New Delhi: Nearly a year after Indo-Canadian ties cratered and New Delhi withdrew its high commissioner and five other diplomats from Ottawa, India has, for the first time after October 2024, appointed Dinesh K. Patnaik Thursday as its High Commissioner to Canada. Subsequently, Canada announced Christopher Cooter as its High Commissioner to India.
“Dinesh K. Patnaik (IFS:1990), presently Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The appointment of high commissioners was expected after June, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, held a meeting on the margins of the G7 summit. Modi and Carney called for the “early return of high commissioners to each other’s capitals” at the 18 June bilateral meeting.
The latest step signals a stable India-Canada relationship that has remained cratered for the better part of the last two years.
Affirming the bolstering of ties, a Canadian press statement Thursday said, “The appointments are an important step towards restoring necessary diplomatic services to citizens and businesses in both countries.”
Patnaik has over three decades of experience as a diplomat serving at India’s missions in Beijing, Dhaka, Vienna, and Geneva. He was the Indian ambassador to Spain before his posting to Canada. He was the Indian ambassador to Morocco and Cambodia, and additionally, served as the deputy high commissioner in the country’s mission to London.
India had withdrawn its last envoy to Canada—Sanjay Kumar Verma—in October 2024, after Ottawa requested New Delhi to waive his diplomatic immunity—along with that of five other diplomats—as a part of its investigation into the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India also expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the then-acting Canadian high commissioner, Stewart Wheeler. Former Canadian high commissioner Cameron MacKay ended his term in the summer of 2024, with Stewart Wheeler replacing him temporarily. Now, Cooter will take the position.
Cooter has thirty-five years of diplomatic experience, having served most recently as Canada’s chargé d’affaires to Israel and as Canada’s high commissioner to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius, and Madagascar. Additionally, Cooter served as first secretary at the Canadian High Commission to India, Nepal, and Bhutan from New Delhi between 1998 and 2000.
On 18 June 2023, Nijjar, an Indian-designated terrorist, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. The then-Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, accused Indian agents of being linked to the killing. On 18 September 2023, Trudeau informed the Canadian House of Commons that the government was investigating “credible allegations” into officials from the government of India and the killing of Nijjar.
India rejected the allegations, asserting Ottawa had not shared a shred of evidence. However, Trudeau raised the allegations publicly, torpedoing ties between the two countries. Canada’s total diplomatic strength in India dropped to 16 at the peak of the diplomatic chill.
The tensions between a G7 member state and India saw signs of thaw after Carney assumed power over the Liberal Party in March 2025 and led the party to victory in the early general elections in April.
India was considering appointing a high commissioner during this period. However, with Carney forming his government—announced in May—any decision was pushed for later. The meeting between Modi and Carney set the stage for a “step-by-step” restoration of ties.
On Thursday, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said, “The appointment of a new High Commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India. This appointment is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy.”
With the appointment of the high commissioners, expectations for the resumption of negotiations for an Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) between the two countries are high. Negotiations for the same were called off in September 2023.
Carney has sought to diversify Canada’s reliance on the United States, following President Donald J. Trump’s assumption of power earlier this year. From defence to economic ties, Canada has been highly dependent on the US for the last few decades.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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