‘Canada is a safe country’: Canadian public safety minister

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc took issue Wednesday with India’s warning about a travel advisory to Canada and said Canada is a “safe country.”

“I took note of India’s travel advisory,” LeBlanc told reporters in Ottawa. “Canada is a safe country.”

India warned its citizens to exercise the “utmost caution” when traveling to Canada, one day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was “credible” evidence that New Delhi was involved in the assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar was gunned down by two masked men June 18 in front of a Sikh temple in British Columbia. Nijjar backed the establishment of a Sikh independent state in India and New Delhi labeled him a terrorist.

India reacted angrily to Trudeau’s remarks and called the allegation that it was involved in the murder “absurd.” It then struck back with a travel warning.

“In view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada, all Indian nationals there and those contemplating travel are urged to exercise utmost caution,” according to the advisory.

Canadian MP Marcus Powlowski said the advisory “sounds like a joke.”

Immigration Minister Marc Miller also took issue with the warning.

“People should read that statement for what it is,” Miller told reporters on Parliament Hill, the National Post reported. “Canada by any standard is one of the safest, if not the safest, country in the world that is governed by the rule of law.”