Sikh protests set to continue in Calgary as Indian PM Modi arrives for G7 summit
A crowd gathers to protest the arrival of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at the G7 summit, in Calgary, on Monday, June 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
CALGARY — Some Sikhs say they plan to continue protests in Calgary on Tuesday, condemning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he visits the G7 leaders' summit.
The advocacy group Sikhs for Justice had already held a day of protests Monday when Modi landed at the Calgary airport in the evening then made his way to the summit in the nearby wilderness retreat of Kananaskis.
The protest in downtown Calgary included posters of the leader handcuffed, in a prison jumpsuit and another depicting him behind bars.
Activists have long been advocating for an independent Sikh state in India, known as Khalistan. It has presented a challenge to Modi's government that resulted in tensions between Canada – and its large Sikh community — and India.
Last fall, the RCMP accused Modi's government of having a role in murder, coercion and extortion in Canada. In 2023, then prime minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing of Sikh separation activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
There has been outrage since Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Modi as a guest at the G7 gathering. The federal NDP and some members of Carney's caucus have raised concerns about the invite.
However, Modi has been at several recent G7 summits.
Bakshish Singh Sandhu, co-founder of Sikhs for Justice, said he's grateful to Carney for bringing Modi to Canada, 'so he can be exposed and held responsible.'
Canada is hosting leaders from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and the European Union. Leaders from several non-member countries, including Modi, have also been invited.
Other groups have held protests in Calgary and Banff, including environmental activists, those upset about the war between Israel and Palestine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also attending the summit.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ottawa Citizen
17 minutes ago
- Ottawa Citizen
G7 Summit live updates: Donald Trump leaves early G7 leaders issue statement on Israel-Iran conflict
The 2025 G7 Summit is in its last day, with political leaders continuing talks in Kananaskis. Article content U.S. President Donald Trump's Air Force One left not too long after arriving in Calgary on Sunday night: he left the summit early, following a dinner with the other leaders on Monday night. Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump met Monday morning and Trump spoke about the 'different concepts of trade' he and Mark Carney have, as well as criticized the decision to remove Russia from the G8. Trump also said removing Russia from the now-G7 meetings resulted in the war with Ukraine. Article content Article content And while the Iran-Israel conflict isn't on the official schedule, the subject has become top of mind as leaders meet, mix and mingle, with the group putting out a joint statement on Monday regarding developments between Israel and Iran. Article content The Leader's Summit is a forum for open discussion, collaboration, and consensus-building on pressing global issues. Read about the #G7 priorities guiding the discussions: — G7 (@G7) June 17, 2025 Article content Article content Away from the official summit site, protesters in downtown Calgary took advantage of the international spotlight to rally for a number of causes. Article content The summit and related events have resulted in a few new road closures in Calgary, continuing until the summit's conclusion, while a limited-access security zone around the summit site has been in place since last week. Police are also reminding all road users to be mindful of motorcades and to heed officers' instructions. Article content Article content Matters expected to be on the official agenda for world leaders will be divided into three major areas of discussion:
Cision Canada
32 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
Joint Statement by Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer Français
OTTAWA, ON, June 15, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, and Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), met in Ottawa to reaffirm the profound friendship and shared values that unite both nations. The Canada-UK partnership, rooted in a common history and enduring people-to-people ties, continues to grow stronger, with a focus on delivering prosperity and security for the working people of Canada and the UK alike. The two leaders discussed the many geopolitical challenges currently facing the world, including in the Middle East and tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, and reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression. The two leaders underscored the importance of a fair, open and predictable global trading system; reiterated their commitment to a rules-based international order underpinned by respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity; and committed to advancing peace and trans-Atlantic security. They agreed the following joint initiatives aimed at strengthening economic growth and prosperity and enhancing collective security and defence: Growth and Innovation Partnership Canada and the UK are committed to delivering economic growth for their people. The two Prime Ministers today announced further collaboration on trade, science, technology and innovation. Through their Partnership, Canada and the UK will work together to: Trade: Strengthen trade ties as trusted, reliable partners. This will include expanding trade under the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement. We will establish a new structured UK-Canada Economic and Trade Working Group to deepen our existing trading relationship further, including to address existing market access barriers, to expand existing arrangements into new areas, such as digital trade, and to explore cooperation in the development of critical minerals and sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure. The working group will report back to both Prime Ministers within six months. Canada will seek to introduce legislation this autumn to ratify the UK's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership. Semiconductors: Deliver industrial R&D projects to enhance both nations' complementary strengths in semiconductors, photonics, emerging materials and chip design. They will deepen connections between the innovation rich semiconductor ecosystems in Canada and the UK to help build resilient supply chains and accelerate breakthroughs in this key sector that is driving economic growth. Quantum: Announce a joint commitment to develop secure, transatlantic communications based on quantum technologies, allowing us to connect our national systems and lay the groundwork to create a truly global, next-generation network, with applications across our financial and telecoms sectors. Digital: Mutually reinforce nation-building digital public infrastructure by co-developing policy