India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that he would attend the Group of Seven (G7) leaders’ summit in Canada later this month, following a formal invitation from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The summit, scheduled to be held in Kananaskis, Alberta, from June 15 to 17, 2025, is expected to bring together not only the traditional economic heavyweights of the G7 but also key global players like India, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and Ukraine, invited as outreach partners.
This development comes at a time of complicated and fragile relations between New Delhi and Ottawa, which have only recently shown signs of cautious thawing. Modi’s participation also holds strategic significance against the backdrop of shifting alliances, resurgent multilateralism, and renewed global focus on democracy, trade, and security.
Although India is not a formal member of the G7 — a group comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States — it has regularly been invited as a guest nation since 2019. That year, Modi made his debut G7 appearance in Biarritz, France, and since then, New Delhi’s voice has become increasingly prominent in G7 circles.
This year’s invitation, however, carries far greater symbolic and diplomatic weight. Announced just days before the summit, the invitation reflects a pragmatic outreach by the new Canadian government under Prime Minister Carney, who assumed office after defeating Justin Trudeau in the 2025 federal election. Carney’s choice to personally call Modi signals a possible recalibration of Canada’s South Asia policy — one that seeks to balance domestic political constraints with geopolitical necessity.
“Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada,” Modi said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Congratulated him on his recent election victory and thanked him for the invitation to the G7 Summit in Kananaskis… look forward to our meeting at the summit.”
The call and the subsequent confirmation of Modi’s attendance come amid tentative steps to thaw the frostbitten diplomatic ties between the two countries, which have been strained since 2023 following the explosive allegation by the Trudeau administration that Indian intelligence was involved in the killing of a Canadian Sikh separatist.
Tensions between New Delhi and Ottawa reached a nadir in 2023 after Canada accused India of orchestrating the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and a vocal advocate of the Khalistan movement — a banned separatist campaign seeking an independent Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab.
Nijjar’s killing outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, sparked an international storm. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused Indian agents of complicity, prompting India to retaliate with a full-throated denial and reciprocal diplomatic expulsions. Canada’s large Sikh population — the world’s largest outside India — became a geopolitical flashpoint, complicating domestic politics and international diplomacy alike.
The Khalistan issue, long dismissed by mainstream Indian and Canadian political establishments as a fringe cause, was suddenly at the center of an escalating bilateral dispute. India, citing national security, demanded stricter Canadian actions against pro-Khalistan activists operating from Canadian soil. Canada, invoking free speech and civil liberties, resisted, calling for evidence rather than retaliation.
By late 2023, both countries had expelled senior diplomats, trade talks were frozen, and people-to-people ties suffered severe blows. The diplomatic freeze endured through the end of Trudeau’s tenure, only beginning to show signs of softening with the election of Carney in early 2025.
Mark Carney, a former central banker with an internationalist pedigree, came into office promising pragmatic diplomacy and economic revitalization. Though he inherited a hostile India file, Carney’s early gestures signaled an interest in damage control, if not outright rapprochement.
One of his first major foreign policy steps was a conversation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang — a move aimed at resuming bilateral communication channels between Ottawa and Beijing after years of frosty relations. But it was his call to Modi that drew global attention.
“As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests,” Modi posted following the call, echoing the carefully optimistic tone that now marks bilateral discourse.
In May, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand held a phone discussion with her Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar. It was the first official contact at the political level since Carney’s election and was perceived by analysts as a prelude to the G7 invitation.
Yet, the very nature of the invitation — extended just ten days before the summit — reveals the underlying ambivalence. While the invitation marks a significant step in restoring dialogue, the delay also suggests that substantive trust between the two governments remains elusive.
The G7 summit this year also takes place in the shadow of shifting great power dynamics, particularly the triangular relationship between Canada, India, and China. While New Delhi and Ottawa work on mending ties, both also find themselves entangled with Beijing — albeit for very different reasons.
