Overview

• Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced the designation, making it a crime for anyone in Canada or Canadians abroad to deal with the gang’s property or to provide resources that benefit it.
• Law enforcement gains new tools to pursue terrorism-related offences tied to financing, travel and recruitment, and immigration authorities can use the listing to inform admissibility decisions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
• Ottawa describes the Bishnoi network as a transnational organization based primarily in India with a Canadian footprint that uses murder, shootings, arson and extortion to intimidate communities.
• The move follows sustained pressure from provincial leaders in British Columbia and Alberta and from federal opposition parties; Canada now counts 88 listed terrorist entities.
• Canadian police have previously alleged links between the gang and Indian agents in cases including Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing, a claim India rejects, while groups such as the World Sikh Organization welcomed the designation as a step to curb rampant extortion.