Three Sikh organizations took the federal government to task for their failure to address B.C.’s ongoing extortion crisis, during a public town hall held in Surrey earlier this month.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada, Sikh Federation, and British Columbia Gurdwaras Council brought together government officials and high-ranking members of local law enforcement agencies to discuss targeted Indian transnational repression and coordinated extortion towards Sikh communities in Canada. The town hall was held Dec. 14 at the Civic Hotel in Surrey.
In attendance at the public town hall panel were Vancouver Kingsway MP Don Davies, Surrey-Newton MP Sukh Dhaliwal, Richmond East-Steveston MP Parm Bains, Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai, Richmond-Queensborough MLA Steve Kooner, Surrey-Panorama MLA Brian Tepper and Surrey city councillor Rob Stutt, along with Surrey Police Service Chief Const. Norm Lipinski and Deputy Chief Const. Michael Procyk.
Hosting the event were Gurpreet Kaur, B.C. regional president for the World Sikh Organization of Canada; Prabjot Singh, legal counsel for Sikh Federation Canada; Danish Singh, national president of World Sikh Organization; and Moninder Singh, spokesperson for B.C. Gurdwaras Council.
Prabjot, Danish and Moninder Singh all spoke on behalf of their organizations. Each of them explained the reason behind having these town halls and why it is vital that they be held now.
“The root of the violence and this issue lies in the Indian government officials who are coordinating and directing violence. Unfortunately, the lack of public accountability and transparency from our government of Canada in enabling, is facilitating and permitting India’s violence to continue unchecked,” Prabjot told the audience.
He said one of the most concerning and dangerous forms of foreign interference and transnational repression that is seen in this country is the idea of cognitive warfare. Prabjot said this is coming from the disinformation campaigns targeting the Canadian government.
“We are looking at the government of India actively orchestrating violence and targeting our community to create this perception of lawlessness but also to create an unsafe environment and to strike fear in the hearts of community members across the country,” Prabjot explained, before sharing more information about how India is crossing borders with their violence and it is showing here in Canada with all the extortion-related incidents.
In Surrey, there were 110 reported extortion-related files, 46 extortion-related shootings and 80 “unique victims” related to extortions in 2025, according to Dec. 15 figures from Surrey Police Service.
Prabjot said the community feels like there is distrust in the Canadian government because this has been continuing and nothing actively is being done – which leads to why they hosted this town hall.
Next to speak on behalf of the community was Danish, who first spoke in Punjabi as he wanted to directly speak to a large portion of the room.
Danish thanked the individuals who came out to this public hall and said: “Even showing up to these events can put a target on your back.”
He said these organizations have had these town halls before and have spoken with some elected officials regarding the information about the government of India being involved and orchestrating these attacks. He asked why the narrative of the government of India is not being mentioned in these political conversations.
The main response Danish said he has received is that voters aren’t bringing this information up, and Danish said it’s because they are afraid. This, Danish said, leaves him to wonder: If the victims won’t talk and the politicians won’t talk, where does that leave the community?
He explained that organizing these town halls can be nerve-wracking because a culture of fear is surrounding it, and this is why Danish was pleased that people came, because something needs to be done.
These events can cause the conversations to begin and they can name the issue, he said.
“If we don’t tackle the root of it, it’s like trying to get rid of a weed. If you keep cutting the top off, it’s going to keep growing back,” he said. “If we don’t name it, we’re just sitting ducks.”
Moninder was the last to speak before the panel was introduced into the conversation. He said the Canadian government is trading their human rights for free trade agreements. Moninder rephrased his words and said that may not be the narrative being told by the government, but it is what it feels like for the Sikh community.
“What are the conversations that are happening in the background, and why are people’s lives at risk?” Moninder asked the audience.
He said the community is tired of having the same conversations over and over again, and something needs to be changed.
“The one thing we have with this issue is that the bullets that keep getting fired are not letting us forget. If we lose one more life in this, it’s one too many. We’ve lost too many already.”
The panel portion of the town hall started with a question addressing the extortion crisis posed by Prabjot and directed to MP Randeep Sarai or MP Parm Bains.
“When the deputy foreign affairs minister of this country appears before a parliamentary committee and says that Amit Shah (India’s Minister of Home Affairs) is directing these games, that is giving the order to actually enact violence in Canada, what concrete steps is the government actually taking to ensure the public accountability of those officials?”
He continued: “We’ve heard a lot of, frankly, fluff from different representatives and different press statements at different times.”
He said this is not a law enforcement question and reiterated that it is a political accountability question that the Government of Canada and Global Affairs Canada has to respond to.
Sarai was the first to respond to the question.
“This is very important, and it’s not to be taken lightly. We are here because we know this is an important issue, an extremely important issue of national precedence,” he said.
Sarai continued to say that this is a law enforcement issue, but Prabjot interjected to declare that was not his question and posed it once again.
Sarai said the federal government is in the process of multiple pieces of legislation related to the issue that are at first, second or third readings, and those will continue.
But he admitted there are “no concrete measures at this time to actually hold those Indian government officials (accountable) publicly.”
Bains built on Sarai’s answer, noting that: “We know that in order to make sure that sanctions or any diplomatic decisions are made, we need to ensure that we do have the evidence.”
Bains said that, as of right now, having a relationship between the two nations is better.
“There has to be better dialogue to ensure that they share information with us,” he said.
The next question posed to the panel was directed towards Davies, an NDP member of Parliament.
“The former leader of your party Jagmeet Singh himself faced personal threats to his life and required armed protection as a result,” Kaur said.
She said they have seen in the media that there have been reports of Singh being placed under surveillance by a militia gang who had been personally targeting him. “So given that very direct experience with transnational oppression and organized criminal threats, how is your party prioritizing this issue and what concrete strategies is the NDP advancing to address this?”
Davies started his response by saying: “The first important thing to do is stand up.”
Davies said he finds it unacceptable for any Canadian in this country to face threats, extortion, repression or any kind of pressure from an outside government.
“The real question I’m hearing today is, are we striking the right political response? I would respectfully argue we’re not,” said Davies, adding he believes Canada is in need of a strong position towards all of this.
He said sanctions have been placed on Iran, China, Venezuela and Russia and said he thinks Canada has enough credible evidence to put sanctions on India, too.
“I think actions speak louder than words,” Davies said.
Davies stressed that Canada is a democratic country. “We need to protect the rights of every single citizen here. The way to do that is to send a message to the world.”