Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent India at the upcoming G-7 summit in Canada next week, he confirmed on Friday (June 6, 2025), after he was invited by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during a telephone call. The visit to Canada, Mr. Modi’s first since 2015, could mark a reset in ties after years of tensions over Khalistani separatists targeting Indian diplomats and the killing of Canadian and Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which the previous Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had blamed Indian government agents for.
The invitation for India as a guest invitee for the G-7 summit to be held in Kananaskis, Alberta province of Canada could also herald the restoration of India and Canada’s diplomatic presence in each other’s capitals, where both sides expelled High Commissioners, stopped visas temporarily and cut staff strength drastically in 2023 and 2024. In October 2024, India and Canada also expelled each other’s deputy High commissioners, over further charges in the Nijjar case, and spying respectively. This month also marks two anniversaries - 40 years since the bombing of the Air India “Kanishka” flight on June 23, 1985 by Khalistani separatists in Canada, and two years since the killing of Nijjar on June 18, 2023 near Toronto, and both governments would have to work around each other’s sensitivities during the visit.
