The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2, Canada

June 13th, 2025

Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney,

We, the undersigned civil society and human rights groups, write to express grave concern over the Government of Canada’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the 51st G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis.^[1] As organizations dedicated to the protection of human rights and international justice, we urge your government to use this platform to confront and seek accountability from Prime Minister Modi over recent findings linking his administration to credible allegations of extraterritorial repression, and to ongoing, systematic human rights violations in India.^[2]

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has publicly confirmed that Indian government agents are being investigated for the extrajudicial killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, on Canadian soil. The investigation has identified “well over a dozen” threats to Sikh activists in Canada and concluded that “agents of the Government of India” were tied to homicides and acts of violence against dissidents.^[3] The Department of Justice in the United States has similarly charged an Indian government official for an attempted assassination plot targeting a Sikh American.^[4] United Nations Special Rapporteurs have described Nijjar’s killing as an act of transnational repression, and have criticized India’s repeated use of terrorism designations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to silence peaceful diaspora dissent.^[5] These incidents are not isolated but part of a pattern in which the Indian government seeks to suppress critical voices abroad through surveillance, visa restrictions, and targeted violence.

Inside India, the situation remains deeply alarming for millions. Prime Minister Modi’s government has systematically advanced a Hindutva-driven political agenda, promoting Hindu majoritarianism through discriminatory laws, communal incitement, and state-enabled violence against Muslims, Christians, and Dalits.^[6] His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in June 2024 after an election marked by hate speech and threats targeting Muslims and Christians.^[7] Human Rights Watch documented over 60,000 people displaced and 260 killed in ethnic violence in Manipur, with evidence of state complicity and a failure to protect victims.^[8] In Kashmir, activists and journalists remain arbitrarily detained, with the UAPA used systematically to restrict dissent.^[9] In 2024 alone, the Indian government demolished dozens of Muslim homes and places of worship in acts widely described as collective punishment.^[10] Canada has previously criticized similar tactics when used by other governments.

Modi’s administration has overseen escalating communal violence, including vigilante attacks on Muslims and Dalits in BJP-ruled states.^[11] Authorities have carried out illegal home demolitions in Muslim neighbourhoods as a form of collective punishment, a tactic now referred to as "bulldozer justice."^[12] Genocide Watch^[13] as well as the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention^[14] have sounded the alarm for India, warning that early stages of genocide are underway. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has repeatedly called for targeted sanctions against Indian officials^[15], and Modi himself was previously denied a U.S. visa in 2005 for his role in enabling the 2002 Gujarat pogrom which killed more than 1,000 people—mostly Muslims—and displaced tens of thousands.^[16]

Since 2019, over 20,000 Indian civil society groups have lost their foreign funding licenses under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.^[17] Independent organizations including Amnesty International India, Oxfam India, and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative have been forced to halt operations following retaliatory tax investigations.^[18] Prominent defenders such as Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima, and Khurram Parvez remain in prolonged pretrial detention under anti-terror laws.^[19] The death of Professor GN Saibaba in October 2024, after a decade of solitary confinement under the UAPA, has been described by civil society groups as an “institutional murder.”^[20]

India's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), implemented in March 2024, continues to violate the principle of religious non-discrimination by excluding Muslims from its fast-track refugee provisions.^[21] Human rights groups have tracked India’s efforts to deport Rohingya refugees in violation of the principle of non-refoulement,^[22] while Home Minister Amit Shah referred to undocumented Muslim migrants as “termites,” threatening their mass removal.^[23] These developments directly contradict the human rights obligations Canada affirms through the G7, the UN Charter, and its own foreign policy framework.

Given that Prime Minister Modi has now been invited to participate in a forum whose mandate includes the protection of democratic values, we urge the Government of Canada to clearly distinguish between strategic engagement and unqualified legitimization. At a minimum, the Government must;

(1) publicly raise the Hardeep Singh Nijjar case during bilateral and multilateral discussions with Indian officials at the summit;
(2) call for an independent international investigation into transnational repression;
(3) ensure that civil society representatives from impacted communities, including Sikh, Muslim, Dalit, and Christian organizations, are meaningfully included in any side meetings or civil society tracks held alongside the G7;
(4) press for an end to discriminatory policies targeting minorities in India, and for the repeal of repressive laws such as the UAPA and FCRA;
(5) call for the unconditional release of jailed human rights defenders;
(6) ensure that any trade, bilateral or multilateral engagement with India is contingent on the respect of international human rights laws.

These calls to action are consistent with recommendations already raised by UN bodies^[24], the European Parliament^[25], and several global human rights watchdogs.^[26] Engaging with India as a G7 outreach partner must not come at the expense of Canada’s legal obligations or its moral credibility. The invitation extended to Prime Minister Modi in the absence of clear conditions normalizes impunity for state violence and signals to the international community that economic and geopolitical interests take precedence over human rights.

We would welcome the opportunity to meet with your office to discuss this matter further and to share additional testimony from impacted communities and human rights experts. We also intend to share this letter with allied organizations across Canada and abroad. We hope Canada will use this moment not to dilute its values but rather to reinforce them.

Sincerely,

The undersigned civil society, human rights and interfaith groups;

Al Nadwa Islamic Centre

Alabrar Muslim Association

Anatolia Islamic Center

Baitul Aman Masjid

Brampton And Regional Islamic Centre

Calgary Immigrant Support Society

Canadian Centre for Deen Studies

Canadian Council of Imams

Canadian Council of Indian Muslim Women

Canadian Forum for Human Rights and Democracy in India (CFHRDI)

Canadian Indian Muslims Association

Canadian Muslim Healthcare Network (CMHN)

Canadian Pakistani Physician Alliance for Democracy

Canadians Against Oppression And Persecution(CAOP)

Canadians for Indian Democracy (CID)

Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques/South Asian Women's Community Centre

Centre sur l'asie du sud (CERAS)

Dawah Canada

Dear Asian Youth

Downtown Muslim Professional Network

Durham Islamic Society

Durham Muslim Alliance

Ensaaf

EYES Canada Childcare

Hikma Public Affairs Council

Hindus for Human Rights

ICNA Canada

International Council of Indian Muslim Women

International Council of Indian Muslims

Islamic Centre of Markham

Islamic Community of West Niagara

Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International

Islamic Information Society of Calgary

Islamic Society of Ajax
Justice For All Canada

Kanata Muslim Association

London Muslim Mosque

Muslim Circle of Canada

Muslim Neighbor Nexus

Ontario Muslim Chamber of Commerce

Other Books International Limited

Pakistan Canada Association - Al Masjid Al Jamia Vancouver

Poetic Justice Foundation

Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association Winnipeg

Radical Desi publications

Rohingya Association of Canada

Rohingya Human Rights Network

SALAM Project

Scarborough Muslim Association

Seniors Forum Canada

Shalimar Islamic centre

Share 2 Care Saving Humanity

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)

Siraj Institute

South Asia Solidarity Group

South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy

South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)

Subhan Islamic Association

Urdu Canada

Williams Lake Muslim Association

York Region Muslims