Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney finally issued a formal invite on Friday to his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to attend the G-7 Summit to be held in Kananaskis later this month. The invite not only signals a possible thaw in the strained Indo-Canadian bilateral relations but also a snub to the pro-Khalistani forces which were desperately trying to pressurise Ottawa for not inviting Modi.
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For the last one week, speculations had been rife in the media about Modi not being invited to the summit, despite the fact that he has attended all such summits since 2019 — even though India is not part of the G-7 countries.
But in a post on X today, Modi said: “Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister @MarkJCarney of Canada. Congratulated him on his recent election victory and thanked him for the invitation to the G-7 Summit in Kananaskis later this month. As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests. Look forward to our meeting at the summit.” He has set to rest all the talk about Canada cold shouldering India under pressure from Khalistani groups.
Last week Toronto-based Sikh federation said that Canada should withhold any invitation "until India substantially co-operates with criminal investigations in Canada." The demand came at a time when The Sikh Federation and the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) were expressing concerns about reports of the newly-formed Liberal government seeking deeper ties with India.
Soon after Modi’s tweet accepting the invite, WSO condemned Carney's move. “The timing and nature of this announcement have caused outrage and pain within the Sikh community across Canada,” they said in a statement.
On May 21, the WSO had sent a formal letter to Carney urging him not to invite Prime Minister Modi. The letter detailed India’s “well-documented” campaign of transnational repression targeting Sikhs in Canada, including the 2023 assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the RCMP’s confirmation of “clear and compelling evidence” of Indian government agents engaging in criminal activities on Canadian soil.
Over the past year or so, India’s relations with Canada have been under immense strain over the 2023 controversy of Nijjar's assassination — an alleged Khalistani leader. The accusations made by former Prime Minster Justin Trudeau that India was behind the assassination had led to a major diplomatic freeze. Diplomats were expelled and all ongoing trade talks were frozen.
While the invitation to Modi, in a larger context continues to signify India’s rising global influence and the G-7’s broader push to engage with key world economic players, it also suggests that Canada may be recalibrating its priorities by putting national and international cooperation ahead of domestic political pressures and controversies.
It in fact marks a significant shift in diplomatic tone that could eventually sideline Khalistani groups from dictating their agenda to the government. India, for long, has been raising concerns about Canada turning a blind eye to Khalistani extremism and by engaging Modi it may be preparing for more behind-the-scenes cooperation on various issues, including extremist activities.
Modi’s presence at the summit, especially in the backdrop of Operation Sindoor, will give him an opportunity to articulate India’s positions on the issue of terrorism and how it is impacting the country. Incidentally, Khalistani movement has the full backing of Pakistan’s army and the ISI — which has been sponsoring Sikh militancy in India since the 1980s, for a separate Khalistan state.
While it remains to be seen how this engagement will reshape Indo-Canadian relations in the long term, one thing is clear: both nations are navigating a complex interplay of domestic politics and international diplomacy, striving to find common ground in an increasingly multipolar world.
English (US) ·