Toronto: India and Canada once enjoyed a cordial relationship, but in the past year, their ties have not only become strained but are also deteriorating rapidly. In a recent development, Canada has taken another provocative step by leveling new allegations against India. For the first time, official Canadian government documents have labeled India as an enemy. This characterization appears in the National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026, released by the Canadian Cyber Security Centre on Tuesday.
Moreover, Canada has placed India in the same category as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea—countries notorious for cyber attacks. The Canadian intelligence agency, Communications Security Establishment (CSE), included India in this list, suggesting that it poses a cyber threat alongside these nations. The report further alleges that India is utilizing cyber technology to target Sikh separatist and Khalistani groups and government networks.
The assessment states, “We believe that elements sponsored by the Indian government could conduct cyber attacks against the Canadian government’s networks for espionage purposes.” It adds, “We believe that the deterioration in bilateral relations between Canada and India could lead to an increase in cyber attack activities by the Indian government against Canada.”
Additionally, the report claims that following Canada’s allegations of India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-India activist group launched Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against Canadian websites, disrupting several military websites. India has rejected Canada’s accusations regarding Nijjar’s murder as baseless and unfounded, repeatedly asking for solid evidence, which Canada has yet to provide. Relations between the two countries further soured last month when both sides recalled their diplomats. Prior to that, India expelled six Canadian diplomats from New Delhi.