While the defence department’s statement confirmed a second aircraft had been dispatched to bring Trudeau home, it did not comment on the location of the aircraft or on expected timelines for his return to Canada.
The relationship between Canada and India is growing increasingly strained, with Canada recently suspending negotiations on a trade treaty with India. Trudeau’s presence at the G20 summit was lower-key than some of his G7 counterparts, and came against a backdrop of tensions between his government and host India over Ottawa’s handling of Sikh separatists.
Trudeau held bilateral talks with PM Modi on the sidelines of G20 Leaders’ Summit.He asserted that PM Modi discussed Khalistani extremism issues with him. Reacting to it, Justin Trudeau said that “actions of a few do not represent the entire community or Canada”. “Obviously, Canada will always defend freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful protest. That is something extremely important to us. At the same time, we are always there to prevent violence to push back against hatred. I think on the issue of community, it is important to remember that the actions of the few, do not represent the entire community or Canada. The flip side of it, we also highlighted the importance of respecting the rule of law and we did talk about foreign interference,” said Justin Trudeau.