India has called on Canada to take steps to strengthen further its domestic framework to prevent the misuse of 'freedom of expression', attacks on 'places of worship of religious and racial minorities' and disallowing groups that promote 'extremism'. Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council Review meeting, Indian diplomat Mohammed Hussain said that Canada should strengthen legislative and other measures to address hate crimes and hate speech. India welcomed the Canadian delegation's presentation of their national report and its implementation of acts including the National Strategy to combat human trafficking.
"India welcomes and thanks the delegation of Canada for the presentation of their national report. We note the enactment of the National Housing Strategy Act, Accessible Canada Act, and the National Strategy to combat human trafficking. In the spirit of constructive dialogue, India recommends the following to Canada - further, strengthen the domestic framework to prevent misuse of freedom of expression, for inciting violence and disallow activities of groups which are promoting extremism..." he said.
"...effectively prevent attacks on places of worship of religious and racial minorities, strengthen legislative and other measures to address hate crimes and hate speech. Put an end to structural discrimination against children belonging to Indigenous groups and address disparities in access to services by all children...," the Indian diplomat said.
This comes amid the India-Canada diplomatic row that has tensed the relations between both countries. On Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed his allegation of an Indian hand in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and said his country wants to work “constructively” with India to pursue “this very serious matter” to its logical end.
He reiterated that his country has “very serious reasons” to believe that “agents' of the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of the Khalistani leader.
“We have been very clear that we want to work constructively with India on this very serious matter. From the very beginning, we shared the real allegations that we are deeply concerned about but we have reached out to the Indian government and to partners around the world to get to the bottom of this, to take it seriously,” PM Trudeau said, news agency ANI reported.