India-Canada diplomatic standoff: The University of Toronto has sought to reassure the student community and underlined its commitment to their well-being. At the same time, she noted that India’s suspension of visa processing will hinder face-to-face contact.

Speaking to PTI, University of Toronto Vice-President International Professor Joseph Wong said, “We know that many members of the University of Toronto community are watching the relationship between the governments of Canada and India with concern.”

“The situation is evolving rapidly, causing uncertainty and stress, and we do not yet have answers to many of the pressing questions it raises,” said Prof. Joseph, adding that the university is proud to host more than 2,400 international to accommodate students from India.

“We want to reassure all affected members of our community – and especially international students – that you are welcome here and that we are deeply committed to your well-being,” he said.

Prof Joseph added that the university is committed to its “long-standing partnerships” in India, which support academic collaborations across a wide range of areas and provide its students with invaluable global learning opportunities.

“We look forward to continuing and deepening these relationships, consistent with our shared goal of making a difference locally and globally.” In the short term, the suspension of visa processing for travelers from Canada will hinder face-to-face contact, but we will continue to have these relationships expand through online interactions,” he told PTI.

He also assured that the university will monitor the impact of the evolving diplomatic tensions between India and Canada on the University of Toronto community.

Canada has evacuated the majority of its diplomats working in India to South Asian countries such as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore as the deadline to cut diplomatic staff approaches.

The Indian government had given Ottawa an October 10 deadline to reduce Canadian diplomatic staff in the country to a level equivalent to the number of Indian diplomats in Canada.

India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat, equivalent to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official in the case. Trudeau had also previously said his country was “not looking to escalate the situation with India” and stressed that Ottawa wanted to remain on the ground in New Delhi to help Canadians.

Canada has not yet provided public evidence to support the claim of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder. The country said it wanted to “work constructively with India” regarding the allegations.

(With PTI inputs)