New Delhi: A month after Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand’s visit to Delhi, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar met her again, this time in Canada – their third meeting in three months as the two nations continue mending ties, even as Ottawa kept its focus on talks between the two countries’ police and security agencies.

Jaishankar was in Canada as one of the seven outreach partners invited for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting.

After meeting Anand on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers’ summit, Jaishankar tweeted that he appreciated the “progress in implementation of the New Roadmap 2025” and looked forward to “further rebuilding” the bilateral relationship.

Their previous meetings this year were in September at the UN General Assembly in New York and last month during Anand's visit to Delhi.

Canada's official readout emphasised that both ministers "exchanged views on the ongoing law-enforcement dialogue between Canadian and Indian authorities" – a priority Ottawa has repeatedly highlighted, though notably absent from Jaishankar’s succinct account of the meeting.

The dialogue emerged after Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Mark Carney met earlier this year in June, helping ease tensions and reopen diplomatic contact after nearly two years of a freeze following Canada’s accusation that India was involved in the killing of a Canadian national on its soil.

At a media briefing before the G7 meeting, Anand was asked whether India had shared any information on the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Canadian national whom India has listed as a Khalistani terrorist. She stressed that Canada was “ensuring that in the bilateral engagement with India that these rule of law concerns, that these public safety concerns, are foremost in the advancement of the relationship”.

In a separate interview on Tuesday, Anand indicated that restoring ties would be gradual and remain linked to progress in the law enforcement dialogue. “But we will take this relationship step by step. It will be systematic, and it will not occur unless we can ensure that this public safety dialogue continues,” she said.

Like Jaishankar, Canada also mentioned “progress” on the joint road map for cooperation.

Last month’s New Roadmap, agreed during Anand’s Delhi visit, set out the processes to sustain the diplomatic re-engagement that began after the Modi-Carney meeting in June. It was the first high-level joint statement between the two countries in seven years and laid down a framework to restore normal exchanges after the breakdown in relations over the Nijjar case.

The roadmap outlined plans to restart ministerial-level talks on trade and investment, boost cooperation in energy, technology and education, and rebuild staffing at diplomatic missions that had been sharply reduced during the standoff. It also called for reviving the Canada-India CEO Forum and the Ministerial Energy Dialogue to expand collaboration in clean technology, critical minerals and green hydrogen.

Canadian trade minister Maninder Sidhu is already in India to hold talks with Indian interlocutors this week.

Anand also expressed condolences over the bomb blast in Delhi on November 10 that left at least 13 dead, saying Canada stands with India during “this tragic time”. Carney had earlier offered his condolences as well.

Relations plunged to rock bottom in September 2023 after then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly alleged Indian officials were behind the murder of Nijjar in British Columbia. New Delhi rejected this as both "absurd" and driven by domestic politics, setting off tit-for-tat retaliation.

Both countries expelled senior diplomats, and Ottawa withdrew more than 40 personnel from India after New Delhi insisted on equal diplomatic presence. Canadian visa operations, particularly at consulates, were scaled back significantly.

The situation worsened in 2024 when Canadian police claimed they had proof connecting Indian government operatives to "widespread violence" on Canadian soil. By October, both nations had expelled each other's senior diplomats, leaving embassies without ambassadors.

Shortly after, a senior Canadian foreign ministry official publicly stated to a parliamentary committee that he had told American media that home minister Amit Shah was part of an alleged conspiracy to kill Canadian citizens. India dismissed these claims as groundless.

India consistently argued that Canada was providing safe haven to Khalistani separatist movements, while Ottawa maintained it was upholding free speech protections, as long as activities didn't cross into inciting violence.

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