OTTAWA: Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly warned the last Indian diplomats present in the country on Friday that Canada would no longer tolerate any criminal activity on its territory.

The warning follows the expulsion earlier this week of six Indian diplomats after Canadian National Police said there was ample evidence of killings and extortion by agents in Canada acting on orders from New Delhi .

India’s high commissioner was among those deported from Canada after being identified as a person of interest in the June 18, 2023, assassination of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

India has categorically denied the accusations and ordered six Canadian diplomats to leave the country.

But Joly said evidence shows New Delhi has used criminals in Canada to carry out violence, including targeting Sikh separatists who want to create a Sikh state in India.

“There was indeed a threat and that is exactly why the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) decided to take the extraordinary step of publicizing the fact that Canadians were being intimidated, extorted or even (received) “death threats because agents and diplomats of India were linked to these criminal actions,” Joly said at a press conference in Montreal, reported the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

“We have never seen this in our history. This level of transnational repression cannot occur on Canadian soil.