Toronto temple to host Indian consular camp two years after Khalistani attack

A temple in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will again host the Indian consular camp next month, two years after pro-Khalistan radicals barged into the site and assaulted some congregants during a protest against the mobile outreach event organised to bring services directly to Indians living far from the main diplomatic facilities.

India’s missions cancelled the camps following the November 3, 2024, attack on Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton amid security concerns.

A serving Peel Regional Police officer was suspended for participating in the protest. Multiple people were charged, including Inderjeet Singh Gosal, the principal organiser in Canada of the so-called Khalistan referendum.

Hindu Sabha Mandir, which opted out of hosting a consular camp last year, has been listed among venues this year for it on November 15. There were protests outside camp venues last year as well, but without disruption or violence.

The Indian Consulate in Toronto announced that camps will be held from November 1 to 29 at 15 venues, including nine temples, a gurdwara and a church. The camps will cover Scarborough and Etobicoke (Toronto), the GTA towns of Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville, Kitchener, London, Niagara Falls and Windsor (Ontario), Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, and Halifax in Nova Scotia.

In 2024, the demonstrators held Khalistan flags and attacked the congregants inside the temple with flagpoles and traffic cones.

The Indian High Commission blamed anti-India elements for the violent disruption. The local community rushed to the temple and helped evict the Khalistanis amid fears that they wanted to destroy a 55-foot-high statue of Hanuman installed a year earlier, as police could not control the intruders.

The congregants gathered and outnumbered the pro-Khalistani elements before they dispersed.

The secessionist group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) blamed the violence on the Indo-Canadians at the temple. It claimed that the pro-Khalistan group was “peacefully demonstrating” against the presence of officials from India’s Consulate in Toronto at the temple. SFJ’s general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun alleged that they were attacked due to the presence of Gosal.

Similar protests were held outside the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey, British Columbia, which was also hosting a consular camp in 2024.

The November 2024 attack coincided with souring Canada-India relations, which fell to its lowest level in decades after former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of involvement in the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India described the accusation as absurd and motivated.

A month before the attack, New Delhi withdrew six diplomats and officials from Canada after Ottawa asked for their immunity to be waived so they could be questioned in connection with violent criminal activity in the country. In retaliation, India expelled six Canadian diplomats, aggravating frayed ties.

Both sides have worked to repair ties after Mark Carney was elected Prime Minister in 2025. Canada is keen on bolstering economic relations with countries like India amid its trade tensions with the US.

India and Canada launched the trade negotiations in New Delhi on March 2 when the two sides signed the terms of reference in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Carney. The negotiations have moved swiftly since. The first round of virtual talks was held in March 2026.

Prime Minister Modi will visit Canada on December 11 and 12 as the two sides fast-track talks for a trade deal ahead of it. He will meet Carney in Ottawa and Canadian businesses and attend a diaspora gathering in Toronto.

India and Canada are likely to announce the conclusion of negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).