'I don't know when we'll go': Travel plans upended amid fraying Canada-India ties

Members of the Indo-Canadian community are reeling after the Indian government suspended visa services for citizens of Canada, upending travel plans for those set on visiting the country but now caught in the crossfire of a diplomatic blowup. India's visa application centre in Canada announced an immediate halt on Thursday, widening a rift between the two countries that broke open this week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said New Delhi may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen. Relations between the two countries have spiralled downward rapidly since Monday, when Trudeau told Parliament there were "credible allegations" of Indian involvement in the assassination of Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Gunned down in June outside the gurdwara he led in Surrey, B.C., he had been wanted by India for years. Ottawa also expelled an Indian diplomat, and New Delhi followed suit by booting a Canadian representative on Tuesday and then issuing a travel advisory that warned of violence against Indian nationals and students in Canada. India's External Affairs Ministry called the allegations being investigated in Canada "absurd" and an attempt to shift attention from the presence of Nijjar and other wanted suspects on Canadian soil. In 2021, 80,000 Canadian tourists visited India, making them the fourth largest group, according to India's Bureau of Immigration. Some 1.4m residents of Indian descent call Canada home, according to the 2021 census, including about 772,000 Sikhs -- the highest number of any country, save India.<br/>