Modi-Carney meeting raises hopes of reset in India-Canada ties
Ajay Bisaria, a former Indian high commissioner, said the two countries have followed a pragmatic script this year towards normalising the relationship
Kananaskis, Canada: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, at the outreach session of the G7 leaders’ summit on Tuesday has raised hopes of a reset in bilateral ties after the alleged Indian involvement in Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing led to a diplomatic rift in 2023.
Ajay Bisaria, a former Indian high commissioner to Canada, said the two countries have followed a pragmatic script this year towards normalising the broken political relationship. "On the margins of the G7 Summit, the two PMs [Prime Ministers] pressed the reset button, in essence allowing robust economic ties to drive the political ones."
The filling of the vacant posts of high commissioners was among the issues the two sides addressed on Tuesday.
Bisaria said that this should enable a step-by-step move towards stabilisation of ties and then perhaps build back a better strategic partnership, guided by economic and geopolitical interests and future-proofed against security shocks.
Business Council of Canada president and CEO Goldy Hyder backed the restoration of the ties. “It is a very good day. Exactly the right steps to reset and restore constructive bilateral relations.”
Think tank Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada vice-president (research and strategy) Vina Nadjibulla said it was good to have a clear signal from the two leaders to reset the relationship and deepen cooperation when both countries hope to diversify economic and strategic partnerships.
She said the meeting and its outcome represented a significant moment, setting the stage for follow-up action at the level of officials and ministers.
Nadjibulla called the Modi-Carney meeting positive on substance and symbolism, marking remarkable progress that would have been hard to imagine even a few months ago.
Non-profit organisation Canada-India Foundation chair Ritesh Malik said this could be the big reset moment on many important unresolved issues. “Commitment to mutual respect, territorial integrity, and sovereignty is just the foundation on which this relationship can only grow leaps and bounds,” he said.
Days before the Modi-Carney meeting, Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand last month said that Carney's government looked forward to building its partnership with India as part of diversifying and building relationships globally, even as she acknowledged Nijjar's killing continues to cast a shadow on the ties.
In 2023, the then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and Nijjar's killing, three months after Nijjar was murdered in June 2023 in British Columbia’s Surrey. India dismissed the accusation as “absurd” and “motivated”. Four Indian nationals were arrested in connection with the murder last year.
Ottawa in October last year asked New Delhi to waive diplomatic immunity for six Indian officials posted in Canada so they could be questioned about “violent criminal activity”. New Delhi dismissed the move to designate six officials as “persons of interest” in the investigation and expelled six Canadian diplomats. India withdrew the six officials, including high commissioner Sanjay Verma.