levers and standards, and common technology components. Artificial Intelligence: Deepen and explore new collaborations on frontier AI systems to support our national security. This will include a partnership agreement to strengthen existing collaboration on AI safety and security between the Canadian AI Safety Institute and UK AI Security Institute, and new Canadian and UK MOUs with leading Canadian AI firm Cohere. Under the Canadian MOU, Cohere will collaborate with the Canadian AI Safety Institute and develop their commitment to building cutting-edge data centres in Canada. Under the UK MOU, Cohere will expand their UK presence to support the delivery of the UK AI Opportunities Action Plan. Both MOUs reflect ongoing collaboration on the application of AI tools in security and intelligence and are rooted in Cohere's strong foundations in Canada and ongoing commitment to the UK. Biomanufacturing: Strengthen collaboration to deliver economic growth and be better prepared for future health emergencies, including a joint investment of $14.8 million to support joint biomanufacturing research and development that will grow the talent and skills pipeline in both countries, and to help businesses scale. Civil Nuclear: Develop a world-leading fusion energy collaboration and deepen cooperation on nuclear energy from fission to reduce the influence of Russia on our international fuel supply chains. Critical Minerals: Intensify bilateral cooperation by conducting a strategic mapping exercise to pinpoint key critical minerals, infrastructure, production and processing capacities. They will identify projects for joint investment to support secure and sustainable critical minerals supply chain development and leverage all available financial tools to mobilize funding and drive production to strengthen our manufacturing and mining sectors. Enhanced Defence and Security Partnership The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation – both bilaterally and through the NATO Alliance and Five Eyes partnership – to safeguard democratic values advance global stability and ensure the safety of our people in an increasingly complex world. To achieve this, they committed to: Ukraine: Further support Ukraine in its self-defence against Russia's war of aggression. This will include continued support for the Coalition of the Willing and respective efforts to support Ukraine's domestic defence industrial production. The UK and Canada will continue to work together to support the Air Force Capability Coalition and develop cutting edge aircraft weaponry technology in support of Ukraine. Military Cooperation: Position the Canada-UK defence relationship for further growth across military operations, industrial collaboration, and defence innovation, catalyzed by Canada's newly announced defence investment trajectory and the UK's Strategic Defence Review. Canada and the UK will work towards a new permanent arrangement for the long-term and sustainable use of British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) through the "BATUS Future Project". The Project will deepen the Canada-UK relationship on defence and showcase CFB Suffield as a multi-purpose facility for the development and testing of new equipment and cutting-edge technology which are vital to maintaining our shared security and prosperity. Intelligence: Build on the long history of deep and productive collaboration between our security and intelligence organizations by launching coordinated operational campaigns to combat terrorism and violent extremism, and deepening collaboration on enhanced intelligence collection, including by expanding officer exchange programs. National Security: Tackle evolving state threats together, including sabotage, transnational repression, foreign interference, malicious cyber activity, information manipulation and economic coercion, all of which seeks to undermine our national security and that of our Allies and partners. This will include joint work to invest in civil society organizations actively working to counter digital transnational repression through the Joint Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund, a first-of-its-kind multilateral fund aimed at supporting civil society actors at high risk. To kickstart this fund, Canada and the UK are providing $5.7 million in seed funding to the Fund, which will be disbursed over 5 years. They also agreed to strengthen bilateral development and delivery of secure communications products and cutting-edge cryptography and explore new research partnerships to address gaps in AI security and evolve AI models to support national security.
CTV News
37 minutes ago
- CTV News
Doug Ford delivers rant on ‘weak-kneed' judges, says bail system is ‘broken'
Premier Doug Ford delivered an unprompted 'rant' against 'weak-kneed judges' and a 'broken' bail system on Tuesday after learning that all but one suspect charged in connection with a nearly $50 million drug bust in Peel Region have already been released from custody. Peel Regional Police held a news conference last week to announce nine arrests in connection with what officials said was the largest single seizure of drugs in the force's history. During the news conference, police said that officers seized a total of 479 kilograms of bricked cocaine in connection with the investigation, much of it hidden in transport trucks. Police called the bust a 'seismic blow to transnational organized crime,' however they later confirmed that eight of the suspects were already out on bail. During an unrelated news conference on Tuesday, Ford said that he wanted time for a 'rant' after answering reporter questions and then immediately began his criticism of the decisions to release so many of the suspects on bail. 'They (police) do a massive bust, 500 kilos of cocaine that these drug dealers want to poison our kids and poison our people with. Guess what guys? These weak-kneed judges. The biggest bust in Peel's history. Guess where they (the suspects) are? They are back out on the street again,' Ford said. 'Can you believe that? They actually get released after the largest drug bust in Peel history. 500 kilos of cocaine that can ultimately kill people and judges slap them on the wrist. 'OK little Johnny you go out there and deal more drugs. Why don't you give them more drugs?' It is crazy. The system is broken.'' Ford has been a frequent critic of Canada's bail system and in April even floated the idea of electing judges, similar to what is done in the United States. His comments then prompted Ontario's three chief justices to issue a rare joint statement in which they called judicial independence a 'cornerstone of our constitutional democracy.' On Tuesday, Ford did not get into specifics on what he viewed as the solution but promised that he will be 'all over' Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government until there is meaningful 'bail reform.' 'They need to change the criminal code, they need to change bail reform, I will be all over him (Carney) until this gets done,' he said. 'Stop the dilly dallying around. The Prime Minister gave me his word he is going to change it. It has to be done.'
