National

Canada, India name new high commissioners, as both countries restore relations

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Aug, 2025 08:53 AM

India and Canada named their new high commissioners today 10 months after both countries expelled their top envoys.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Christopher Cooter will be Canada's new high commissioner to India.

He will take on the role after 35 years as a diplomat, including postings in Israel and South Africa, as well as in New Delhi 25 years ago.

India's foreign ministry says it will assign its current envoy to Spain, Dinesh Patnaik, to Ottawa "shortly."

Relations between Canada and India have been strained since Canadian police accused New Delhi of playing a role in the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist near Vancouver.

The chill began to lift slightly in June when Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta and both countries agreed to restore their top diplomats.

Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Manish Swarup

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Workers at B.C. LifeLabs file 72-hour strike notice over wages, benefits

The union representing about 1,200 workers at LifeLabs throughout British Columbia says it has issued a 72-hour strike notice to the employer. The B.C. General Employees' Union says in a news release that the action comes after months of negotiations and LifeLabs' refusal to bring wages and benefits in line with the cost of living.

Workers at B.C. LifeLabs file 72-hour strike notice over wages, benefits

Canada still top of mind for Trump, 'not a good place to be'

As President Donald Trump signed an executive order for reciprocal tariffs on Thursday that escalates his trade threats, his administration took aim at Canada's digital services tax as a major trade irritant. The White House sent out a document calling digital taxes in both Canada and France "unfair" for taxing American companies.

Canada still top of mind for Trump, 'not a good place to be'

B.C. cancels $1,000 grocery rebate and pauses some hiring over Trump's tariff threats

The British Columbia government is cancelling a promised $1,000 grocery rebate and will freeze hiring of some public service positions to "find dollars" in its budget as it prepares for "four years of unpredictability" from the United States, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says. Bailey said Thursday that the impacts of the "reckless" and "destabilizing" tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump are impossible to predict.

B.C. cancels $1,000 grocery rebate and pauses some hiring over Trump's tariff threats

GST break brought a lot of work but little — if any — gains for businesses

About two months after the federal government temporarily knocked the GST off a holiday-centric array of goods, Dave Doyon says he considers the move “a gift” even though a hoped-for flurry of sales never fully materialized.

GST break brought a lot of work but little — if any — gains for businesses

Two men arrested for fake taxi scam targeting B.C. universities, shopping centres

Metro Vancouver Transit Police say two men from Ontario have been arrested for taking part in a fake taxi scam that targeted people at universities and shopping centres in B.C.'s Lower Mainland. They say in a news release that the scam involves one of the suspects posing as a taxi passenger who asks passersby for help covering the charge.

Two men arrested for fake taxi scam targeting B.C. universities, shopping centres

Vancouver plans to tackle 'humanitarian crisis' of crime in Downtown Eastside

Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood is in the grip of a "humanitarian crisis" of crime and violence that has reached a tipping point, Mayor Ken Sim said as he unveiled a taskforce to tackle organized crime. Sim stood alongside Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer to announce what the mayor called a "long-term, sustained effort to disrupt criminal networks, hold offenders accountable and make our streets safer."