Canada PM Carney’s visit to India reset ties after 2023 killing of Sikh activist, Piyush Goyal says

India and Canada have formally reset bilateral relations following nearly two years of diplomatic strain that began after the June 2023 killing of a Sikh act...

What Happened

India and Canada have formally reset bilateral relations following nearly two years of diplomatic strain that began after the June 2023 killing of a Sikh activist in British Columbia.
A senior Indian trade official, leading the largest-ever Indian business delegation to Canada — comprising representatives from over 100 companies — arrived in Ottawa for high-level talks, describing the recent Canadian Prime Minister's visit to India as a turning point that "reset" bilateral ties.
The visit forms part of a broader bilateral engagement track initiated after the Canadian Prime Minister's New Delhi visit in late February 2026, during which both governments launched formal Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations and set a trade expansion target of US $50 billion by 2030.
The third round of CEPA negotiations is currently underway in Ottawa (May 25–29, 2026), with both sides discussing trade in goods, services, intellectual property, and rules of origin.
The bilateral reset is strategically driven by shifting global trade dynamics, including Canada's need to diversify beyond its primary trading relationship and India's interest in resource supply chains — particularly uranium for its expanding civil nuclear programme.

Static Topic Bridges

India–Canada Bilateral Relations — History and the 2023–2025 Diplomatic Crisis

India and Canada established diplomatic relations in 1947, and the relationship has generally been strong in people-to-people terms, with Canada home to a large Indian diaspora (estimated at over 1.8 million). However, the relationship entered its most serious crisis in September 2023, when Canada alleged a "potential link" between agents of the Indian government and the killing of a Sikh activist (designated as a terrorist by India) in Vancouver in June 2023. India categorically rejected the allegations.

The crisis escalated through 2024: both countries expelled each other's diplomats, including the top diplomatic representatives in each other's capitals; Canada closed three consulates in India.
India and Canada are both Commonwealth members; India had previously expelled a Canadian High Commissioner in 1982 over a Sikh separatism-related dispute.
Relations began normalising through 2025 — high commissions were restored, and trade talks were revived — culminating in the first bilateral visit by a Canadian Prime Minister to India since 2018 (Mark Carney, February–March 2026).
The 2026 reset is underpinned by: formal CEPA launch (March 2, 2026), a uranium supply agreement between Cameco and India's Department of Atomic Energy (valued at approximately US $2.6 billion, deliveries 2027–2035), and a shared trade target of US $50 billion by 2030 (from approximately US $9 billion in 2024–25).

Connection to this news: The Ottawa high-level talks represent the operational follow-through of the political reset, with CEPA negotiations now in their third round and commercial delegations active in Canada.

CEPA — Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a broader category of bilateral trade agreement that goes significantly beyond a conventional Free Trade Agreement (FTA). While an FTA primarily reduces or eliminates tariffs on goods, a CEPA encompasses goods, services, investment, intellectual property rights, rules of origin, competition policy, and regulatory cooperation. India has used the CEPA framework with Japan (2011) and the UAE (2022) as its most significant bilateral trade instruments.

India–Canada CEPA negotiations were first launched in 2010 as the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) track but collapsed in 2023 amid the diplomatic crisis.
Negotiations formally relaunched on March 2, 2026; the second round concluded in New Delhi (May 4–8, 2026); the third round is in Ottawa (May 25–29, 2026).
India–UAE CEPA (February 2022) is a precedent: signed within 88 days of negotiation start, it targets bilateral trade of US $100 billion by 2030 (from ~US $60 billion at signing).
Key difference from FTA: CEPAs include services liberalisation schedules (important for India's IT and professional services exports to Canada) and investment protection provisions.
India's nodal ministry for trade negotiations: Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Connection to this news: The Indian commerce delegation's talks in Ottawa advance the CEPA chapter-by-chapter, with the Canadian Prime Minister having called the agreement a "game changer" — reflecting the strategic significance both sides assign to locking in a comprehensive economic framework.

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) and Consular Relations (1963)

When India and Canada expelled each other's diplomats in 2024, the legal framework governing those actions was the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR, 1961) and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR, 1963). These codify customary international law on the conduct of diplomatic and consular relations.

VCDR (1961): Governs diplomatic missions (embassies). Article 9 allows a receiving state to declare any member of a diplomatic mission persona non grata (PNG) without providing reasons. Article 22 provides inviolability of diplomatic premises.
VCCR (1963): Governs consulates. Article 43 provides functional immunity — consular officers are immune only for acts performed in the exercise of consular functions (narrower than diplomatic immunity).
India ratified VCCR in 1978.
A key distinction: an ambassador/high commissioner is covered by VCDR; a consul-general is covered by VCCR. Expelling a High Commissioner (as India and Canada did) invokes VCDR Article 9.
Severing diplomatic relations is more extreme than expulsion; India and Canada did not sever relations — they mutually reduced staff levels while maintaining the relationship at a lower tier.

Connection to this news: The restoration of full high commissioner-level representation in both capitals — a prerequisite to the current trade engagement — was governed by the VCDR framework. The normalisation from a reduced diplomatic presence to a full bilateral commercial delegation track represents a significant diplomatic de-escalation.

India's Civil Nuclear Programme — International Agreements

India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT, 1970), but has entered into bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreements through the "123 Agreement" framework (named after Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act). The landmark India–US Civil Nuclear Agreement (2008) opened the door for India to import nuclear fuel and technology despite being outside the NPT.

India–Canada nuclear cooperation: Canada supplied uranium to India under a five-year contract beginning 2015; the new Cameco agreement (2026) covers 2027–2035.
India currently operates 24 nuclear reactors; it has an ambitious target of 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047.
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG): India received a special waiver from the NSG in 2008, allowing member states (including Canada) to engage in civilian nuclear trade with India.
India's three-stage nuclear programme (Homi Bhabha, 1954): Stage 1 — pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium; Stage 2 — fast breeder reactors using plutonium; Stage 3 — thorium-based reactors. Imported uranium primarily supports Stage 1.
Canada is one of the world's largest uranium producers (Saskatchewan province); Cameco is one of the world's largest publicly traded uranium companies.

Connection to this news: The uranium supply agreement is central to the commercial substance of the bilateral reset — it links Canada's resource export interests to India's energy security objectives, making the relationship strategically consequential beyond conventional trade.

Key Facts & Data

India–Canada bilateral trade (2024–25): approximately US $9 billion (Canada exports US $5.3 billion; India exports US $8 billion to Canada)
Bilateral trade target: US $50 billion by 2030
Cameco uranium contract value: approximately US $2.6 billion (deliveries 2027–2035)
CEPA negotiations: launched March 2, 2026; third round May 25–29, 2026
India–Canada diplomatic crisis: September 2023 (allegations) → 2024 (mutual expulsions) → 2025 (normalisation) → 2026 (reset)
Indian diaspora in Canada: approximately 1.8 million (one of the largest Indian communities abroad)
India's nuclear reactors in operation: 24 (as of 2026); target 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047
NSG waiver for India: granted September 2008
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations: adopted 1961, in force 1964
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations: adopted 1963, in force 1967; India ratified 1978