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Several groups within Canada’s Sikh community demanded Wednesday that the federal government provide evidence to support a claim made in a recent terror assessment report that “Sikh extremism” was a current threat to the country.

The groups accused Ottawa of capitulating to the Indian government, which has repeatedly pushed a narrative that Canada is harbouring Sikh extremists, and suggested the report seemed more driven by politics than intelligence.

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“Rather than defending the reputation of Canadian Sikhs and denying these baseless allegations, it appears that the Canadian government is content to capitulate to Indian demands to crack down on the Sikh activists,” said a statement from the Ontario Khalsa Darbar, one of Canada’s largest gurdwaras based in Mississauga.

The document drawing scrutiny is Public Safety Canada’s annual report on the terrorism threat to the country. A section on current threats lists “Sunni Islamist extremism” and “right-wing extremism” followed by “Sikh (Khalistani) extremism.” There had been no mention of Sikh extremism in previous years.