New Delhi: “The High Commissioner of Canada in India doesn’t need protection, but the High Commissioner of India in Canada needs protection,” India’s new High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh Patnaik told news channel CTV Sunday.
Patnaik was referring to the heightened security surrounding his posting in Ottawa, a situation he said reflects the climate of hostility fueled by Sikh separatist groups in Canada.
“I find it strange that a high commissioner here has to be under protection. I should not be under protection in a country like this,” the envoy said on CTV’s Question Period, adding that “there is a group of people who are actually terrorising, keeping the [India-Canada] relationship hostage”.
“Canada cannot look at this situation as an Indian problem. It’s a Canada problem. There are Canadians who are creating this problem,” he further said.
In his first broadcast interview since taking office, Patnaik said New Delhi and Ottawa are working on rebuilding their relationship after “both sides lost trust” following “allegations made without evidence”. He was referring to the total breakdown in ties after then Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that Indian agents were involved in the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist and Indian-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Speaking about the present, the high commissioner said the two countries are looking at the “entire security situation”, with national security advisers, as well as India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), in talks. Different security scenarios are being looked at, he said.
One of India’s first responses diplomatically to Trudeau’s allegations was to temporarily suspend operations of its missions in Canada due to the lack of safety of its diplomats.
‘Indians need to feel safe in Canada’
Relations between the two countries soured in 2023 after Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to Nijjar’s assassination in British Columbia.
The claim also led to India calling for ‘parity’ in diplomatic presence, with Canada withdrawing 41 diplomats and their dependents. In October last year, India expelled six Canadian diplomats and withdrew its high commissioner and five other diplomats from Canada.
In that same month, RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme accused Indian diplomats of being linked with murder, extortion, intimidation and other crimes in Canada against members of the South Asian diaspora, specifically “pro-Khalistan” individuals.
Patnaik dismissed the accusations as “preposterous and absurd”.
“The allegations made were without any substance,” he said during the interview. “Both sides lost trust. we because we felt there was an allegation without evidence, and the other side because they thought we were not cooperating. Both of us need to build that trust back.”
Asked whether his posting might not have happened without the geopolitical reshuffling triggered by the US President Donald Trump’s trade policies, the high commissioner credited both Trump and Canada’s new prime minister Mark Carney for helping normalise ties.
“Donald Trump played a role,” he said, “but I think it was basically your new Prime Minister who played a very big role in getting things back to normal.”
Patnaik further said the two countries “cannot be kept apart for long,” describing his arrival in Ottawa as “inevitable” despite years of tension. “I think we would be here maybe a little earlier, a little later, but you cannot keep two large countries apart for long…The High Commissioner was inevitable. It just took its own time.”
Highlighting shared democratic values and social diversity, Patnaik said India and Canada were “too similar” to remain estranged for long. “Canada and India share so many things in common—democracy, freedom of the press, rule of law, pluralism, and diversity,” he said. “You’re the largest country by area as a democracy, and we’re the largest by population. It’s difficult to keep us apart.”
On the topic of security, the high commissioner argued that Indian diplomats and businesses had been subject to intimidation and attacks, citing the three incidents of firing outside actor-comedian Kapil Sharma’s cafe. “People in India have to understand that they’re safe in Canada,” he said. “And people in Canada have to feel safe too.”
Patnaik’s appearance followed Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s visit to New Delhi last week, during which both sides pledged cooperation on revitalising bilateral mechanisms, deepening economic cooperation, and further strengthening ties, while law enforcement cooperation was also discussed.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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