Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he sees a new opening to engage with India on “some “very serious” issues on national security after the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to office for a third consecutive term.
In an interview to Canadian media on June 17, 2024, on the eve of the anniversary of the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Trudeau said, “Now that he’s through his election, I think there is an opportunity for us to engage, including on some very serious issues around national security and keeping Canadians safe and the rule of law.”
Trudeau’s remarks follow his meeting with Prime Minister Modi in Italy during the G7 Summit where India was invited as an Outreach country. PM Modi had tweeted a photograph of himself with the Canadian PM as they shook hands.
After the meeting in Italy, Trudeau told the Canada-based media channel, Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) there are some “important but sensitive” issues that the two countries need to work on together. He did not share much details of what the two leaders discussed.
In his Monday interview to Canadian media, Trudeau said, “I think one of the really good things about summits is you get an opportunity to engage directly with a huge range of different leaders with whom there are various issues,” Trudeau said, according to Canadian media agencies.
“And certainly, with India, there are massive people-to-people ties, there are really important economic ties, there’s alignment on a number of big issues that we need to work on as democracies, as a global community,” he said.
Ties between the two countries had become strained after Trudeau had in the House of Commons last year talked about “credible allegations” about a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of the Khalistani terrorist Nijjar that took place in Surrey in British Columbia, Columbia in June 2023. India has however dismissed the accusations as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year. Tuesday marks the first anniversary of Nijjar’s death. The video of his killing that reportedly surfaced in March this year showed Nijjar being shot by armed men. Meanwhile, the last time Trudeau and PM Modi had met in person was at the G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi in September last year.
