Canada- India relations
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Relations, in brief
India-Canada share a strategic partnership underpinned by shared values of democracy and pluralism. These have expanded significantly in recent years aided by heightened economic engagement, regular high level interactions and long-standing people-to-people ties.
Nuclear energy
The Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA), which was signed in June 2010, came into force in September 2013.The Appropriate Arrangement (AA) for the NCA was signed in March 2013, under which a Joint Committee on Civil Nuclear Cooperation was constituted. It held its first meeting in Mumbai on 29 November, 2013. The 2nd meeting was held in Ottawa in November 2014. On 15thApril 2015, the Department of Atomic Energy signed a $350 million contract with Cameco, a Saskatoon-based company, to purchase 7 million pounds of uranium concentrate over the next 5 years. The first shipment arrived in India in December 2015.
Science & Technology and space
India and Canada have been cooperating since 1990s in the areas of space science, earth observation, satellite launch services and ground support for space missions.ISRO and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) have signed MOUs for cooperation in the field of exploration and utilization of outer space and two Implementation Arrangements specifically addressing satellite tracking and space astronomy.ANTRIX, the Commercial arm of ISRO, has launched nine nanosatellite under a commercial arrangement with University of Toronto - Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).ANTRIX also launched a microsatellite SAPPHIRE (commercial contract with MacDonald, Dettwiler& Associates (MDA), Canada and NEOSSat (contract with Microsat Systems, Canada) as auxiliary satellites on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C20) in February 2013.The PSLV-C23, which was launched in June 2014 carried two Canadian satellites, CanX-4 and CanX-5, from the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory.
Diaspora
Indian Diaspora
The Diaspora is well represented in federal Parliament and provincial legislatures. In the present House of Commons (elections held on 19 October 2015), there are 21 MPs of Indian origin (up from 9). Four PIOs now hold Cabinet berths (up from two of Ministers of State in the last Cabinet).Prominent Indo-Canadian organisations include Canada India Business Council (CIBC), Canada India Foundation (CIF), Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (I-CCC) and other local chambers and associations.
Diplomatic visits
2018, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's visit to India
Some Canadians feel India snubbed Trudeau
Shailaja Neelakantan, February 19, 2018: The Times of India
Is the Centre snubbing Justin Trudeau on his India visit? Some Canadians believe so
HIGHLIGHTS
PM Narendra Modi did not go to the airport to receive the Canadian head of state
UP CM Adityanath did not accompany the Trudeaus on their visit to the Taj Mahal
Trudeau is today scheduled to visit Gujarat, and his itinerary includes a trip to the Sabarmati Ashram
The event of the visit has barely created a ripple, and many Canadians think that's because New Delhi is very openly snubbing him over his perceived support for Sikh separatists in his country.
For one, PM Narendra Modi did not go to the airport to receive the Canadian head of state. Candice Malcolm, a columnist for the Canadian publication Toronto Sun, pointed out the stark contrast between how other heads of state have been received in India versus how Trudeau has not.
As if that wasn't bad enough, whom did the Centre send to the airport to receive Trudeau? Junior agriculture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is, as one Canadian put it, like a (mere) "parliamentary secretary in Canada".
Then, Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and their three children visited the Taj Mahal yesterday while Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath was nowhere in sight. A scant month ago, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Taj, the UP CM personally showed him around. But all the Trudeaus got were the Agra district magistrate and some other local administrators.
Many say that the Centre's absence of pomp and ceremony is an indication of its displeasure with Trudeau for appointing Cabinet ministers with links allegedly to the Sikh separatist movement.
Trudeau has four Sikh cabinet ministers - Harjit Sajjan, Amarjeet Sohi, Navdeep Bains and Bardish Chagger. Sohi said earlier this month that he's neither sympathetic to nor against the Khalistan movement.
"If there is a small segment of people in Canada who talk about separation, who talk about the creation of Khalistan if they do that in a peaceful way that is their right to do so but this is not an issue that I hear in the community," said Sohi.
Canadian columnist Malcolm did not take kindly to this statement. She wondered whether newcomers to Canada were "entitled" to support foreign extremist organizations.
Malcolm believes Trudeau must denounce Khalistani extremists publicly, while in India, and should apologize to Amarinder. Another Canadian opposition leader, Jagmeet Singh, must also "denounce Khalistani radicals", she added.
