New Delhi: Ten months after both countries expelled each other’s envoys, India and Canada on Thursday (August 28) returned to normal diplomatic relations as they announced the appointment of their high commissioners to Ottawa and New Delhi respectively.The Ministry of External Affairs said that senior diplomat Dinesh K. Patnaik has been appointed as India’s next high commissioner to Canada, while Canada’s foreign minister Anita Anand announced that Christopher Cooter will be the country’s new high commissioner to India.While India’s announcement was made in its usual clipped style, Anand described the Canadian move as part of a “step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India”.“This appointment is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy,” she said.Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently serving as ambassador to Spain and has previously held postings in Geneva, Dhaka, Beijing and Vienna.Cooter, a career diplomat with 35 years of experience, most recently served as Canada’s chargé d’affaires in Israel and earlier held the post of high commissioner to several African countries, besides serving in an earlier posting in New Delhi in the late 1990s.The simultaneous announcements completed the process set in motion after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy in June.At that meeting, the two leaders agreed to reinstate high commissioners and resume trade negotiations that had been on hold during their diplomatic standoff.Relations between New Delhi and Ottawa had plunged into crisis in September 2023, when then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India dismissed the allegation as “absurd” and “motivated”.In the immediate aftermath, both countries expelled one diplomat each. Additionally, Canada withdrew 41 diplomats after New Delhi demanded “parity” in diplomatic representation.A year later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police claimed to have gathered evidence linking Indian government agents to “widespread violence” in Canada. That allegation prompted both governments to declare the other’s high commissioner as persona non grata in October 2024, leaving the top posts vacant.Two weeks later, Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison told a parliamentary hearing that he had confirmed to a US newspaper that Indian home minister Amit Shah was “involved” in the plot to kill Canadian nationals. New Delhi rejected his remarks as “absurd” and “baseless”.Throughout the dispute, India maintained that its central concern was the political space given to Khalistani groups in Canada, often singling out Trudeau in its criticism. Ottawa, in turn, insisted that it was bound by constitutional protections of free speech, provided that expression did not cross into incitement to violence.In January this year, Trudeau stepped down after a revolt within his party, paving the way for Carney to assume leadership of the Liberal Party in March.Carney soon called snap elections, which he went on to win amid a surge of Canadian nationalism that was partly fuelled by US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.Modi congratulated Carney on his victory, and the two countries’ foreign ministers spoke soon after, sending the first signals of a thaw.In June, just days before the G7 summit, Carney extended a formal invitation to Modi to attend its outreach session. Their meeting on the sidelines marked the end of the freeze at the highest level and set the stage for Thursday’s reciprocal announcements.With the appointments now in place, Canada is expected to gradually rebuild its diplomatic presence in India, a step seen as necessary to manage the volume of visa applications and the broader bilateral agenda set out by the two prime ministers.Earlier this month, Canada made its first diplomatic posting in India since it withdrew 41 of its diplomats by naming a head for its consulate in Mumbai, filling a position that had been vacant since December 2023.Despite these moves, tensions could still surface. During the Modi-Carney meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta, the annual report of Canada’s spy agency tabled in parliament was released publicly in Ottawa.Indian officials had highlighted the inclusion of “Canada-based Khalistani extremists” in the section on violent extremism, a reference absent from the 2023 report.At the same time, the report expanded its focus on India, alleging that New Delhi had engaged in “clandestine, deceptive or threatening” tactics as part of foreign interference. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, such actions are intended to shape Canadian policies to align with India’s interests, particularly on Khalistan-related advocacy.It also remains to be seen when the trial of the four Indian nationals accused of shooting Nijjar will bring to light any details relating to the alleged role of Indian government officials, a development that could once again strain relations.