Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a visit to Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, on 17 June 2025 to attend the 51st G7 Summit, alongside leaders from the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, and Italy. On 17 June, he held a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Both leaders agreed to restore full diplomatic services, including the appointment of high commissioners, and committed to enhanced cooperation in trade, technology, food security, and critical minerals, signalling a reset in ties following a two-year rift over the Nijjar case.
Meanwhile, on 16 June 2025, a group of around 50–100 Sikh protesters gathered outside Calgary City Hall, an authorised protest zone. The protestors carried blue-and-yellow Khalistan flags, chanted slogans, beat drums, displayed anti-Modi posters, tore Indian flags, and staged effigies of Modi in prison uniform. The demonstration remained peaceful and within the limits of Canada’s free speech protections.
In this context, a video is being circulated on social media (here, here, and here) with the claim that it shows Canadian police arresting Khalistani protesters just before PM Modi’s arrival at the G7 Summit. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: The video shows Canadian police arresting Khalistani protesters shortly before Prime Minister Modi arrived at the G7 Summit.
Fact: The video is old and unrelated to the June 2025 G7 Summit in Canada. It shows a 22 September 2024 incident from Nassau County, New York, where police arrested a Khalistani protester during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United States and removed provocative posters near the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Meanwhile, on 16 June 2025, amid the G7 Summit in Canada, around 50–100 Sikh protesters gathered outside Calgary City Hall in an authorised protest zone. They waved Khalistan flags, chanted slogans, tore Indian flags, and displayed effigies of PM Modi in prison attire. The protest remained peaceful, and no credible media reports or official statements confirm any arrests in Canada related to these demonstrations. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led to an X post dated 22 September 2024, featuring a longer version of the same video. This confirms that the footage is old and unrelated to the ongoing June 2025 G7 Summit. The post stated that police in Nassau County, New York, arrested a Khalistani protester and shifted the rest of the group to a designated “free speech zone.” Authorities had also removed a provocative poster placed near the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum earlier that day, which showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a sniper scope, labelling him the “Enemy of America” and the “Face of India’s Hindu Terror.”
Taking clues from the X post, we used relevant keywords and found several media reports from September 2024 confirming that the protests took place during PM Modi’s three-day visit to the US. According to these reports (here, here), when protesters refused to vacate the area despite police warnings, officers seized Khalistani flags and detained one individual. The demonstration occurred just hours before Modi was scheduled to attend an event at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, prompting swift police action.
Notably, until the time of writing this article, we did not come across any credible media reports or official statements confirming the arrest of Khalistani protesters in Canada in connection with Prime Minister Modi’s visit or the ongoing G7 Summit. All available information indicates that while protests did take place in Alberta, they occurred within designated areas and were not met with police action or arrests.
To sum up, a September 2024 video from New York is falsely shared as a Khalistani protester being arrested in Canada ahead of PM Modi’s G7 Summit visit.
