Canadian top govt official admits leaking info on Nijjar killing to Washington Post

Canada prime minister’s national security adviser Nathalie Drouin

Canada prime minister’s national security adviser (NSA) Nathalie Drouin has admitted to leaking sensitive information on India's alleged interference in the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar to the US newspaper Washington Post.

India and Canada’s ties  have been impacted over the latter’s allegations in  Nijjar’s killing, leading to both countries expelling each other’s envoys. India, on multiple occasions, has rejected Canada’s allegations, calling it ‘baseless,’ and asked Trudeau to submit any credible information to back his claims.

Nathalie Drouin confirmed to the Commons Public Safety Committee that she was not supposed to require Trudeau’s permission to leak the ‘classified intelligence’ alleging India’s foreign intervention.

Drouin was joined by David Morrison, Canada’s deputy foreign minister, in accusing India of directing the ‘violent operations’, a charge termed as ‘politically motivated’ by New Delhi.

"We made a strategic decision to engage a respected international news outlet that had already published on the subject to ensure the record was straight and that our side of the story would be widely heard," Drouin told the panel. The official added that the move was part of shoring up Canada’s international case to our allies.

She also denied allegations that she released classified info to the Washington Post, stating that it only "contained the same information that was provided to opposition party leaders here."

Drouin's role in the alleged information leak came to light after The Globe and Mail published a report last week alleging that she, along with Morrison, shared sensitive information with Washington Post.

However, Drouin's admission about the leak was met with criticism from the opposition camp. Conservative MP Raquel Dancho said she was disturbed that information Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t reveal to Canadians was leaked to a US newspaper. "I just find that kind of unfair to the Canadian public that details were released in advance to the Washington Post and confirmed to the Washington Post, but not provided to to Canada," she said at the hearing. "Don’t you find that odd?"

Earlier, Trudeau said he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Nijjar last year.

Trudeau’s admission came after the RCMP said it had evidence that six Indian diplomats were involved in the alleged plot to murder Nijjar in June 2023.