In a dramatic reversal that few predicted even six months ago, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney landed in New Delhi this week for what both governments are calling a “reset” of India-Canada relations. The visit marks the most significant thaw in bilateral ties since the relationship hit rock bottom in 2023 over the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
For the estimated 2 million Indians and people of Indian origin living in Canada, the largest diaspora community in the country, this summit is not just diplomatic theatre. It directly affects their daily lives, their families back home, and their sense of belonging in both nations.
How Did We Get Here?
The India-Canada relationship plunged to its lowest point in September 2023 when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused Indian government agents of involvement in Nijjar’s killing in British Columbia. India denied the allegations, expelled Canadian diplomats, suspended visa services, and froze engagement at virtually every level. For over two years, the two countries operated in a state of diplomatic deep freeze.
The shift began when Mark Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor with deep global economic credentials, replaced Trudeau as Liberal leader and Prime Minister in late 2025. Carney, a pragmatist rather than an ideologue, immediately signalled that Canada’s approach to India needed recalibrating. His government quietly walked back the characterization of India as a “security threat” and opened back-channel communications with New Delhi.
By February 2026, the groundwork was laid. Carney’s India visit, his first major bilateral trip as PM, comes with an agenda that both sides describe as covering an “immense range” of potential agreements.
What’s on the Table?
The Carney-Modi summit is expected to produce agreements across multiple sectors that have been frozen since 2023:
- Trade and Investment: India-Canada bilateral trade was worth approximately $8.2 billion CAD in 2022 before the freeze. Both sides are looking to restart negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that was shelved mid-negotiation. Canada’s pension funds, which collectively manage over $2 trillion CAD, are eager to increase their already significant investments in Indian infrastructure.
- Critical Minerals: Canada holds vast reserves of nickel, lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements that India desperately needs for its electric vehicle and semiconductor ambitions. A critical minerals partnership could reduce India’s dependence on China for these strategic resources.
- Nuclear Energy: Canada’s Cameco is one of the world’s largest uranium producers. India, with its expanding nuclear power program targeting 22.5 GW by 2031, needs reliable uranium supply. A renewed nuclear cooperation agreement is reportedly close to finalization.
- AI and Technology: Both countries have invested heavily in artificial intelligence. India’s $1.5 billion AI infrastructure push and Canada’s status as a global AI research hub (home to pioneers like Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton) create natural synergies for collaboration.
- Defence: While historically limited, defence cooperation is now on the agenda, a sign of how significantly the strategic calculus has shifted.
What This Means for the Indian Diaspora
For Indians in Canada, the diplomatic freeze had real consequences beyond headlines. Visa processing times ballooned. Student visa approvals slowed. Family reunification applications stalled. Business ties that took decades to build were disrupted by the chill in government-to-government relations.
The Indian diaspora in Canada is not a monolith. It includes tech workers in Toronto’s booming startup scene, agricultural families in British Columbia and Alberta, students in universities across the country (India was Canada’s largest source of international students before the freeze), and established professionals who have called Canada home for generations. The Nijjar controversy also exposed painful divisions within the diaspora itself, between those who support Khalistan separatism and the vast majority who do not.
A normalized relationship means faster visa processing, renewed educational exchanges, and restored business confidence. It also means that the diaspora can stop feeling caught between two countries they love.
The Bigger Picture: Why India-Canada Matters
This reset is not happening in a vacuum. It reflects broader shifts in global geopolitics.
Canada, traditionally aligned closely with the United States, is recalibrating after significant trade tensions with Washington. The Trump administration’s tariffs and “America First” posture have pushed Ottawa to diversify its economic partnerships. India, the world’s fifth-largest economy and fastest-growing major market, is the obvious partner.
For India, Canada offers access to critical minerals, advanced technology, and a massive market. It also offers something less tangible but equally important: normalization of a relationship whose breakdown was being used by adversaries to paint India as diplomatically isolated. The fact that a G7 nation is actively seeking a reset sends a powerful signal.
India’s broader diplomatic strategy under Prime Minister Modi has consistently emphasized multi-alignment, maintaining strong ties across traditional divides. The India-Canada reset fits this pattern, joining recent diplomatic advances with the UAE, France, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. As we’ve explored in our coverage of India’s UPI going global, India’s international footprint is expanding across technology, trade, and diplomacy simultaneously.
Will It Last?
Skeptics have reason to be cautious. The Nijjar investigation is ongoing, and Canadian courts may produce findings that reignite tensions. Domestic politics in both countries could complicate the relationship, Carney faces an election, and India’s ruling BJP has used the Canada standoff as a nationalist rallying point.
But the economic logic of the relationship is overwhelming. Canada needs markets beyond the US. India needs resources and technology. The diaspora needs both countries to get along. And in a world increasingly defined by competition between the US and China, middle powers like India and Canada have every incentive to find common ground.
The Carney-Modi summit may not resolve every grievance overnight. But the fact that it’s happening at all, after two years of silence, is itself the message. India and Canada are choosing pragmatism over pride. For 2 million Indians watching from across the Pacific, that choice cannot come soon enough.