New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke with his new Canadian counterpart Anita Anand late Sunday evening, as both countries look to reset ties, with the appointment of respective High Commissioners in the offing.
“Discussed the prospects of India-Canada ties,” read Jaishankar’s post on social media platform X after the call. It is the first call between the Indian external affairs minister and Anand, who was appointed earlier this month, and the first ministerial-level talks between New Delhi and Ottawa since Mark Carney became Canada’s prime minister.
Carney’s victory in the Canadian general election late last month set the ball rolling for the normalisation of ties between the two countries, with India likely to appoint a High Commissioner to Canada within the next few weeks, as reported by ThePrint. However, it is unclear whether the staffing strength for the respective High Commissions, which was reduced in 2023, would be increased.
“Thank you Minister @DrSJaishankar for the productive discussion today on strengthening Canada–India ties, deepening our economic cooperation, and advancing shared priorities. I look forward to continuing our work together,” Anand wrote on X.
Apart from appointing a new high commissioner, India is also likely to appoint senior officials to its consulate in Toronto.
India-Canada ties had hit a nadir, when former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau linked Indian officials to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an Indian-designated terrorist, outside a gurdwara in British Columbia in June 2023.
Trudeau, however, resigned in January this year, paving the way for Carney to become the leader of the Liberal Party. Carney, a former central bank governor, scripted history, leading the party to win the largest number of seats in the Canadian House of Commons, just shy of a majority. At the start of this year, the Liberal Party was trailing the opposition Conservative Party by around 20 percentage points in opinion polls.
The new Canadian prime minister is also set to host the G7 leaders’ summit from 15 June to 17 June, in what would be his first major test of multilateral diplomacy. He has been focussed on dealing with US President Donald J. Trump in the last few weeks. Trump has taken aim over Canada’s exports to the US, since assuming the American presidency in January.
India is not a member of the G7. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to the last three summits, hosted by Germany, Japan and Italy respectively. He had also attended the 2019 G7 summit held in France.
The chair of the G7 invites nations as a part of its outreach summits. While Germany, Japan and Italy are close partners of India, it is unclear yet whether Ottawa has invited Modi for this year’s summit.
Over the last half-decade, ties between the two countries have cratered. One of the earliest signs of tensions came after Trudeau attempted to insert himself into the conversation surrounding the 2020 farmers’ protests in India.
In September 2023 on the floor of the Canadian Parliament, Trudeau accused Indian officials of being linked to the killing of Nijjar. Ottawa then went a step further expelling an Indian diplomat, which led to New Delhi expelling a Canadian diplomat. By October, Canada’s staff strength at its missions across India had been reduced, with 41 diplomats being asked to leave the country by New Delhi.
While ties remained tense, around a year later, in October 2024, Canada requested India to waive diplomatic immunity for six of its diplomats, including the then Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma.
India withdrew the diplomats, and expelled six Canadian diplomats, including Acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler. Canada currently has roughly 16 diplomats in India, down from over 60 a couple of years earlier.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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