Toronto, June 17 Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman on Tuesday said that public opinion in Canada has turned largely negative towards the Khalistani movement, which he described as a factor that made the country look "a bit silly" and severely strained Canada-India relations in 2023.
His remarks come as hundreds of Khalistani extremists held demonstrations in Alberta against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, coinciding with the ongoing Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada.
PM Modi is attending the summit as a special guest alongside world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Among the protesters, one of the leaders, Manjinder Singh, made provocative statements, declaring he was prepared to "ambush Modi" and "kill India's PM Modi's politics," sparking sharp condemnation.
Speaking to IANS, Bordman said, "I've been to an 'Ambush Modi' protest. They ambushed Modi. He wasn't near them, but they were still ambushing. The Khalistanis are into batting, and normal Canadians are just terribly confused as to why they're yelling so much."
He said the Khalistani movement had peaked around the time of the Hardeep Singh Nijjar controversy, when Canada's liberal government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, included several individuals with extremist affiliations.
"At the end of 2023, Khalistan had sort of maximum strength because you had a liberal government run by Justin Trudeau, deeply infiltrated with people with all types of extremist backgrounds. A lot of Khalistanis, especially within the Cabinet. And then there was Jagmeet Singh, a minority leader who's an open Khalistani," Bordman said.
"This is the reason why Khalistan had sort of maximum strength in 2023, and that caused lots of problems. That led to the whole Canada-India fight, broke down our relations with India, generally made the country look a bit silly, with all the people waving swords, tearing up flags," he added.
Bordman noted a shift in how Khalistani extremism is now viewed among Canadian locals.
"It feels nice to know that now people know what the Khalistani movement is and have a pretty negative opinion about it... Khalistani movement doesn't have a good reputation," he said.
He pointed out that frustration has grown among ordinary Canadians, who are now more vocal about their disapproval of the movement.
"You need someone to run drugs in a truck through the country, you know who to call. You need a functioning stable country, do not call Gurpatwant Singh Pannun," he added, referring to the self-styled Khalistani leader.
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