Subhechcha Ganguly 
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is expected to visit Canada in mid-November to attend the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in the scenic Niagara region of Ontario on November 11 and 12, signaling a further thaw in relations between the two nations following a prolonged diplomatic standoff.
According to officials familiar with the matter, Jaishankar’s participation in the meeting is “almost confirmed.” He has been invited alongside his counterparts from other outreach nations, including Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, and Ukraine, who also attended the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Canada’s Kananaskis earlier this year.
Jaishankar’s visit will mark a key step in rebuilding India–Canada ties, which have been on the mend since Mark Carney assumed office as Canada’s Prime Minister in March. Carney met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in June, initiating a diplomatic reset. Jaishankar accompanied Modi on that visit, though no formal bilateral meeting took place with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand at the time.
As host of the upcoming G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Anand is expected to hold bilateral discussions with participating ministers. A meeting between Anand and Jaishankar during the event would be their first bilateral engagement on Canadian soil. Jaishankar last visited Ottawa and Toronto in December 2019, when he met with then-foreign minister François-Philippe Champagne.
India and Canada recently agreed to resume trade and investment negotiations during Anand’s visit to New Delhi earlier this month, where both sides unveiled a roadmap to stabilize ties. Her meetings with Modi, Jaishankar, and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal built on the progress achieved during the Modi–Carney interaction in June.
Anand and Jaishankar also met briefly on September 29 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Meanwhile, India has invited Carney to attend the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February, though his office has yet to confirm his participation.
The renewed diplomatic engagement follows a turbulent phase in India–Canada relations triggered by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation in September 2023 linking Indian officials to the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar—a claim New Delhi dismissed as “absurd.”
