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United Nations human rights experts are urging Canada to “accelerate” investigations into threats to the life of a B.C. Sikh activist critical of India’s government.
Five UN special rapporteurs have written to Ottawa expressing “serious concerns” about the safety of Moninder Singh, whom Canadian police have repeatedly warned was at risk.
The joint letter said the threats may have been an attempt by India to intimidate Singh over his advocacy and co-operation with the UN.
“We are concerned that such threats fall within a broader pattern of transnational repression by Indian authorities against Sikh activists in different countries, including Canada,” it said.
The nine-page document, released by the UN Human Rights Office over the weekend, asked Canada to answer a list of questions about how it was dealing with the matter.
It said that Singh had given several speeches to UN agencies, and that some of the plots to kill him detected by police coincided with those appearances.
“We are deeply concerned at the allegations that Mr. Moninder Singh appears to have been targeted directly before or after instances of cooperation with or reporting to United Nations entities in relation to the targeting of Sikh activists by Indian authorities,” the letter said.
“These allegations, if true, may constitute unlawful intimidation and reprisals in direct retaliation for Mr. Moninder Singh’s human rights advocacy and cooperation with United Nations human rights representatives and mechanisms.”
In the meantime, the letter urged Canadian authorities to protect Singh and his family, step up investigations into the threats and hold those responsible to account.
It was signed by the rapporteurs Ben Saul, Gina Romero, Andrea Bolanos Vargas, George Katrougalos and Nazila Ghanea, who are all UN human rights rapporteurs.
While not UN officials, rapporteurs carry out mandates assigned to them by the organization and report on human rights issues around the world.
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Global Affairs Canada referred questions from Global News about the letter to Public Safety Canada, which has not responded.
The leader of the Sikh Federation of Canada, Singh is an outspoken critic of human rights in India and a supporter of the Khalistan separatist movement.
Police have informed the Surrey, B.C., resident four times that they had received credible information indicating that he faced threats to his life.
The first came in July 2022, on the same day that police gave a similar warning to his close friend Hardeep Singh Nijjar, also a pro-Khalistan activist.
On June 18, 2023, Nijjar was assassinated as he was leaving the Surrey temple where he served as president. Canadian authorities suspect India was responsible.
The FBI later disrupted a plot by a member of India’s intelligence service to kill another Canadian pro-Khalistan activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Police warned Moninder Singh again about murder plots in August 2023 and March 2025, shortly after he had appeared at the UN Human Rights Council.
Two days before he was to appear before the UN in February 2026, he received yet another warning about a possible plan to kill him and his family.
No arrests have been made over the threats.
In an interview with Global News, Singh welcomed the letter from the UN rapporteurs, although he said the Canadian government had not yet filed any response.
He said he suspected that India was not pleased that he was appearing before UN agencies to talk about its human rights abuses and treatment of minorities.
“I think it’s a huge problem for them because they haven’t seen this type of activity for a long time from the Sikh community,” he said.
New Delhi has long complained about Canadians active in the Khalistan movement that backs independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab.
The RCMP suspects the Nijjar murder was India’s attempt to strike a blow to the cause by targeting one of its most popular leaders, a charge it denies.
To carry out the killing, police believe Indian intelligence collaborated with the transnational crime network of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
More than a dozen others, mostly pro-Khalistan activists, were also believed to have been targeted, among them Singh.
Canada expelled six Indian diplomats in 2024, alleging they were collecting information on members of Canada’s South Asian community.
“This information is shared with senior levels of the Indian government, who then direct the commission of serious criminal activities against Indo-Canadians through the kinetic use of Lawrence Bishnoi’s organized crime network,” National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin later testified.
But since the 2025 federal election that brought him to power, Prime Minister Mark Carney, under pressure to find new trade partners for Canada, has tried to mend relations with India.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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