Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

What it is: The RCMP is Canada's federal police service. Wikipedia records that the North-West Mounted Police was formed on 23 May 1873 and became the RCMP on 1 February 1920 after merging with the Dominion Police. It enforces federal law and provides contract policing to most provinces and territories.

The turban: Baltej Singh Dhillon applied in 1988 and met the entry requirements, but the dress code banned turbans. In March 1990 the Mulroney government changed the code so Sikh officers could wear turbans and beards. Wikipedia says more than 150,000 people signed petitions against it. Dhillon graduated at Regina in 1991 as the first Mountie to wear a turban, and by 1996 the Human Rights Commission, the Federal Court and the Supreme Court had upheld the decision (The Canadian Encyclopedia).

Air India Flight 182: After the bombing of 23 June 1985, Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted of manslaughter and later perjury, and was released in 2016. In 2005 the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the evidence did not prove Ripudaman Singh Malik's part. The inquiry led by retired Justice John Major found that Canadian police knew of the plot but did not fully investigate it; ThePrint lists the RCMP's failure to pass an Air India threat telex to CSIS, the intelligence service, and the lifting of surveillance on Talwinder Singh Parmar on 16 June 1985.

The Nijjar case and after: Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead at a gurdwara in Surrey on 18 June 2023, and British Columbia's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team investigated. On 3 May 2024 police announced three arrests in Edmonton and on 11 May a fourth man was charged. On 14 October 2024 Commissioner Duheme and Deputy Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin said agents of the Government of India were targeting pro-Khalistani figures in Canada, that the Bishnoi group was connected to them, and that about eight people had been charged over homicides and 22 over extortion. They said that announcement was separate from the Nijjar case, and the reports do not say they named any minister. On 29 October 2024 Canada's Deputy Foreign Minister, David Morrison, told a Commons committee he had confirmed to The Washington Post that Home Minister Amit Shah was the official it named. India denies the allegations.

Key moments

• 23 June 1985: Air India Flight 182 bombed. March 1990: turbans allowed.
• 14 October 2024: the RCMP's statement on India-linked violence.
• 29 September 2025: Canada lists the Bishnoi Gang as a "terrorist entity".
• 7 July 2026: the RCMP and FBI announce a US indictment alleging Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar ordered the killing; it does not allege Indian government involvement.

Where it stands: The four accused in the Nijjar case are pretrial under a publication ban. In January 2026 Global News reported an RCMP assessment describing the Bishnoi gang as acting on behalf of the Indian government; the Indian High Commission did not respond.