ISAS Briefs

Summary

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s visit to India in October 2025 is part of a continuing push to revitalise the bilateral relationship, shaken to the core during 2023-24 by the allegations of Indian involvement in the murder of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Mark Carney’s pragmatic leadership since taking charge as Canada’s prime minister in the summer and New Delhi’s eagerness to rebuild the valuable partnership with Ottawa have facilitated a productive effort to quietly resolve the Nijjar issue and shift the focus to mutually beneficial cooperation.

The visit of Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand to India in October 2025 highlighted the strong commitment in Ottawa and New Delhi to reset the relationship after the turbulence that rocked it during 2023-24. The reset began when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the G-7 summit that he was hosting at Kananaskis in June 2025. The two leaders agreed on calibrated steps toward normalisation. This was followed by the resumption of dialogue at the bureaucratic and political levels and an agreement to handle the sensitive questions in a quiet dialogue between the security establishments and the development of an actionable agenda of cooperation.

During her visit, Anand met Modi and held substantive talks with her counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Speaking to a Canadian TV channel at the end of her visit, Anand said, “We are in a moment where economic diplomacy, pragmatism, is of crucial importance”. She added that “Now we’re moving forward from September-October 2023”, referring to the time when the diplomatic ties between the two countries were derailed. Then, Canada, at the highest political level, publicly accused the Indian government of involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist based in Canada.

This allegation, denied vehemently by India, strained ties severely, leading to a protracted period of diplomatic chill, the mutual expulsion of diplomatic personnel and the suspension of normal channels of communication. The political transition from Justin Trudeau to Carney in March 2025 and the latter’s successful election campaign to retain his premiership provided a valuable political opportunity in Ottawa to take a fresh look at bilateral ties. On its part, New Delhi seized the opportunity to push for a normalisation of the relationship. Anand’s trip to India in October 2025 was the first ministerial visit from the Canadian side in over two years and culminated in a joint statement reaffirming a commitment to rebuilding bilateral ties across multiple sectors. Both sides agreed on a roadmap that fosters cooperation in economic ties, security collaboration, climate change, energy security, technological innovations and people-to-people contacts.

In a remarkable feature, bilateral trade continued to flourish even amid the diplomatic chill. The bilateral commerce in goods and services crossed CAD$30 billion (S$27.7 billion) in 2024. The two sides are now ready to resume the negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that were suspended during the diplomatic freeze. Anand and Jaishankar agreed on “commencing, at an early date, ministerial-level discussions on bilateral trade and investment informed by today’s economic realities and each country’s strategic priorities”. The reference here is to the new tensions in the global trading order triggered by United States (US) President Donald Trump and the testy relations that Ottawa and New Delhi have with his administration. Diversification of trade relations away from excessive dependence on the US market is now a high political priority for both nations.

The renewed momentum in the bilateral relationship, the joint statement issued after Anand’s visit affirmed, is based on “mutual respect for shared democratic values, the rule of law, and a commitment to upholding the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity”. This is a reference to the accusations of both sides during the diplomatic crisis that the other has violated its sovereignty. India accused Canada of encouraging anti-India militants, and Ottawa accused New Delhi of transnational repression.

The legal proceedings against four Indian nationals accused of Nijjar’s murder are ongoing, with trials unlikely to commence before late 2026. In the context of a diplomatic reboot, a significant feature has been the establishment of a constructive and institutionalised security dialogue between New Delhi and Ottawa. Both sides have agreed to enhance cooperation in law enforcement, intelligence sharing and counter-terrorism efforts. The collaboration between Indian agencies such as the National Investigation Agency and Canadian bodies like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police represents an important development aimed at jointly addressing security threats linked to diaspora extremism.

This dialogue acknowledges that preventing incidents like Nijjar’s murder requires more than accusation and recrimination; it necessitates transparent communication, mutual trust and institutional mechanisms for addressing security concerns. The presence of a significant Indian-origin Canadians (estimated at two million in a population of about 39 million in 2025) has long necessitated that.

By focusing on coordinated actions and respecting each other’s sovereignty, India and Canada seek to reduce the risk of extrajudicial operations and foster a secure environment for their citizens and expatriates. This security cooperation is a critical building block for restoring confidence in the broader bilateral relationship.

The unfolding momentum in India-Canada relations is a testament to the possibilities of patient diplomacy overcoming deep-rooted mistrust and geopolitical sensitivities. This reboot is still evolving, requiring consistent political commitment and steady advances in various domains of the bilateral ties. However, it does demonstrate how democracies with substantial global stakes can restore ruptured ties through measured diplomacy, shared values, and a commitment to partnership in a complex world.

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Professor C Raja Mohan is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), an autonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He can be contacted at crmohan@nus.edu.sg. The author bears full responsibility for the facts cited and opinions expressed in this paper.

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