India to restore Canada’s diplomatic presence to pre-2024 levels, says report

India will gradually allow Canada to restore its diplomatic and official presence in the country to pre-October 2024 levels, after both countries expelled senior diplomats in 2023 amid a bitter dispute over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a report said.

The process of increasing the Canadian diplomatic staff will begin after New Delhi receives the proposed list of personnel from Ottawa. According to Hindustan Times report, this agreement was reached during the visit of Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand to India earlier this month.

In October 2024, 41 Canadian diplomats left India after New Delhi said their diplomatic immunity would be withdrawn and demanded parity in representation. At that time, India had 21 diplomats posted in Canada, while Canada maintained 62 diplomats in India before the downsizing. The report said officials indicated that the number of Canadians could increase significantly in the coming months if Ottawa streamlines the accreditation process for Indian diplomats.

The official clarified that India wants reciprocity in staffing, but not necessarily parity, explaining that while Canada needs certain categories of officers, New Delhi prefers to limit the number of Canadian immigration officers. “The number of diplomats will be the same as before,” the report quoted an official familiar with the matter as saying.

Before leaving India, Anand told Canadian media via videoconferencing that reinstating diplomatic staff was a major topic on the agenda. “I can assure you that we are building a complementary group of Canadian diplomats across the country,” she said. “Minister Jaishankar and I agreed that we will deploy staff as before to serve our respective populations.”

Relations between India and Canada deteriorated sharply in 2023 when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that agents of the Indian government were involved in Nijjar’s murder. India rejected the allegation as “absurd”, leading both sides to suspend trade talks, scale back diplomatic missions and expel several diplomats.

India recalled its envoy to Ottawa Sanjay Verma along with five officials in October 2023 after Canadian authorities sought questioning on the Nijjar case. In retaliation, India expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the then acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler.

Since Trudeau’s departure and the rise of Prime Minister Mark Carney, the two countries have cautiously tried to improve relations. A breakthrough came during Carney’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Kananaskis in June 2025. Earlier this month, Anand’s journey took another step forward.