Canada, India rebuild ties after bitter fallout

CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTER’S VISIT A TURNING POINT

- BY STEPHEN N. R.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi yesterday, marking the most high-level diplomatic engagement between the two countries since the diplomatic row over the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader last year.

The visit signals a turning point in India-Canada relations, which had deteriorated sharply in 2023 after Ottawa alleged Indian involvement in the assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Steady progress

“India-Canada bilateral relations have been steadily progressing in the last few months,” Jaishankar said at the meeting with Anand, adding that both nations were “working to restore and reinvigorate the mechanisms necessary to advance the partnership.”

“When we look at Canada, we see a complementary economy and another open society, which is the basis for a close, sustainable and long-term cooperative framework,” he said, in remarks broadcast by the Ministry of External Affairs.