Canada, India name new high commissioners as both countries restore relations

A cyclist pedals past the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Canada and India named seasoned diplomats as their new high commissioners Thursday, as both gradually soothe diplomatic tensions over transnational repression and Sikh separatism 10 months after expelling each other’s top envoys.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Christopher Cooter will be Canada’s new high commissioner to India. Anand’s department said Cooter has served as a diplomat for 35 years, including postings in Israel and South Africa, as well as in New Delhi 25 years ago.

India’s foreign ministry says it will assign Dinesh Patnaik to Ottawa “shortly.” He has also been a diplomat for 35 years, currently serving as New Delhi’s ambassador to Spain and previously as deputy head in London.

Both countries agreed to restore their top diplomats in June, when Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta.

“The two sides moved as quickly as they could in naming of the appointments,” said Asia Pacific Foundation research vice-president Vina Nadjibulla. “This shows momentum in the reset in the relationship.”

Both sides have an interest in sustaining that momentum, Nadjibulla said, with Canada and India each saying they expect a gradual return to normalcy, step by step.

“There needs to be a lot of rebuilding of trust, and building of relationships again,” she said.

Relations between Canada and India were strained under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, whose 2018 visit to India was overshadowed by the appearance at an official reception of a man convicted decades earlier of attempted murder of an Indian politician.

Trudeau’s comments on domestic farmer protests also rankled New Delhi, before his bombshell September 2023 accusation that Indian agents had a role in the June 2023 assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver.

The RCMP repeated that claim, and in October 2024 accused India of wide-scale murder, extortion and coercion in Canada, at which point Ottawa expelled India’s top six diplomats in Canada, with New Delhi doing the same in retribution.

India has long argued that Canada has never taken Sikh extremism seriously, including after the 1984 Air India bombing, and New Delhi has painted Canadian advocates for a Sikh state as terrorists.

In this spring’s election campaign, Carney singled out India as an important partner for Canada while saying New Delhi had caused the strain in relations.

He announced in June that Canada and India would hold structured security talks, which was widely seen as a way to try addressing concerns through regular talks between law enforcement, instead of each side airing fiery comments in the press.

The rapprochement has been controversial amid some minority communities, particularly prominent Sikh organizations who argue Carney is putting economic growth ahead of human rights advocacy.

The World Sikh Organization of Canada on Thursday urged Ottawa “to provide clear assurances that newly appointed Indian diplomats will not have intelligence or police backgrounds, will not engage in espionage or criminal activity in Canada, and will be held accountable to Canadian law.”

Other groups, particularly corporate lobbyists and Hindu activists, say Canada needs to stop being an outlier among its G7 peers, who have all deepened ties with India amid concerns about China.

Now, both diplomats will need to normalize official channels, such as having Patnaik visit Global Affairs Canada for regular discussions on Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy and occasionally speaking with Canadian ministers.

Nadjibulla said both will need to set plans for relations gradually improving, and there could eventually be a resumption in talks for some sort of trade deal, which has been through intermittent negotiations since 2010. She expects “some kind of a signal” on that front by the end of this year.

A major priority for Canada is getting its full complement of staff established in India. In October 2023 New Delhi stripped diplomatic protections for two-thirds of Canadian envoys, causing 41 of them to leave the country. Some have since been restored, such as Ottawa’s consul general in Mumbai.

Anand noted Ottawa’s desire to restore positions such as trade commissioners and consular staff in the country, in a social-media posting.

“This is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy,” she wrote.

Nadjibulla has been to India multiple times to look at how both countries can benefit from more co-operation, which she said is wanted on both sides.

“From critical minerals to energy security to agricultural co-operation to technology co-operation, we have a lot to offer to each other,” Nadjibulla said.

“We need new markets -- India is a big market. And India needs co-operation when it comes to technology, investment and innovation.”

Businesses, provinces and civil-society groups have tried to advance these themes, with an uptick in recent visits on each side.

Both Ottawa and New Delhi are looking to diversify trade, with U.S. President Donald Trump issuing a series of tariffs against key Canadian sectors, and surprising India with similar measures.

After years of seeing India as a strategic partner, Washington has slapped steep tariffs on Indian imports because New Delhi imports Russian fuel that helps finance Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine.

Patnaik might fill the role in just a few weeks, with Rideau Hall expected to have ambassadors present their diplomatic credentials in mid-to-late September. Those ceremonies are required for designated heads of mission to officially start their terms, and envoys usually avoid media and high-level engagements until they’ve taken this step.

Both diplomats have a “tremendous amount of experience” and a deep understanding of foreign policy priorities, Nadjibulla said. It helps that Patnaik had a senior role in London, given that the U.K. has overlapping interests with Canada and somewhat similar diaspora issues.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press