NEW DELHI/OTTAWA– India has appointed Dinesh K. Patnaik, currently serving as Ambassador to Spain, as the country’s next High Commissioner to Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Thursday.
Patnaik, a 1990-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, is expected to assume his new role shortly. His appointment comes more than 10 months after New Delhi withdrew its previous envoy amid worsening tensions with the Canadian government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Diplomatic ties had plunged last year after Trudeau alleged in Parliament that India was linked to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the claim as “absurd” and “politically motivated,” accusing Ottawa of harboring extremist and anti-India groups. In October 2024, India recalled High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and reduced its diplomatic presence in Ottawa, citing threats to its officials.
The situation shifted after Mark Carney succeeded Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister earlier this year. Seeking to repair the strained relationship, Carney invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 Outreach Summit in Kananaskis this June. The two leaders held what Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri described as a “very positive and constructive” bilateral meeting, where they agreed to restore High Commissioners to each other’s capitals as a first step.
“The Prime Ministers agreed to take calibrated steps to restore stability to this very important relationship, and the first of these steps was to restore High Commissioners at the earliest,” Misri said at the time.
Beyond the envoy-level restoration, both sides have pledged to revive senior- and working-level dialogues on trade, people-to-people ties, and connectivity. Cooperation is also being explored in clean energy, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, food security, and critical minerals. The two countries are also expected to restart stalled trade negotiations.
Patnaik’s posting is seen as a key move to reinvigorate India-Canada ties, which had been badly strained by disputes over extremism and security concerns. (Source: IANS)
