Ties between India and Canada, strained after the Trudeau government attributed the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar to Indian government operatives, appear to have stabilised in the period since those allegations were made. Anita Anand's trip to Delhi between 13 and 15 October, in her capacity as Canada's foreign minister, offered a concrete illustration of that point.

Anand met with her counterpart S Jaishankar for talks and separately had an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the course of the visit. The external affairs ministry's account of the Modi-Anand talks broadly aligned with what Ottawa had described, though it covered additional ground — noting that the two sides reviewed movement on a bilateral roadmap spanning energy, education, culture, and technology, acknowledged a security dialogue held in India the previous week at the national security adviser level, and addressed the goal of wrapping up a comprehensive economic partnership agreement before year's end.

The communiqué noted that both leaders held talks covering a range of shared priorities — among them trade, science and technology, defence, security, energy, education, people-to-people ties, and multilateral cooperation — all framed around deepening the relationship between their two countries. The Prime Minister called for concrete results from ongoing engagement, pointing in particular to an early conclusion of talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Diplomatic engagement between India and Canada has moved toward steadier ground, with the two sides also comparing notes on regional and international matters of shared concern. Carney's assumption of office marked the point at which that process got underway.

Evidence available to Canadian prosecutors fell short of the threshold required to place the matter of Nijjar's killing before a court. Canadian law enforcement bodies have since put their formal recognition on record regarding the matter. A law enforcement official noted that the organised crime inquiry, along with the charges and indictment it produced, had not pointed to the participation or culpability of any Indian government personnel, while Carney moved to repair the strain on bilateral relations — a relationship that had generally remained productive even as India held reservations about certain Canadian policy stances, among them the processing of visa applications from current and former members of Indian security and intelligence agencies.

The trip Carney made to India between 27 February and 2 March pointed to a broader shift in how Ottawa intended to approach bilateral relations, moving away from the path set under Trudeau. Tensions between the two countries have at times been traced to disagreements over how Canada handles advocacy material linked to the Khalistan movement, which New Delhi regards as a challenge to its territorial boundaries. During Trudeau's time in office, certain activities took place on Canadian soil that India regarded as honouring those responsible for the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

According to a briefing document on bilateral ties prepared by an Indian official, the two leaders settled on "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" — a Sanskrit phrase rendered in English as "One Earth, One Family, One Future" — as the broad guiding philosophy underpinning a renewed India–Canada Strategic Partnership during Carney's visit. The two leaders also drew attention to how India's Viksit Bharat framework and Canada's Build Canada Strong programme share common ground.

Carney's push to repair bilateral relations has drawn additional momentum from the trade and political pressures that the Trump administration has placed on Ottawa. Trump floated the notion that Canada would be better off absorbed into the United States as a constituent state, a move Ottawa made clear was unwelcome. Canada has found itself within the scope of tariffs being applied as an instrument of economic leverage.

Trade ties with the United States are being scaled back under Carney's direction, with the government pursuing broader partnerships elsewhere, India among the countries now in focus. New Delhi put forward its own set of countermeasures after the tariff actions from Washington extended to affect the country's trade position as well. Negotiations between the two nations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement are underway.

Climate pressures and the accelerating spread of artificial intelligence are reshaping conditions across both India and Canada. Spokespeople for those groups have put forward the position that all nations share a single world.