India-Canada: A new beginning?
The first steps to repair India-Canada ties were taken during the Prime Minister Narendra-Modi’s meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney on June 17 on the sidelines of G7 summit outreach in Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada. Carney succeeded Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister in March 2025. Trudeau’s popularity had sunk very low by late last year. It was becoming increasingly evident that if he led the Liberal Party, it would soundly lose the coming national election. Hence, he had no option but to give up the party leadership.
He did so in January. A contest ensued in which Mark Carney, an economist and Central Banker, was successful. Trudeau stepped down as party president and Prime Minister in March and Carney took over both positions. He called for elections in end April in which, contrary to earlier expectations, the Liberals emerged as the single largest party, just three short of a majority. The Liberal’s electoral victory was attributed to Canadians’ anger against US President Donald Trump’s insulting remarks against their country and his steps on squeezing them on trade. Trump went to the extent of saying that Canada should become a constituent state of the US!
On assuming office Carney signaled that he wanted to change course on India-Canada ties. He appointed Anita Anand as foreign minister after winning the elections. Anand is an academic with specialization in legal studies. Her parents had migrated to Canada where she was born in 1967. She became a member of Parliament in 2019 and was appointed as a cabinet minister by Justin Trudeau. During a short period in politics, she was entrusted with a number of portfolios in trouble departments. She was able to improve their performance. In end May, Anand reached out to her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. After their telephonic conversation Anand wrote on the social media platform X “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”. Jaishankar welcomed his conversation with Anand but was more cautious in his comments though he wished her a successful tenure. After this ministerial contact there was media speculation that Carney would invite Modi to the G7 summit outreach.
The invitation took time. Obviously, there was behind-the-scenes contact between the two countries on the results of a Modi-Carney meeting before an invitation was extended and accepted. Such preparations are necessary especially when bilateral ties have reached a nadir and both sides want that they should begin an upward movement.
Modi and Carney decided that the two countries would soon exchange High Commissioners and will begin to improve those areas of the relationship which directly impact their nationals. The latter is important for India for Canada hosts a large Indian diaspora and the reduction of staff in the respective Missions impacted on consular services which include the grant to visas. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement on the meetings of the prime ministers noted inter alia; “The leaders reaffirmed the importance of India-Canada ties, based on shared democratic values, respect for the rule of law. and commitment to upholding the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
They underlined the need to pursue a constructive and balanced partnership grounded in mutual respect for concerns and sensitivities, strong people-to-people ties, and growing economic complementarities. In this regard, both sides agreed to take calibrated and constructive steps to restore stability in the relationship, beginning with the early return of High Commissioners to each other’s capitals”. It went on to state “The leaders discussed opportunities for future collaboration in areas such as clean energy, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, LNG, food security, critical minerals, higher education, mobility, and supply chain resilience. They reaffirmed their shared interest in promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific. The leaders also discussed the importance of restarting the stalled negotiations on the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), with a view to paving the way for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). They agreed to task their respective officials to engage further in this regard”.
The trust between the two countries will take time to re-establish. On the Canadian side there is a body of opinion which wants that justice should be done in the Nijjar case. Trudeau had virtually accused ‘agents of the government of India’ of being involved in the case. Canadian police arrested some Indians who are to be prosecuted. However, the Canadian side has obviously not been able to produce any evidence against any Indian ‘agents’. In retrospect, Trudeau was unwise in levelling charges on which his government had no evidence. In the international game governments may have intelligence of varying degrees of reliability. However, the conversion of this intelligence into evidence which will stand scrutiny in a law court is always a very difficult task.
On the Indian side, Canada’s approach to the Khalistan issue will be closely watched. Canadian laws give very wide latitude to freedom of expression. It is because of this that the glorification of murderers is frowned upon but permitted. Canada should realise that such laws and also those which permit the territorial integrity of states to be questioned cannot be simply covered under the right of freedom of expression. Hence, if Canada does not change course of these issues sooner rather than later problems will arise. They will also arise if it continues with its intrusive questioning of India visa seekers who have served in the security services.
Canada should be conscious that good beginnings can stall.
