Canada Appoints New High Commissioner to India as Strained Relations Improve

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has appointed Canada’s new high commissioner to India after Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in mid-June.

Christopher Cooter will take on the role of high commissioner for Canada in the Republic of India, Anand announced on Aug. 28. Cooter has 35 years of diplomatic experience and most recently served as Canada’s Chargé d’affaires to Israel and as Canada’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius, and Madagascar.

“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 an Aug. 28 statement.

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

India also appointed its new high commissioner to Canada on Aug. 28. Dinesh K. Patnaik, the current ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain, is expected to take up the assignment of high commissioner of India to Canada “shortly,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced.

The announcements come roughly 10 months after both countries expelled their top envoys following allegations from the RCMP that linked Indian government agents to homicides on Canadian soil.

Canada expelled six Indian diplomats on Oct. 14, 2024, including its High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, while India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced the same day that it would expel Acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler and five other diplomats in response.

Then-Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the decision was made with “great consideration” after the RCMP gathered “ample, clear and concrete” evidence that the six Indian diplomats were involved in illegal activity in Canada in connection with the 2023 assassination of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Strained Relations

Relations between Canada and India have been strained since 2023, when former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian agents of having a hand in the assassination of Nijjar on Canadian soil. The Indian government had accused Nijjar of being the leader of a pro-Khalistan militant group and in 2020 designated Nijjar a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Nijjar was gunned down in the parking lot of a Sikh place of worship in June 2023 in Surrey, B.C., and four murder suspects were arrested by police in 2024.

The Indian government has denied allegations of its involvement in the case and has rejected the accusations as “politically motivated” by Trudeau’s government, which New Delhi called “centered around vote bank politics.”

India has long accused Canada of being a safe haven for the Khalistan movement, which seeks to carve an independent state out of India’s Punjab.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS) said in its 2024 annual report that some Canadians participate in “legitimate and peaceful” advocacy for the cause, while “only a small group of individuals are considered Khalistani extremists because they continue to use Canada as a base for the promotion, fundraising or planning of violence primarily in India.”

This threat of extremism is a driver of Indian foreign interference activities in Canada, the CSIS said.

Tensions between Canada and India began to lift slightly in June when Carney invited Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta and both countries agreed to restore their top diplomats and restore regular diplomatic services to citizens in both countries.

Noé Chartier and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.