Ottawa: India is cooperating with Canadian authorities investigating the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh K. Patnaik told ThePrint in an exclusive interview Monday, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Mumbai and New Delhi later this week.
“Today, there’s a case going on in court in Surrey. On this where four people of Indian origin, four internationals are being tried. And so as the case is going on, we say the Canadians have to present evidence in that court. They don’t need to present evidence to us,” Patnaik said.
The Indian envoy added: “Whatever they need cooperation from us… they need information, they need whatever material we have… if any evidence we have, we are cooperating with them… we are giving them whatever is necessary. We have told them very clearly, India does not do things like this. This is really absurd and preposterous, the allegations made by a former prime minister, but I will not go into that.”
The killing of Nijjar, an India-designated terrorist, on Canadian soil in June 2023 fractured ties between New Delhi and Ottawa. The former prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau had, in September 2023, alleged that Indian government officials were linked to the killing. New Delhi has since maintained the allegations are “absurd” and “motivated”.
However, there has been a marked shift in ties since Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, assumed the premiership of Canada in March 2025. He has since sought to bifurcate the law enforcement ties from the larger political relationship.
“The thing is right now, Canadians have understood what the situation is. They’re working closely with us on this. They want to bring the criminals to justice. They want to bring whosoever is behind this to justice. We are helping them. And we have said very clearly from the very beginning, in case any agents of India or any government agents, or even non-government or Indians, are involved in this, we will take action ourselves,” said Patnaik. “We will work with the Canadians to take action on this [the killing of Nijjar].”
Patnaik’s comments come ahead of Carney’s first bilateral visit to India from 26 February to 2 March. A number of outcomes are expected from the visit to Mumbai and New Delhi in terms of deepening of economic and strategic contours of the India-Canada relationship, and the formalisation of the security dialogue to ensure sticky issues are discussed at the appropriate fora.
New Delhi had taken aim at Trudeau in the past, accusing him of “deliberately smearing India for political gains” with the allegations surrounding the killing of Nijjar a result of his “vote bank politics.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Carney twice on the margins of multilateral summits—G7 and G20—last year, while External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has met his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand five times since June 2025. The two National Security Advisers—Ajit Doval and Nathalie G. Drouin—have also met twice, with the former travelling to Canada earlier this month, marking a significant uptick in political engagement.
The deeper engagement comes at a time when Ottawa is under pressure to diversify its trading relationships, given the fundamental break with the US led by Donald Trump in the last year. Trump, who has often joked about making Canada the “51st state” of the US, has taken aim at the strong trade and defence cooperation between the two countries.
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‘Launching the relationship to next level’
Patnaik highlighted that Carney’s visit is not just about “sealing the stamp” on the reset in ties, but is meant to “launch” the relationship to the “next level”. From defence to artificial intelligence and energy, a number of deals are expected as outcomes from the bilateral meeting between Modi and Carney during their meeting on 2 March.
“This is, like I’ve been saying for a long time, a multi-dimensional relationship, where all dimensions are addressed. And this visit is one of those where you will see all aspects of the relation being addressed—from energy, both oil and gas, as well as nuclear, as well as renewable… to agri-foods, agriculture, aerospace, space, AI, innovation, research, students, universities, culture, people-to-people… you name it,” Patnaik told ThePrint. “I don’t think that there’s a sector left that we will not address. And so in a sense, it’s a very strategic move.”
The centrepiece of the energy relationship is expected to be a long-term sale agreement of uranium worth $2.5 billion. Canada is also looking to sell its oil and gas to India. New Delhi has been seeking to diversify its sources of energy, given that a large part of crude oil was imported from Russia since the war with Ukraine began in 2022.
Other areas that are set to see a number of expected outcomes include mobility and education. A high-level delegation of 21 university presidents travelled to India between 2 February and 6 February, marking a renewed engagement in the higher education sector.
The Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation Partnership, a trilateral technological initiative launched between the three governments on the margins of the G20 last year, is expected to be further formalised during Carney’s visit, highlighting further cooperation in the critical minerals sector and supply chain resilience.
The three ministers in-charge of artificial intelligence—India’s Ashwani Vaishnaw, Canada’s Evan Solomon and Australia’s Andrew Charlton—met last week on the margins of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi to further sketch out mutual areas of interest in this initiative.
Canada is home to some of the world’s largest reserves of energy and mineral resources, offering India an opportunity to import these goods from a new country. Movement on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is also expected during Carney’s trip, with a potential signing of a terms of reference for future negotiations a likely outcome.
The reporter was in Ottawa at the invitation of Global Affairs Canada.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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