New Delhi/Ottawa: Signalling normalization of diplomatic ties that took a hit after a spat over the murder of a pro-Khalistan activist in 2023 in British Columbia, Canada and India announced the appointment of High Commissioners this week.
The move came more than two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Kananaskis, where both leaders agreed to appoint envoys and upgrade ties.
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand said that Christopher Cooter, a career foreign service officer with 35 years of diplomatic experience, will be the new High Commissioner of Canada to India.
“The appointment of a new high commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India,” Anand said in a statement.
Shortly after, India's Ministry of External Affairs announced that Dinesh K Patnaik, the present Ambassador to Spain, will take up charge of the High Commissioner of India to Canada.
Patnaik, a career diplomat belonging to the 1990 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), is expected to take up the assignment shortly. The appointment comes more than 9 months after New Delhi had withdrawn its previous High Commissioner to Ottawa over the then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's continued "hostility" towards India.
Citing the atmosphere of extremism and violence that had prevailed during Trudeau's tenure, India had withdrawn High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, one of the country's senior-most serving diplomats, in October 2024.
The ties between India and Canada had soured after Trudeau alleged in the Canadian Parliament that he had "credible allegations" of India's hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. A major diplomatic row had erupted when Canada labelled India's High Commissioner and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in the investigation of Nijjar's death.
India denied all the allegations, calling them "absurd" and "motivated", accusing Ottawa of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in the country.
