Canadian Police Commissioner Mike Duheme told CTV News on Thursday that there are no longer clandestine activities or transnational repression taking place in the country linked to the Indian government.

“In the files that we have that involve transnational repression, we’re not seeing any connection right now with any foreign entity, based on the criminal information, the investigations that we have presently,” Duheme told the news channel.

His comments came after he was asked whether transnational repression by agents allegedly linked to the Indian government was still a concern. The full interview is scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday.

The comments came amid a thaw in diplomatic relations between India and Canada.

Ties between the two countries had deteriorated sharply in 2023 after Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister at the time, told his country’s Parliament that intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation sought by some groups. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.

New Delhi has rejected Canada’s allegations.

Four Indian citizens are facing trial in Canada in connection with Nijjar’s killing. They face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

On Thursday, the chief of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told the news channel that he was making the statement “based on the totality of the files that we have on foreign interference or transnational repression...”

“...what we have in our holdings is we have people that are intimidating people, harassing people, but connecting the dots to a foreign entity, regardless of the country, we don’t have that,” Duheme was quoted as having said when asked whether there was a threat to public safety.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has not yet commented on the matter.

On March 1, a spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told The National Post that the agency’s assessment had not changed. India remained one of the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada, the spokesperson said.

This contradicted a statement by a senior government official. On February 25, Canadian news organisations quoted an unidentified senior official as saying that Ottawa believes India is no longer linked to alleged violent crimes in the country.

Ottawa had previously accused India of foreign interference.

In January 2025, a Canadian inquiry commission accused India of interfering in the country’s electoral process by clandestinely providing financial support to political leaders and engaging in disinformation.

The Indian external affairs ministry had rejected the inquiry panel’s report, and had alleged that it was Canada that was consistently interfering in India’s internal affairs.

In March 2025, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service claimed that India, among other countries, could try to interfere in the Canadian general election in April 2025. In July, a report by the country’s Security Intelligence Service accused India of being a perpetrator of foreign interference and espionage.

On February 8, India and Canada said that they had agreed on a work plan to guide cooperation on national security and law enforcement.