B.C.’s premier has downplayed concerns raised in an RCMP report in regards to the Indian government’s suspected ties to a gang blamed for extortion and murder in Canada.
During a trade mission to India, David Eby responded to questions on an RCMP document that said the Bishnoi gang was “acting on behalf of the Indian government.”
Asked in regards to the newly-released report obtained by Global News, Eby said it was a “summary of publicly available news reports from greater than a 12 months ago.”
“This was not an RCMP intelligence report,” he said from Mumbai on Wednesday. His office didn’t reply to follow-up questions from Global News.
But a former intelligence analyst who reviewed the document disagreed with Eby’s characterization, and a Canadian Sikh organization called the premier’s statement “misleading and dangerous.”
“The RCMP and senior Canadian officials have publicly stated that they possess evidence linking the Bishnoi gang to the federal government of India,” the World Sikh Organization of Canada said.
“This isn’t based on a compilation of newspaper articles; it is a national security assessment. Dismissing it echoes Indian government talking points, trivializes transnational repression, and puts British Columbians in danger.”
Eby has come under fire from Canadian Sikh groups and the Conservative opposition for embarking on an Indian trade mission amid police allegations linking the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to violence in Canada.
Amid an extortion epidemic in B.C., Alberta and Ontario last June, Eby called on the federal government to list the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist organization.
RCMP report on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and its alleged ties to the federal government of India.
Global News
An RCMP report released to Global News on Monday that gave the impression to be a response to the premier’s plea repeatedly noted the Bishnoi gang’s suspected ties to India’s government.
“The Bishnoi crime group is thought to make use of violence to further their criminal enterprise, while allegedly acting on behalf of the Indian government,” the RCMP national security branch wrote.
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The premier said the “paragraph in query that was cited within the initial news report was a summary of publicly available news articles from the October 2024 period, allegations we were aware of.”
However the quote in query was not sourced to a news report, and the document referred to Eby’s June 2025 call to list the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist group, meaning it was written at the very least eight months after October 2024.
While the three-page report footnotes several news articles, it also sources a Public Safety Canada link that accuses Indian agents of collecting information “used to focus on members of the South Asian community.”
Former Canadian Security Intelligence Service analyst Phil Gurski said it was common practice for intelligence reports to footnote news sources which are consistent with classified information.
Reports used to position groups on Canada’s terrorist list, for instance, “are written by CSIS and based on intel, but use open source that’s consistent with the intel because the listing is public,” he said.
The RCMP report was classified as Protected A, and several other sections were redacted — suggesting it was greater than a summary of reports items. A warning at the underside cautioned that sharing the document was illegal.
“The handling and storage of this document must comply with handling and storage guidelines established by the federal government of Canada for classified information,” it said.
“Failure to comply with this caveat will constitute a breach of RCMP policy and federal law.”
The report is consistent with earlier government statements in regards to the suspected ties between the federal government of India and the Bishnoi organized crime group.
National security adviser Nathalie Drouin testified in October 2025 that “senior levels of the Indian government” had directed “the commission of significant criminal activities against Indo-Canadians through the kinetic use of Lawrence Bishnoi’s organized crime network.”
Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, the federal government has also taken a conciliatory approach to India because it seeks to diversify Canada’s trade partners amid President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Although Ottawa listed the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist group in September, for instance, the profile on the Public Safety Canada website makes no mention of the gang’s alleged ties to India’s government.
“The Bishnoi gang has been linked to numerous violent crimes and murders in India,” Public Safety Canada told Global News when questioned in regards to the omission.
“Indian authorities have already laid multiple charges against the gang; numerous gang members have also been sentenced to prison, and its leader has been in prison in India since 2014.”
“Addressing transnational crime is a priority for each Canada and India. Because the gang has networks in each countries, Canada stays committed to working with our key partners to counter terrorist organizations and their fundraisers.”
India has long complained to Canada about its failure to arrest members of the Khalistan movement, which advocates independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab state.
Canadian authorities consider that Indian agents took matters into their very own hands, ordering the murder of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., on June 18, 2023.
The 4 suspected killers were arrested in May 2024. Global News has reported that Canada obtained intercepted communications linking senior Indian officials to the shooting.
Numerous other suspected assassination plots, mostly targeting pro-Khalistan activists, have also been uncovered, based on the RCMP.
On Oct. 14, 2024, RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said Indian officials had been linked to an array of violent crimes, prompting Canada to expel six Indian diplomats.
Eby said he was “extremely careful” before travelling to India, and had received briefings from the Canadian military and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
“We’d like to make sure justice for Mr. Nijjar, for his family, for the community,” he said. “And at the identical time, we will’t sit around while our standard of life is eroded and our economy is eroded by the choices of the president of the US.
“India goes be the third-largest economy on this planet. And Canadians and British Columbians will only profit from an in depth relationship with India that features mutual respect between the 2 countries for our sovereignty and for our concerns, that are on either side about issues forwards and backwards between the 2 countries, and people are being resolved on the federal level.
“So this may be very delicate stuff.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca