INDIA is cooperating with Canada and bilateral ties are improving after tensions spiked over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia, a top Canadian official told CTV in an interview published on Friday (26).
Diplomatic relations soured after prime minister Justin Trudeau last year said Canada was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents were potentially linked to the June 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. India has denied any formal government role in Nijjar’s murder.
“I wouldn’t describe them (the Indians) as not cooperating. I think we’ve made advancements in that relationship,” Jody Thomas, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told CTV.
CTV published an excerpt from the interview on its website on Friday. The full interview will be aired on Sunday (28).
Canada has been pressing India to cooperate in its investigation of Nijjar’s killing. Last November, US authorities said they had thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the US.
“The information that they (the Americans) revealed supported our position and our assertions with India, and India is working with us … far more closely to resolve this,” Thomas told CTV. Trudeau said in December he sensed a change in New Delhi’s tone with Ottawa after the US case.
The acrimony has delayed discussions on a free-trade deal and threatened Canada’s plans to expand its influence in the Indo-Pacific region, where New Delhi’s cooperation is critical to efforts to check an increasingly assertive China.
“Our ability to function in the Indo Pacific does rely on having a healthy relationship with India. And I think that we are working back towards that,” Thomas said. Around 2 million Canadians, or 5 per cent of the population, have Indian heritage.
Canada withdrew 41 diplomats from India after New Delhi in September asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence following Trudeau’s remarks.
(Reuters)
Her journey reflects the transformation of the Indian American and broader south Asian community in the US.LG Miller
Lt Gov Miller represented District 15 through January 2019 and later served on the Maryland State Ethics Commission from 2019 to 2021. Lt Gov Aruna Miller 
Miller is now seeking a second term alongside Gov. Wes Moore.LG Miller
A visitor holds a baby at the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial with One World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan in the distance on August 23, 2026 in Jersey City, New Jersey.Getty
American flags and flowers line the memorial pool at the National September 11 Memorial to mark the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2023 in New York.Getty
Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh immigrant from India, was shot and killed outside the gas station he owned in Mesa, Arizona. .
Muslim men pray during a Day of Remembrance open house at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York September 11, 2002 in New York City. Getty