Old Video of Canadian High Commissioner Visiting Golden Temple Shared as Recent

A video showing the High Commissioner for Canada in India, Cameron MacKay, giving an interview at the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) in Punjab is being shared as a recent clip.

What's the viral clip about?: The video shows a reporter asking MacKay a question about Canada's stance on the Khalistani outfits.

• "In Canada, we love people of all faiths. All faiths are welcomed in Canada," MacKay replies.

• The claim suggests that MacKay visited the temple before leaving the country on the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) orders amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

But the video is old: This video dates back to October 2022 and is being falsely shared as recent.

• It shows MacKay visiting Gurudwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a relevant keyword search on Google which led us to an article by India Today published on 27 October 2022.

• The report stated that MacKay was visiting Gurudwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi when he was asked about the measures taken up by the government of Canada to deal with Khalistani outfits.

• It also carried a tweet by the news agency Asian News International (ANI) which had shared the viral video.

• This tweet was also shared on 27 October 2022.

#WATCH |Delhi:"In Canada we love people of all faiths. All faiths are welcome in Canada," says High Commissioner for Canada in India Cameron MacKay when asked how is Canadian Govt dealing with Khalistani outfits, action against these outfits & his comment on "referendum" by them pic.twitter.com/kBRQCZWvVh

— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2022

• A video from the same day also shows MacKay saying, "Canada supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India."

• This was also reposted on X (formerly Twitter) by the official account of the High Commission of Canada in India.

Canada reiterates support for India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. https://t.co/dWv4vzvIJP

— Canada in India (@CanadainIndia) October 27, 2022

Why was MacKay recently in the news?: Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai on 19 September after claiming that India had a possible role to play in the assassination of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

• Following this, the MEA summoned Canada's High Commissioner to India, Cameron Mackay and informed him that Olivier Sylvestere was to leave India within the next five days.

• Sylvestere is reportedly a high-ranking intelligence officer in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and a top diplomat in India.

Conclusion: Clearly, the High Commissioner for Canada in India, Cameron MacKay, did not visit the Golden Temple in Punjab recently as claimed.

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