Canada’s justice department is fighting to forestall “sensitive” national security information from emerging on the upcoming murder trial of 4 Indian men accused of gunning down a B.C. Sikh leader in 2023.
In an application to the Federal Court, lawyers representing the Attorney General of Canada asked for permission to withhold some evidence on the prosecution of the alleged killers of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Court documents released to Global News don’t specify which details they’re in search of to maintain confidential, but they argued that releasing them “can be injurious to diplomacy and national security.”
The case against the suspected killers of the Sikh temple president is being closely watched due to allegations the federal government of India ordered the murder as a part of a campaign to silence its political opponents abroad.
The claims, first made public in September 2023 by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, set off a diplomatic rift between Canada and India. Ottawa later expel Indian diplomats and consular officials from the country.
Since taking office, Prime Minister Mark Carney has reengaged with India and sought to expand trade relations. Canadian Sikhs have called that a betrayal, given India’s alleged targeting of them.
It’s common for federal lawyers to ask a judge to permit them to refrain from disclosing national security information in trials. Often, it occurs when the data in query was provided by a foreign agency.
“In Canada, the Attorney General has the ability to use to the Federal Court for an order to, in essence, protect certain varieties of information from being released publicly and to the defence,” said University of Calgary law professor Michael Nesbitt.
“Such applications are neither unusual nor unusual, and are governed by law and court oversight, while the defence has the chance to challenge the appliance,” said Nesbitt, a number one national security law expert.
“We see this kind of application lots within the anti-terrorism and national security realm, but often also with respect to cases where it’s needed to guard information related to undercover operators, informants, or information received from Canada’s allies where such international cooperation has occurred.”
Canadian Justice officials filed their court application on Dec. 24, 2025.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said the Attorney General of Canada was in search of an order under a bit of the Canada Evidence Act “confirming the prohibition of disclosure of certain information.”
“We cannot provide further detail at the moment.”
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The B.C. Prosecution Service, which is prosecuting the 4 accused, declined to comment on the Federal Court case. A spokesperson said the case was within the pretrial phase, which is subject to a publication ban.
Nijjar was shot dead in his pickup truck on June 18, 2023, as he was leaving Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Temple. The RCMP believes India tapped mob boss Lawrence Bishnoi to rearrange the killing.
In May 2024, the 2 suspected shooters, Amandeep Singh and Karanpreet Singh, the alleged getaway driver Karan Brar and a fourth suspect, Kamalpreet Singh, were arrested in Alberta and Ontario.
They’ve been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Neither Lawrence Bishnoi, who’s imprisoned in India, nor his Canadian lieutenant on the time, Goldy Brar, have been charged within the murder.
The lawyers representing Amandeep Singh, Karanpreet Singh and Karan Brar, declined to comment on the matter. Kamalpreet Singh’s lawyer didn’t reply to emails from Global News.
India has said it has seen no evidence of its role within the plot.
India residents Karan Brar, left to right, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh, in addition to Amandeep Singh (not shown) have been charged with the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, RCMP
A Canadian citizen who immigrated from India, Nijjar was a frontrunner within the Khalistan separatist movement that seeks independence for India’s Sikh majority Punjab state. Although India called him a terrorist, he faced no charges in Canada.
On the time he was killed, Nijjar was organizing a symbolic referendum that asked members of the Sikh diaspora in the event that they supported Khalistan independence. The opposite suspected targets of India’s campaign were also mostly Khalistan activists.
The initial tip implicating high-level Indian officials within the killing got here from communications intercepted by the UK and shared with Canada by British intelligence, sources have told Global News.
Conversations mentioning targets in Canada were also picked up by the FBI during its investigation into an analogous plot through which an Indian intelligence officer hired a criminal to kill a pro-Khalistan activist within the U.S.
Such intelligence is usually shared with allies on the understanding that it can’t be utilized in court, said national security law expert Leah West, an associate professor on the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa.
“It’s typical, in cases where the police receive information from other intelligence services during an investigation, for the Attorney General to hunt to have that information shielded from disclosure,” she said.
“The idea for in search of to withhold it’s known as national security privilege. The argument for that’s that if disclosed, the data could reveal means and methods, investigative interests, or personnel of the service and doing so can be detrimental to Canadian national security.”
A judge has to substantiate the privilege, she said. As well as, the data in query can’t be used against an accused, and anything that might point to the innocence of a defendant should be disclosed, she added.
State actors corresponding to China, India and Iran have long sought to intimidate and silence members of Canada’s diaspora communities, a practice often called transnational repression.
“Transnational repression is emerging as one of the crucial serious yet least understood threats to security and democracy in Canada,” said a report released on Tuesday by the Montreal Institute for Global Security.
“As foreign states increasingly goal individuals on Canadian soil, through intimidation, surveillance, digital harassment, coercion of relations abroad, and, in some cases, plans for physical harm, Canada faces a challenge that strikes on the core of its democratic values and institutions.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca