(Surrey, BC: 27 Poh, Nanakshahi 556 | January 10, 2025) – Sikhs across Canada are expressing significant concern regarding Chandra Arya's announcement to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party and call on party leadership to adopt stringent measures to screen all candidates. Arya’s actions, public statements, and persistent alignment with Indian state interests raise concerns about potential clandestine links to India, and raise questions about the integrity of the leadership race if he is allowed to participate without screening.
Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission has heard alarming evidence of foreign interference in all political parties at all levels of government–particularly from India. Indian operatives and proxies engage in a wide spectrum of interference activity from large-scale disinformation campaigns targeting communities and candidates to illicit funding and support for preferred candidates–in nomination races, general elections, as well as leadership contests. A Canadian intelligence document presented to the Commission clearly states: “the GoI attempts to shape the final make up of Parliament through supporting individual pro-GoI candidates, including through interference in leadership and nomination contests.”
Given the public evidence regarding direct Indian interference in the Conservative leadership race in 2022–from Indian consular officials as well as proxies–and India’s aggressive efforts to target the Liberal Party’s outgoing leader, it is imperative that party leadership exercise significant vigilance. Foreign states and their proxies should not be able to influence or interfere in the leadership race in any form. The party must adopt measures to effectively vet candidates and new members while scrutinizing potential funding sources to ensure they are not undermining the integrity of Canadian institutions. This must start by thoroughly screening Chandra Arya for his potential ties to the Government of India or its proxies, and his unacceptable statements that spread anti-Sikh hate across the country.
Drawing on conspiracy theories and Indian disinformation, Arya has repeatedly spread hateful rhetoric against the Sikh community in Canada while consistently furthering Indian-state interests through his actions inside Parliament and beyond. This was most clearly exemplified when he traveled to India to meet PM Narendra Modi in August 2024–one year after the Government of Canada made it clear that Indian agents were involved in the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
NSICOP’s Special Report on Foreign Interference is clear that some elected officials have wittingly assisted foreign states, including MPs who worked to influence colleagues on India’s behalf. Canadians must be reassured that Arya was not involved in this type of activity before he is permitted to run as a potential candidate to lead this country.
Moninder Singh, National Spokesperson for the Sikh Federation (Canada), stated, “Chandra Arya’s actions and history demonstrate a pattern of behavior that is deeply troubling and aligns more closely with India than with the very country he was elected to represent. His tendency to act on behalf of India's interests, often at the expense of democratic values and the safety of Canadians, poses a significant danger not only to the Sikh community but to all Canadians.”
Moninder Singh added, “The Liberal Party’s leadership race comes at a critical time, especially after the Hogue Commission on Foreign Interference revealed meddling by foreign governments in nomination and leadership races. The Liberal Party must remain vigilant and ensure that candidates like Arya, with deep ties to the Indian government, are thoroughly investigated. His candidacy risks allowing foreign interference to compromise and undermine Canada’s democratic processes once again.”
For media inquiries: please contact National Spokesperson, Moninder Singh, at info@sikhfederation.ca.