Amarinder has said he has no problem meeting with Trudeau, but added they won't meet with some ministers in his cabinet because they "have negative views regarding Punjab". It's still not certain whether an Amarinder-Trudeau meet is on the cards when the Trudeaus visit Amritsar's Golden Temple.
Until then, it appears Trudeau will be met with "about the same enthusiasm as (a) malarian mosquito", as a Canadian policy advisor described the low-profile reception Trudeau has got thus far.
Trudeau is today scheduled to visit Gujarat, and his itinerary includes trips to the Sabarmati Ashram, the Akshardham Temple and IIM Ahmedabad.
Maybe. Maybe not
Punjab CM Will Meet Canada PM
The issue of Canadian government’s apparent ambivalence on how to deal with Sikh extremists continued to cloud PM Justin Trudeau’s ongoing visit to India, even as Punjab CM Amarinder Singh confirmed that he was going to meet the visiting leader in Amritsar.
The 7-day visit seemed to be making news for all the wrong reasons with the Indian side at pains to deny that PM Narendra Modi not receiving Trudeau at the airport, or not accompanying him to Ahmedabad, was a snub to the visiting leader.
Trudeau and his defence minister Harjit Sajjan, sources here said, finally proposed a meeting with Singh in what is being seen as an attempt to address the strong perception in India that Trudeau’s Liberal government has failed to rein in pro-Khalistan elements active in Canada. Reports from Canada had earlier said that no such meeting had been sought by the Canadian authorities.
While Canadian diplomatic sources chose to not comment on the issue, Singh himself tweeted on Monday evening that he was looking forward to meeting Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday.
Official sources here confirmed Canada was initially reluctant to have Trudeau meet Singh because the latter had last year refused to meet Sajjan calling him a Khalistani sympathiser. While Trudeau is likely to reiterate Canada’s position that it fully supports a unified India, India wants Trudeau to also ensure that his Sikh ministers are not seen as endorsing in any way the Khalistan movement.
Another diplomatic headache for India was the perception that Canada, an important supplier of uranium to India which has also backed India’s NSG membership bid to the hilt, was being ignored by the Indian establishment. Trudeau detractors in Canada were quick to claim that Modi had snubbed him by not receiving him at the airport and also by not accompanying him to Ahmedabad, the city Trudeau visited with his family on Monday before flying to Mumbai.
Official sources here said Trudeau had been received by a minister of state in keeping with the protocol. “Really don’t understand the point here as the PM didn’t even receive Chinese President Xi Jinping at the airport,’’ the sources said, adding that going to airport was a departure from protocol and a special gesture shown by the PM for a select few. Modi has so far received former US President Barack Obama, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the airport.
While Trudeau landed in Delhi, he chose to visit Taj Mahal the next day before flying to Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Trudeau will visit Amritsar on Wednesday before arriving in Delhi for an official reception and meeting with Modi on Friday. Sources here termed the itinerary weird saying that the Indian side had repeatedly suggested that Trudeau first have his official engagements in Delhi before travelling to other cities. Trudeau and his officials chose on their own to visit Ahmedabad and at no stage had Modi committed himself to accompanying the Trudeau family to Ahmedabad. Reports in Canadian media highlighted how Modi had earlier accompanied Xi and also Abe and Netanyahu to Ahmedabad.
Education
Over 100,000/- Indian students study in Canada. Education is a key area of collaboration between the two countries. The MOU on Cooperation in Higher Education was signed in June 2010, which covers student and faculty exchange, research and curriculum development, organization of workshop and seminars, twining between institutions of higher learning, facilitate mutual recognition of educational qualifications, policy dialogue in areas of mutual interest, among others.
IC-IMPACTS (the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability), which is a Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence dedicated to the development of research collaborations between Canada and India, seeks to bring together researchers, industry innovators, community leaders, government agencies, and community organizations from across India and Canada to work together to find solutions to the key challenges facing the communities. IC-IMPACTS is working with the National Mission for Clean Ganga to find innovative technological solutions to clean the river Ganga; the 'Water for Health' collaboration with Department of Biotechnology and with DST on 'Safe and Sustainable Infrastructure' and 'Integrated Water-Management' initiatives.
Visas issued to Indians
See graphic:
Fast-track visas approved by Canada, for Indians and others, June- Sept 2017
From: December 20, 2017: The Times of India
