India restores diplomatic immunity to Canadian province trade representative

This is the first such measure since October last year when 41 Canadian diplomats left India after New Delhi stated they would lose their diplomatic immunity if they stayed on. Canada described that act as “mass expulsion” of its diplomats, while India has argued it wanted “parity” in the numbers of diplomats.

The official who will return is the managing director of the Saskatchewan India office, who was among those who left India in October. That person will have diplomatic immunity, but a senior Indian official said, “will not be an accredited Canadian diplomat”.

The official said there is “no policy change or review” with regard to Canada’s diplomatic presence in India. This step, the official said, was “specific to Saskatchewan, considering the excellent relationship the province has with India”.

Asked whether similar carve-outs were being considered for other provinces, the official said this action comprised “an experimental model to test the waters before considering replication”.

Saskatchewan’s Premier (equivalent of Chief Minister) Scott Moe headed a delegation to India in February.

Earlier, the Saskatchewan government, in a statement, said India “provided formal approval to provide full diplomatic accreditation” to its India office managing director.

“It is solely because of Saskatchewan’s strong bi-lateral relationship with India that this significant accreditation will be granted,” its Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison said.

The statement said when Moe visited in February he met with senior members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar “to advocate for the reinstatement of diplomatic accreditation for Saskatchewan’s managing director in India.” The matter was also recently discussed with India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma.

In 2023, total Canadian exports to India were valued at 5.1 billion Canadian dollars. Of that total, Saskatchewan was responsible for 26%, valued at more than 1.3 billion Canadian dollars, with 700 million Canadian dollars of that tied directly to agri-food exports.

The province’s top five exports to India include lentils, potash, wood pulp, peas and non-durum wheat, and is the top supplier to India of lentils and potash, the statement noted.