Christopher Cooter. / X

Work to repair relations damaged by diplomatic spats in 2023 and 2024 has finally begun, with both India and Canada naming their new High Commissioners in each other’s country.

Incidentally, both Canada, by naming Christopher Cooter, and India, Dinesh Patnaik, have chosen veteran diplomats to bring to an end bitter and unsavoury controversies witnessed during the past couple of years.

For Dinesh Patnaik, currently serving India in Spain, it will probably be his last posting as he is heading for superannuation, while Christopher Cooter has also over three decades of experience as a diplomat behind him.

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Canada’s Foreign Minister, Anita Anand, said, “The appointment of a new High Commissioner reflects Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India. This appointment is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy.”

Only this morning, Anita Anand announced the appointment of a new envoy to India, more than 10 months after security officials accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of espionage and violence, rupturing diplomatic ties.

She announced that veteran diplomat Christopher Cooter will become High Commissioner for Canada to India. The senior role is akin to an ambassador in Commonwealth countries.

"This is an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada's economy," Anand said in a statement. 

According to his biography, Cooter served most recently as Canada's chargé d'affaires to Israel and as Canada's high commissioner to South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar.

He also had a posting in New Delhi from 1998 to 2000.

Though India had announced the appointment of Dinesh K. Patnaik as its next high commissioner to Canada in June, the formality was completed today shortly after Canada made its announcement. 

Also a veteran diplomat, Patnaik is serving as India's ambassador to Spain. New Delhi said he's expected to take up the Canadian posting "shortly."

The two countries expelled senior diplomats last fall after the RCMP accused the Indian government of playing a role in a network of violence in Canada, including homicides and extortion.

Canada alleged that Indian diplomats were collecting information about Canadians.

The Thanksgiving weekend news conference from the RCMP followed then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing in the House of Commons that Canada had evidence linking Indian agents to the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in B.C.

The stunning allegations triggered a series of expulsions. In October of last year, Canada announced it would expel six Indian diplomats and consular staff.

In response, India's Ministry of External Affairs announced that it was withdrawing its envoy at the time, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and expelling Canada's high commissioner and six diplomats.

India has denied the Canadian accusations.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's government has worked to renew ties with India, pointing to its growing economy, its role in supply chains and the sheer number of Canadians with ties to the country.

The two countries have also promised to work on reinstating visa services. 

Carney's approach to India has come under fire.

In a statement Thursday, the Sikh Federation of Canada says the renewed relationship comes without any indication to the public that India has taken responsibility for its actions "after two years of open hostility and violence in Canada."

"This is not diplomacy — it is impunity," said spokesperson M. Singh.

"It undermines trust in Canadian institutions, suggests that commercial and geopolitical considerations outrank justice and risks entrenching the very networks that Canadian security agencies warn against."

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service published its annual report in June, warning that India remains a concern for foreign interference.

"Canada must remain vigilant about continued foreign interference conducted by the Government of India, not only within ethnic, religious and cultural communities but also in Canada's political system," the report reads.

Christopher Cooter is the second diplomat appointed in India. Earlier, Canada named its new Consul-General in Mumbai.

 Christopher Cooter (BA Hons [Political Science], University of Toronto, 1981; MA [Political Science], Columbia University, 1982; BCL, LLB [Common/Civil Law], McGill University, 1986) was called to the British Columbia bar in 1986 and practised law at Campney and Murphy before joining the federal government in 1989 as acting manager of lands for the British Columbia region of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. 

In 1990, he joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada, serving in Ottawa as an officer in the legal, Europe and policy planning bureaus and then director of the Southeast Europe Division, director of the Policy Planning Division, director general for executive management and assignments and director general for amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. 

In the Privy Council Office, he worked in the Intergovernmental Affairs Bureau. He served abroad as political officer at Canada’s missions in Kenya and India, as chargé d’affaires in Cambodia and as deputy permanent representative to NATO. He was the High Commissioner in Nigeria and a permanent observer to the Economic Community of West African States, as well as an ambassador to Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan, and a chargé d’affaires to the European Union. 

Most recently, he served as high commissioner in South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius and Namibia and ambassador to Madagascar.