with India.”
Further, the Canadian MLA has expressed optimism about ties between the two countries.
In an interview with ANI, Brodie expressed hope for “positive” talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney.
She said India is a “great nation” with which to have a trade arrangement. She also mentioned the presence of the Indian diaspora in Canada.
Asked how she sees India-Canada ties as PM Modi visits Canada for G7 Summit, the lawmaker said, “I think the relationship will be improved and it will be exciting to have the two leaders meeting. I’m an optimist and I always believe that meeting and doing things like this reduces barriers and it also brings to light that Canada needs to have a positive relationship with India. This is great news and India, what a great country to have a trade arrangement with educated population, brilliant people, motivated people, a democracy, and, such a gigantic market.”
“Canada could do nothing but benefit from having a positive relationship with India, and I hope that the talks between Mr. Carney and Mr Modi are positive and look forward to an increased relationship between us. As I said before, we have the largest diaspora of Indian people in our country, and I believe that a large part of that is right here in British Columbia. So, it would be exciting and I think it would give a lot of people hope and establish positive ties” she said.
She called Mark Carney’s invitation to PM Modi for G7 Summit a “positive development.” She emphasised that Canada needs to have better ties with India and “move forward on a positive footing.”
On Mark Carney inviting PM Modi, Dallas Brodie stated, “Having India being invited to the G7 summit and, and our Prime Minister Mark Carney reaching out to India for this is a fantastic development. I think that with a market that’s so big, 1.4 billion people, the world’s largest democracy. There’s a big market there and there’s a lot in common between our countries. And Canada has the largest diaspora of Indian people in the world. What a great arrangement this could be.”
Asked whether she believes Canada under Carney-led government will have good relations with India, she said, “This move by the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, to reach out to India, I think is a very positive development. Things have not been good for the last several years. It’s very negative and it’s not okay, we need to have a better relationship with India and move forward on a positive footing. This, I think, signals that they want to fix this dynamic and really mention some very open wounds that have occurred here.”
PM Modi’s visit to Canada at the invitation of Carney for attending G7 Summit comes at a time when bilateral ties between the two nations have been strained in recent years, primarily due to concerns over Canada’s perceived leniency towards Khalistani separatist elements. India has urged Canada not to give any “political space to extremist elements advocating violence and secession.”
Terming khalistani extremism a “major problem” in Canada, she stated that majority of Hindus and Sikh people in the country are not happy about it. She said that Khalistani movement is dangerous and scary for people and called for dealing with the issue “firmly.” She expressed hope that the issue of Khalistani movement will be discussed during the meeting between PM Modi and Carney.
On India’s concerns regarding Khalistani extremism in Canada, she said, “Well, the situation of Khalistani extremism is a major problem. There’s no question and most Hindus and Sikh people in Canada are not happy with this situation, and hopefully, this will be discussed by the federal government with India. I’m in the provincial government in British Columbia where there is a large Khalistani movement. It’s dangerous and scary for a lot of people, and it’s time that this be dealt with firmly, and I’m, I hope that this will be discussed in meetings between Prime Minister Mark Carney and India in the G7 Meeting.”
Ties between the two nations became strained after Canada’s allegations that Indian agents were involved in the killing of NIA-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Canada in 2023. India had strongly rejected the allegations and termed them “politically motivated.” The diplomatic standoff escalated as both countries expelled senior diplomats in a tit-for-tat response.
When asked about her view on Indians demanding a memorial for the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing, she said, “What I think it will do is bring attention to this issue. Remember, this bombing happened, this terrible bombing happened back in 1985 when so many people don’t even really remember what happened. It was an unbelievable and sickening tragedy, and a disgusting act of terrorism against innocent civilians, 331 lives. And right now, there’s only one little plaque about this event in our largest park in Vancouver, Stanley Park, and pushing for a memorial that actually I’m working on right now here in British Columbia to push for a memorial, a place where people can go and young people can go and read about it and see and understand what happened would be extremely educational and helpful to perhaps healing some of the wounds. I mean, you can never heal what happened there.”
“But education is important going forward in the understanding that allowing groups to glorify terrorism, to say it’s okay, it’s not okay. This was, this was the worst act of terrorism that’s ever been done against a civilian aeroplane, and it was planned and hatched and executed here and I think a lot of Canadians don’t understand what happened there, even though there was a major trial about it. It still hasn’t taken the front seat that it should have about how this was allowed to happen and whether, the groups that pushed and, and planned this horrible act have actually been, whether it’s been brought to light and really noticed. So this educational centre will help with that. I think that it’s needed right now because as you know, last week, in the BC legislature, several …were invited to speak in the legislature or to visit the legislature, and they were called out to and they got shout outs from people from both major parties here and These musicians in their videos are glorifying murderers and terrorists. That’s not okay at all and this should not ever happen again. And that’s not just my view, that’s a lot of people feel this way,” she said.
The incident happened in 1985 when a flight en route on Montreal-London-Delhi, operated by Air India exploded by a bomb mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean. As many as 329 innocent passengers were killed in the incident, where the victims included Canadians, Indian nationals, and other foreign nationals, as well as children.
When asked whether she believes there will talks between two nations on eradicating terrorism, she responded, “Obviously, I can’t say what they’ll be discussing, but I would imagine that this is going to be top of mind for Mr Modi and for Mr Carney and I can’t imagine that this issue would not be addressed between these two leaders. The attack on the tourists in Kashmir was sickening and Canada has to take a position on these kinds of things and deal with this and I’m hoping this will be on the list of items that they deal with, and I’m sure it will be.” (ANI)
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