Canada, India restore ties with appointment of new high commissioners

OTTAWA, Canada (MNTV) — Canada and India have named their new high commissioners to each other’s capitals as they restored relations 10 months after expelling the top envoys in a dispute over an alleged assassination of a Sikh politician.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Christopher Cooter will be Canada’s new high commissioner to India. India’s foreign ministry said it will assign its current envoy to Spain, Dinesh Patnaik, to Ottawa “shortly.”

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously said Indian diplomats have been passing information about Canadians to the highest levels of the Indian government, and that Indian officials then shared that information with organized crime groups, resulting in violence against Canadians.

Trudeau said India violated Canada’s sovereignty. India rejected the accusations as absurd.

Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. The US Justice Department announced criminal charges last year against an Indian government official in connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

India has repeatedly criticized Canada for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who live in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada. About 2% of Canada’s population is Sikh.

Cooter will take on the role after 35 years as a diplomat, including postings in Israel and South Africa, as well as in New Delhi 25 years ago.