Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he will be attending the upcoming G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis, Alta., later this month, thanking Prime Minister Mark Carney for his invitation.
Modi has attended four G7 summits in person since 2019 and a fifth virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada,” Modi said in a post on X.
“Congratulated him on his recent election victory and thanked him for the invitation to the G7 Summit in Kananaskis later this month.”
But Modi’s attendance comes as relations between the two countries remain tense, amid mounting foreign interference concerns and continued investigations of the 2023 killing of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia, which former prime minister Justin Trudeau publicly said was done by “agents of the Indian government.”
During a press conference on Friday afternoon, Carney was asked if he believed Modi was involved in the killing of Nijjar, to which he did not specifically say yes or no.
“First off, there is a legal process that is literally underway and quite advanced in Canada and it’s never appropriate to make comments,” Carney said.
When pushed further on the question, asked if that response meant he could not say no to whether Modi had any involvement, Carney again referred to the legal process.
“With respect, I gave you an answer that is appropriate to someone in my position about an ongoing legal process including which federal authorities are directly involved,” he said.
“But is there a possibility?” the reporter questioned.
“I will give you the same answer to any legal process, and anyone who holds this office past and future will give the same answer to any ongoing legal process because otherwise the individual in this office will interfere,” Carney said.
Asked what his message is to Canadians who may be disturbed why Modi is being invited, given the allegations surrounding the killing of Nijjar, Carney said Canada is a country of the rule of law.
“My message is that we are a country of the rule of law, the rule of law is proceeding as it should in Canada and I am not going to disrupt that process,” he said.
In October 2024, MPs on a parliamentary committee called for an emergency meeting on allegations of Indian foreign interference in Canada after six Indian diplomats and consular officials were expelled.
That expulsion was “in relation to a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the government of India.”
The tensions had members of the Indian diaspora in Canada on edge, with families and students expressing concerns about travel if the conflict were to escalate to visa suspensions.
India has long denied any involvement in Nijjar’s killing and accused Trudeau of pursuing a “political agenda.”
The prime minister also answered questions about why Modi was being invited, given mounting foreign interference concerns.
He told reporters the Indian prime minister was being invited because the discussions would involve energy security and building infrastructure, and India should be involved in those discussions.
— with files from Global News and The Canadian Press