Canada’s relationship with China has been strained for years, dating back to the 2018 arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request. In retaliation, China detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, accusing them of espionage. Dubbed the “Two Michaels” crisis, the incident laid bare the risks of geopolitical entanglement in the U.S.-China rivalry.
The situation deteriorated further in the ensuing years with allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian federal elections in 2019 and 2021. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Chinese actors allegedly supported pro-Beijing candidates and ran disinformation campaigns. A 2024 parliamentary report confirmed the findings, leading to diplomatic expulsions and heightened public distrust.
Meanwhile, economic relations soured. China imposed punitive tariffs on Canadian agricultural exports, especially canola, pork, and beef. In March 2025, Beijing retaliated against Canada’s levies on Chinese electric vehicles and metals by announcing tariffs on CAD$3.5 billion worth of Canadian goods, and launching an anti-dumping probe into Canadian canola.
Despite this hostile backdrop, Carney’s administration has made a conscious effort to reengage with Beijing. The call with Li Qiang earlier this week, focused on stabilizing relations and cooperating on issues like the fentanyl crisis and climate change, signals Canada’s balancing act.
For India, the Canada-China thaw has strategic implications. As a country engaged in a years-long border standoff with China and wary of Beijing’s growing footprint in global governance institutions, India sees Canada’s diplomatic courtship of China with cautious eyes. Nevertheless, both New Delhi and Ottawa may find shared cause in managing — rather than escalating — Chinese assertiveness, especially in global trade and cyber security.
The G7 summit in Kananaskis will likely focus on pressing global challenges: climate change, economic resilience, AI governance, democratic backsliding, and security concerns from Russia’s war in Ukraine to Middle East instability. For India, attending as an outreach partner offers a strategic opportunity to position itself as a bridge between the Global North and Global South.
India’s diplomatic leverage has grown over the past few years. During its G20 presidency in 2023, New Delhi secured praise for its consensus-building approach and hosting a landmark summit in New Delhi that yielded the G20 Leaders’ Declaration despite tensions over Ukraine. India’s role as a voice for the Global South — especially in areas like digital equity, climate financing, and multilateral reform — is gaining recognition among developed nations.
At Kananaskis, Modi is expected to pitch India as a reliable democratic partner, an alternative manufacturing hub to China, and a key player in maintaining Indo-Pacific security. His meetings with G7 leaders — especially Carney — will be closely watched for signs of a diplomatic breakthrough.
Yet, optics will matter. While Modi’s presence signifies engagement, the nature and depth of his bilateral interactions — particularly with Canada — will reflect how far the rapprochement has truly progressed.
The Canada-India relationship is not just shaped by geopolitics but also by domestic politics, especially diaspora dynamics. Canada’s Sikh community — nearly 800,000 strong — has historically played a pivotal role in shaping Ottawa’s India policy. Successive Canadian governments have had to tread carefully, balancing civil liberties with national security, and diaspora advocacy with foreign relations.
Similarly, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), facing criticism for its handling of dissent and religious pluralism, is unlikely to soften its stance on Khalistan separatism — an issue it views as existential and deeply emotive.
This limits how far and how fast the diplomatic reset can go. Both governments must delicately manage domestic constituencies while rebuilding trust on a foundation that has been badly damaged.
Prime Minister Modi’s acceptance of the G7 invitation marks a key moment in Indo-Canadian relations. It signals the first tentative steps toward normalization after nearly two years of deep diplomatic freeze. Yet, it is neither a breakthrough nor a reset — at least not yet.
The late-stage invitation, the complex geopolitical entanglements with China, and unresolved grievances over Khalistan activism indicate that the path to reconciliation will be slow, deliberate, and fragile.
Still, diplomacy is built on gestures, timing, and mutual interests. And by extending this invitation — however cautiously — Prime Minister Carney has taken the first meaningful step toward reopening a channel that had all but closed. For India, the G7 summit is another platform to amplify its global voice. For Canada, it’s an opportunity to rebuild trust, redefine alliances, and reassert its relevance on the world stage.
