Update (28 September 2023):
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that it shows visuals of Khalistan supporters threatening a Gujarati businessman in Canada.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, the same video is found in an article published by the ‘Desh Gujarat’ news site on 23 March 2023. This news site reported that it shows visuals of a pro-Khalistan supporter threatening an elderly Gujarati passerby in Southall town in London, United Kingdom. Reporting the same, several other news sites have also published articles by sharing screengrabs from the video. So, it is confirmed that the video shared in the post is old and unrelated to the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada over the killing of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Published (26 September 2023):
As diplomatic relations between India and Canada reach their lowest point following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accusation of Indian government’s involvement in the assassination of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, multiple videos are being shared on social media claiming that the visuals show the reactions from diplomats and opposition party leaders of Canada over the ongoing diplomatic conflict between India and Canada. Those videos can be seen here and here. Let’s verify the claims made in these posts.
Claim: Recent videos showing the reactions of diplomats and opposition party leaders of Canada over the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada.
Fact: The videos shared in all these posts are old and not related to the recent diplomatic row that escalated between India and Canada over the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
The post claims it was a recent video of Canadian opposition party leader Andrew Scheer roasting Justin Trudeau in the Canadian Parliament. When we searched for the video using relevant keywords, the same video was found published by ‘The Canadian Press’ YouTube channel on 01 March 2018. ‘The Canadian Press’ published the video with the title, “Scheer accuses Trudeau of damaging Canada-India relationship”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced tough questions from opposition Members of Parliament regarding the invitations extended to Jaspal Atwal, a pro-Khalistani activist convicted in the attempted murder of a Punjab Minister in 1986, to his two official events in Mumbai and Delhi in 2018. In response to Justin Trudeau’s defence of his advisor’s allegations of the Indian government’s alleged role in facilitating a convicted terrorist to participate in his events, Andrew Scheer criticized Trudeau for his incompetence in handling the situation.
Speaking on Justin Trudeau’s accusations on the Indian government related to the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, lately, Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre suggested Trudeau come clean with facts before making judgements. But the video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the recent diplomatic row between India and Canada over the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Another video is being shared on social media claiming that the Canadian Ambassador to India had visited Sri Harmandir Sahib Golden Temple before leaving India. In the wake of the Indian government expelling Canadian diplomats amidst the ongoing tensions between India and Canada, this video is going viral on social media.
On searching for the video using relevant keywords, the same video was found tweeted by the ‘ANI’ news channel on 27 October 2022. In October 2022, during his visit to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi, Cameron MacKay, the High Commissioner for Canada in India, engaged with the media and said, “In Canada, we embrace people of all faiths. All religions are welcomed in Canada,” in response to a media question about the Canadian government’s approach in dealing with Khalistani outfits. The video is old and unrelated to the recent diplomatic row between India and Canada.
To sum it up, old videos of Canadian politicians and diplomats are shared now linking them to the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada.
