OTTAWA—Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said he received pushback from Indian government officials for his use of the term “Sikh nation” during the 2022 Conservative leadership campaign, but generally believes that foreign interference did not alter the outcome of the race.
Brown was called to testify before the House of Commons public safety committee on Thursday evening. The committee is studying the Indian government’s involvement in political interference and violence in Canada. Brown initially declined an invitation to appear, but was formally summoned. He said he didn’t want to be part of any political wrangling.
“I don’t have an interest in revisiting partisan debates.”
A Radio-Canada story earlier this week reported that insiders on Brown’s Conservative leadership campaign felt the Indian government was interfering, trying to undermine his campaign. This included disinviting him from events in the community and encouraging volunteers not to support him. The story also alleged that Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner was encouraged by Indian consular officials to drop her support for Brown.
Brown said on a campaign call he was told the Indian government rejected the term “Sikh nation,” which he had used in public remarks.
“The concern that was raised was that I had used the term, on a number of occasions, Sikh nation, and the consul general had expressed directly to MP Rempel Garner that was something that obviously they didn’t agree with,” he said.
Some members of the Sikh community in Canada favour the creation of a separate state in India called Khalistan that would be a homeland for their community, but the Indian government firmly rejects that idea.
Brown said he used a different term than “Sikh nation” after the Indian government complained, and downplayed the importance of the wording change, but Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell said she saw it as a clear example of interference.
“I think that constitutes foreign interference, pretty clearly. With foreign interference it doesn’t matter the outcome. It’s the intention to have the foreign government influence the actions in Canadian elections.”
Brown also said, in contrast to the Radio-Canada reporting, Rempel-Garner never indicated she was leaving because of any foreign pressure.
“At no point when we talked about her departing the campaign did she say it was because of pressure from the consul general,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, O’Connell moved to have Rempel Garner and several members of the Brown campaign called to testify. O’Connell’s motion will be voted on at a later meeting.
Brown said when he was a provincial party leader he supported motions recognizing a 1984 attack on Sikh communities as a genocide and spoke out about some of the actions of the Indian government. He said Indian diplomats aren’t quiet about their opinions.
“I think it’s fair to say that the government of India states their opinions and I think there’s a number of issues that I took a position on that certainly the Government of India wasn’t a fan of,” he said.
Brown was disqualified from the Conservative leadership over allegations he had breached the party’s campaign finance rules.
Brown said he had no direct knowledge of foreign interference in his campaign. He said he was aware of one community event where he was disinvited, but said he has no doubt the outcome of the race would have been the same.
“I believe that Pierre Poilievre was successful in that race because he signed 300,000 plus memberships. And, I don’t believe acts of foreign intervention affected that result.”
Brown’s community has a significant Sikh population and he said there is a lot of ongoing concern about India and other countries interfering in Canada.
The committee has also heard testimony from the RCMP and other security agencies about the Indian government’s involvement in a campaign of violence in Canada.
This has included the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., which Brown said is a major concern for the community.
He said he believes — to start with — the federal government needs to clearly outline the rules to foreign diplomats who are crossing the lines.
“A starting point is a clear education on those who are serving as diplomatic representatives in Canada of what is appropriate behaviour and behaviour that is inappropriate with the laws we have in Canada, clearly there are diplomats that need that education,” he said.
