India's new envoy to Canada rejected Foreign Minister Anita Anand's claim that New Delhi has agreed to restore Canada's full complement of diplomats.
Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik said Ottawa must first resolve delays in accrediting his diplomatic staff in Canada.
"It's a reciprocal trust," Patnaik told The Canadian Press in an interview last Thursday. "Trust has to be built up on both sides."
His comments come as the Carney government pursues a reset of its relations with India — two years after Ottawa accused New Delhi of playing a role in assassinating a Sikh activist near Vancouver, and one year after the RCMP accused the Indian government of involvement in homicides and acts of extortion and coercion in Canada.
Ottawa removed most of its diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi threatened to strip diplomatic immunity from 41 Canadian officials and their 42 dependants. Along with diplomats, Ottawa had experts in fields like defence and agriculture working in India at the time.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand visited India earlier this month and both countries released a joint statement pledging a stronger partnership.
Anand told reporters at the end of her visit that New Delhi would allow for the return of Canada's full cohort of diplomats — though that wasn't mentioned in the joint statement. She said Ottawa would not consider reopening trade talks until India takes this step.
"We both agreed that we would staff up as we had been before, in order to service our respective populations," she said on Oct. 14.
Patnaik said India has never agreed to allow Ottawa to fully staff up.
"We have agreed to a certain movement forward, in starting to get the number of people necessary for diplomatic missions to function effectively," he said in an Oct. 16 interview.
"We want to make sure that it's easy for each of our people to get visas, to come and function as diplomats. Numbers are not important. It's the ease of doing things which is more important."
Patnaik said that hinges on India being able to bring experts to Canada on diplomatic passports. He claims that process is taking far too long for experts in fields like energy and agriculture.
"For some of our staff, it takes about two to three months. (But) after six months, we just had to cancel the staff coming here because they couldn't get a visa," he said.
Global Affairs Canada is refusing to say how many diplomats Canada currently has on the ground in India.
Patnaik seemed to link accreditation of Canadian diplomats to the visa issues his staffers are facing.
"When you have to deal with another country, it is give-and-take. It can't be that, 'I have the system, you have to deal with it but I need you to make your system easier for us'. It doesn't work like that," he said.
When asked to respond to Patnaik's comments, Global Affairs cited the joint statement both countries released last week — which makes no mention of Canada re-establishing its diplomatic footprint.
Instead, the statement said both countries' diplomatic missions "will strengthen institutional capacity by progressively deploying expertise in the economic, political, defence, and technology domains."
The Canadian Press asked Anand about Patnaik's comments. She said her understanding was based on what her Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said during her visit.
"Look, my dialogue is with Minister Jaishankar. My dialogue and points are contained in the joint statement," she said Monday.
In a statement sent to The Canadian Press, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said foreigners travelling here on diplomatic assignments require one type of visa, while diplomats who are coming to Canada for a non-diplomatic purpose, would need a travel visa if they are from a country that requires one.
For both purposes, foreign diplomatic personnel are exempt from Ottawa's usual visa fees and can apply for visas through an online system or by visiting a consulate, either in person or through a representative.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
