India and Canada are restoring ambassadors to each other’s capitals as both countries appear content to move on from a diplomatic clash over the assassination of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the G7 and agreed that the two nations will name new high commissioners, as ambassadors are known between Commonwealth nations.
Mr Carney's office said they agreed to appoint new envoys to replace the ones both nations had withdrawn as the crisis grew.
The decision has been taken “with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries,” the Canadian prime minister’s office said in a statement.
The meeting took place despite protests against Mr Modi’s visit to the country by members of Canada’s Sikh community. Sikh protesters tore up Indian flags in downtown Calgary on Tuesday and showed posters of the Indian leader handcuffed, in a prison jumpsuit or behind bars.
New Delhi and Ottawa suffered a major breakdown in their bilateral relations in late 2023 after former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of direct involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader and Canadian citizen in British Columbia who advocated for the creation of a Sikh homeland – known as Khalistan – in India’s Punjab region.
The dispute between the two nations worsened in October last year when both countries expelled a number of high-ranking officials. India was sent a diplomatic communication suggesting that the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in Canada’s investigation into Nijjar’s death.
Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including India’s high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, and consular officials from the country “in relation to a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the Government of India”, said Canada’s foreign affairs department, Global Affairs Canada.
The Indian foreign ministry retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats, including acting high commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, who was first summoned by India’s External Affairs Ministry to protest Canada expelling Indian diplomats.
Canada was forced to suspend in-person services at all missions in India outside its embassy in New Delhi.
The Indian government has denied involvement in Nijjar’s killing and accused Canada of providing a safe haven for Sikh separatists.
Symbolically turning a page on nearly two years of diplomatic enmity, Mr Carney and Mr Modi met on Tuesday in the scenic resort town of Kananaskis in Alberta in the Canadian Rockies, where they said they held a productive first bilateral meeting and that the talks between them had gone well.
Mr Carney said he hoped the meeting would "provide the necessary foundations to begin to rebuild the relationship, based on mutual respect, sovereignty, trust."
"I would describe it as foundational – as a necessary first step, a frank, open exchange of views around law enforcement, transnational repression," he said, speaking to reporters at a news conference.
Mr Carney also told Mr Modi that it was “my great honour to have you here”. The Canadian leader eventually invited his Indian counterpart after mounting speculation in the Indian media that Mr Modi had been snubbed – in the event, Mr Carney said India was invited to attend due to its importance in global supply chains.
"Had an excellent meeting... India and Canada are connected by a strong belief in democracy, freedom and rule of law," Mr Modi said on X during his first visit to Canada in a decade.
India is Canada's top source of temporary foreign workers and international students, as well as an important market.
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