Armed guards, no biking and exit strategies: Jagmeet Singh's life under RCMP protection
Not pictured in Singh's social media accounts was the retinue of armed RCMP officers stationed outside the hospital room, there to ensure the federal politician and his young family's safety after the national police force determined Singh's life was under imminent threat.
'(During) the time in his life when it should be nothing but joy … he needed an armed presence to keep his family safe,' said Jennifer Howard, Singh's longtime chief of staff, in a recent interview with Global News.
'Nobody should have to go through that. That is a price too high, I think, for any politician to pay.'
Anxiety comes easily to new parents, but Singh had more to worry about than sleep deprivation or feeding schedules. Global News reported last week that Singh was notified in late 2023 that his life was in danger, and police put tight security around his homes.
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Singh revealed during the recent general election that he considered stepping away from politics after receiving the warning. He would go on to lose his seat in that election, and resign as NDP leader.
What was not publicly known, and not disclosed to Singh at the time, was that he was being closely tracked by an agent believed to have ties to a transnational criminal gang and allegedly connected to activities directed by the Indian government.
Citing unnamed sources, Global reported that the agent had detailed information about Singh's travel, daily routine and family. He allegedly had ties to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, a crime syndicate the Indian government has been accused of using to commit violence on Canadian soil.
In a public report released Wednesday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said it was aware of a 'concerning trend' of foreign states 'leveraging organized crime networks to conduct threat activity' in Canada. The intelligence agency cited India's alleged links to violence in Canada as an example.
That report came just days after Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an attempt to renew diplomatic and trade ties between the two countries at the G7 Summit in Alberta.
Much of the conversation around foreign interference in Canada has centred around states covertly meddling in parties and politics. The idea that a foreign state would have an alleged gang member tail the leader of a major Canadian political party did not come up during Justice Marie-Josée Hogue's recent probe into foreign interference, despite that commission having access to top-secret material.
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Global News is not disclosing specific security measures sources have said the RCMP put around Singh in late 2023 and early 2024. But Howard said when police sat Singh down – a process known as a 'duty to warn' when there are 'credible' threats against an individual's life – that changed the way the party approached the leader's public events and activities.
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'One of the great things about Canada … is that for the most part, politicians are pretty free to go about their business. They go grocery shopping, they go to sports games in their communities,' Howard said.
'The RCMP were very helpful, very accommodating, tried to make it so that he could do what he needed to do. But you can't be spontaneous in those situations. Like if you want to go out, it's planning involving multiple people.
'It was a challenge for him.'
The planning extended to knowing exactly where the exits were for any room where Singh was appearing in public. Gone were the days when Singh could ride his bike up to Parliament Hill — a fairly common sight in Ottawa before the threat was known.
'We had to do things in much more secure locations, less public access, much more (planning on) how he was going to get out of a place,' Howard said.
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'It was most intense in terms of the security presence for probably two months and then it started to ramp down, but it certainly affected how we did our jobs going forward. Like it never leaves you, right? I mean, once that happens, once you're aware of those kinds of threats like that, you never stop thinking about them.'
The recent federal public inquiry into foreign interference operations cited India as the second-most active country covertly influencing Canadian politics – primarily focused on Indo-Canadian communities, but also 'prominent non-Indo-Canadian' individuals across all three levels of government.
Modi's government has repeatedly accused Canada of being soft on the Khalistan movement — activists pushing for Sikh independence in India's Punjab region.
As one of Canada's most prominent Sikh politicians, Singh was initially 'shocked' by the Mounties' warning that his life was in danger, according to his brother Gurratan Singh. But once the NDP leader processed the news, Gurratan said Singh was not 'surprised.'
After all, the warning came just months after then-prime minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian security agencies were pursuing 'credible' intelligence that India was connected to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, the president of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in B.C. and a prominent Khalistani activist, was gunned down outside the Vancouver gurdwara in June 2023.
The Indian government has called the suggestion it was connected to Nijjar's killing 'absurd.' Four Indian nationals have been charged with Nijjar's murder and await trial.
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After Trudeau's intervention, Singh received a top-secret security briefing from Canadian intelligence officials and told reporters that there was 'clear evidence' of India's involvement in Nijjar's killing.
'Of course it's surprising when you sit down … and you are told there's an imminent risk to your life,' Gurratan Singh said in an interview with Global News.
'But when the dust settles, you're not really shocked … given at that moment what India had already been implicated (in), what evidence had already come forward that India at that time regarding the extent of India's foreign interference in Canada.'
His brother said Singh was determined not to be 'bullied' out of his public role.
'The part of it that was always the toughest for him was the impact on his family and those around him, never himself,' Gurratan Singh said.
'(But) when you give in to this kind of repression, it doesn't just limit your own voice, but it limits the voice of an entire nation, of an entire people, of everyone. And that was something he was keenly aware of, that when you talk about this kind of level of foreign interference … to give in would mean giving in, really, the ability to speak truth to power and to speak out for justice.'
'And I think he understood the responsibility he had to make sure that never happened.'
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After Global News reported on the surveillance of Singh last week, the New Democrats — now reduced to just seven seats in the House of Commons — renewed the call for Prime Minister Mark Carney to disinvite Modi from this week's G7 Summit in Alberta.
The Liberal government resisted that demand, pointing to the importance of trade relations with India — the world's most populous country and fifth-largest economy — and suggesting Carney and Modi were committed to 'law enforcement dialogue' despite India's refusal to cooperate in the investigation into Nijjar's murder.
'Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed the importance of Canada-India ties, based upon mutual respect, the rule of law, and a commitment to the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity,' a summary of the meeting between the two leaders, provided by the Prime Minister's Office, read.
'Prime Minister Carney raised priorities on the G7 agenda, including transnational crime and repression, security, and the rules-based order.'
With files from Global's Stewart Bell and Mercedes Stephenson.
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