Canada and India introduced Thursday they’ve appointed new excessive commissioners to one another’s international locations, a step in direction of “deepening” diplomatic ties regardless of a number of allegations of overseas interference by Indian brokers on Canadian soil.
Christopher Cooter, a diplomat with 35 years of expertise who served in New Delhi greater than 25 years in the past, will function Canada’s new excessive commissioner to India, International Affairs Minister Anita Anand mentioned.
“The appointment of a brand new Excessive Commissioner displays Canada’s step-by-step method to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India,” Anand mentioned in an announcement.
“This is a crucial improvement towards restoring companies for Canadians whereas strengthening the bilateral relationship to assist Canada’s economic system.”
India’s overseas ministry mentioned its new excessive commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Ok. Patnaik, is “anticipated to take up the project shortly.” Patnaik had served as India’s ambassador to Spain since 2021.
The diplomatic appointments have been agreed to in a gathering between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was invited to June’s G7 summit in Alberta. The leaders agreed to strengthen diplomatic and financial ties.
Each Canada and India are in search of to diversify their economies within the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s world tariff insurance policies. Trump’s tariffs on India have been raised to 50 per cent on Wednesday, whereas U.S. tariffs on Canada jumped to 35 per cent on Aug. 1.
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The G7 summit noticed leaders comply with fight “transnational repression” — one thing India has been repeatedly accused of conducting in Canada.
The 2 international locations’ earlier excessive commissioners left their posts final October, after Ottawa and New Delhi expelled high-ranking diplomats in tit-for-tat strikes.
Canada’s expulsions have been introduced rapidly after the RCMP publicly revealed it has a major quantity of data on legal exercise allegedly orchestrated by brokers of the Indian authorities.
International Information reported on the time that brokers figuring out of India’s excessive fee in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto have been behind dozens of violent crimes throughout Canada that focused opponents of Modi’s authorities.
The Indian brokers, who held diplomatic and consular positions, allegedly performed key roles in a wave of shootings, killings, threats, arsons and extortions in Canada, in response to senior sources accustomed to the matter.
Relations have been strained since 2023, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused Indian authorities brokers of being concerned within the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist chief, in Surrey, B.C., earlier that very same 12 months.
India has repeatedly denied the allegations and accused Canada of pursuing a political agenda whereas harbouring Sikh activists, which Modi’s authorities has labelled as “terrorists.”
New Delhi paused visa companies at its Canadian consulates for 2 months following Trudeau’s allegation.
A senior Indian intelligence officer has additionally been accused in U.S. courtroom paperwork of recruiting a businessman to attempt to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an in depth affiliate of Nijjar and a Canadian and U.S. citizen. Pannun heads Sikhs For Justice, a New York-based group that advocates for the creation of the Sikh nation of Khalistan.
International Information revealed in June {that a} suspected Indian authorities agent had former New Democratic Celebration chief Jagmeet Singh beneath shut surveillance, prompting the RCMP to put him in police safety.
Modi attended the G7 summit in Canada days after these particulars have been reported.
On the time, the Prime Minister’s Workplace defended Carney’s invitation to Modi whereas saying that “any type of tried overseas interference is unacceptable.”
“As prime minister of the fifth largest economic system and the world’s most populous nation, Prime Minister Modi was invited to take part in a few of these vital discussions,” wrote Audrey Champoux, a spokesperson for the PMO.
“Importantly, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Modi agreed to continued legislation enforcement dialogue and discussions to deal with severe safety issues.”
India was named because the second-most energetic nation concerned in overseas interference operations in Canada, behind solely the Folks’s Republic of China, in Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s federal inquiry into the matter.
The federal Conservatives and B.C. Premier David Eby have known as on Ottawa to label the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has been linked to extortions and different crimes towards South Asian group members throughout Canada, as a terrorist group.
—With recordsdata from International’s Saba Aziz, Stewart Bell, Mercedes Stephenson and Alex Boutilier
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