India's high commissioner to Canada scheduled to speak on bilateral relations after RCMP arrests

India's envoy to Canada is scheduled to speak publicly today for the first time since the RCMP made arrests related to a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.

High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma is to address the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations on the theme of current and future relations between India and Canada.

His speech was first announced in April, months into a diplomatic spat over the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar had long advocated for a Sikh country called Khalistan to be carved out of India, and he was shot dead last June outside his temple in Surrey, B.C.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi last September of playing a role in the killing, and the RCMP arrested three Indian nationals last Friday in connection with the case.

Over the weekend, Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar reacted to the arrest by accusing Canada of welcoming in criminals from his country.

Vina Nadjibulla, the research vice-president for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, says that despite the tensions, India remains a strong trade partner — one with increasing strategic importance for many of Canada's peers.

«Canada at the moment is an outlier, when it comes to that kind of strategic deepening of partnership with India,» she said.

The strain dates back to Nijjar's death, which sparked a wave of protests. Posters circulated that threatened Indian diplomats in Canada by name.

Ottawa paused trade negotiations with India last August, a month before Trudeau publicly linked New Delhi to the case.

In response to Trudeau's accusation, India forced Canada to remove two-thirds of its diplomats from the country, threatening to strip them of diplomatic immunity. New Delhi also