KANANASKIS — Prime Minister Mark Carney said his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Alberta on Tuesday was a "necessary" step toward rebuilding the relationship between the two countries.
However, Carney refused to say whether he had directly raised the accusations that Indian state agents were behind the murder of a Canadian citizen in British Columbia two years ago.
The G7 leaders' summit ended Tuesday after two days of discussions about global economics and security, with the leaders issuing several joint statements on areas of co-operation such as critical minerals, artificial intelligence and migrant smuggling. On Monday the leaders issued a joint statement on the crisis in the Middle East.
There was notably no joint statement on the war in Ukraine, even though the Liberals had made support for the country one of the most important topics of Canada's G7 presidency, and invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend the summit in person.
Carney said it was right the Middle East took priority when the leaders did issue a statement on foreign policy.
"There were tragic and intense events in the Middle East, and at that time it was in a sense more important to have a G7 statement concerning the Iranian situation," he told reporters in French.
Before the closing press conference, a senior Canadian government official — who briefed reporters at the G7 on background and asked not to be named — said the U.S. was offside with the other countries on Ukraine and sought weaker language than what the other members proposed.
The senior official said that is why Canada outlined a stance on Ukraine in its own statement as chair instead of having a joint G7 declaration on Ukraine. The briefing was widely reported by Canadian media.
Later, a PMO media spokesperson apologized for a "miscommunication." She said a standalone statement on Ukraine was never in the works, but rather that Canada consulted G7 members including the U.S. on what Ottawa would publish as chair.
"No proposed joint statement regarding Ukraine was distributed. Canada’s intention was always for the important language to be a part of the G7 chair’s summary statement, and it was," wrote spokeswoman Emily Williams.
The chair's statement backed President Donald Trump's efforts to reach peace in Ukraine, and called on Russia to join Ukraine in committing to an "unconditional ceasefire."
When pressed, Carney did eventually acknowledge that this language was not as strong as some wanted.
"There would be things that some of us, Canada included, would say above and beyond what was said in the chair summary," Carney said.
The bilateral discussion between Carney and Modi was among the last things on the agenda at the event on Tuesday, and came as the relationship between India and Canada has been extremely strained over Canada's allegations that Indian diplomats were linked to violent criminal activity and harassment in Canada.
Several Sikh leaders in Canada criticized Carney for inviting Modi to attend the G7, after Canada accused India of refusing to co-operate in the investigation of the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist activist murdered in June 2023 in Surrey, B.C.
Carney said he would describe the meeting with Modi "as foundational, as a necessary first step … to begin to rebuild a relationship based on mutual respect, sovereignty, trust."
Last fall, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, saying they refused to co-operate with a police investigation into allegations Indian agents had engaged in violent criminal activity and harassment in Canada.
India responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats.
The two leaders agreed Tuesday to designate new high commissioners, with Carney suggesting this would restore diplomatic services to their citizens in both countries.
Carney said he discussed transnational repression with Modi — a form of foreign interference involving states using proxies to intimidate and harass individuals in other countries — but he would not say if he raised Nijjar's murder specifically.
He said they discussed the importance of law enforcement in both countries co-operating, but added that "there is a judicial process that's underway and I need to be careful about further commentary."
The World Sikh Organization of Canada said in a news release Tuesday that any resumption of full diplomatic relations with India "must be contingent on concrete steps by India to end foreign-interference operations in Canada and to co-operate fully with ongoing criminal investigations."
The organization also said it welcomes British Columbia Premier David Eby’s announcement that he will ask the Canadian government to add the Lawrence Bishnoi network, which it said is linked to the Government of India, to Canada’s list of terrorist entities.
World Sikh Organization of Canada president Danish Singh said the group is calling on the federal government to impose "targeted sanctions" on Indian officials involved in directing or funding the Bishnoi network.
As for Ukraine, Carney met early Tuesday with Zelenskyy on the sidelines, and Canada announced $4.3 billion in new support for Ukraine's defence and another set of sanctions on Russia.
That sum includes $2 billion for the purchase and donation of weapons and material, along with a $2.3-billion loan to help the embattled country rebuild its infrastructure, to be repaid by interest on frozen Russian assets.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Carney fulfilled his mission as G7 host by preserving the unity of the multilateral organization.
"We shouldn't ask the Canadian presidency to resolve every issue on earth today. That would be unfair. But he held the group together," said Macron, who will host the G7 next year.
The G7 leaders also signed on to a statement pledging to tackle migrant smuggling, including by exploring the potential use of sanctions to target criminals involved in migrant smuggling and human trafficking operations.
Another statement pledged to explore ways to benefit public services using artificial intelligence, including a Canadian initiative to “increase government efficiency” at a time when Ottawa and most G7 peers seek to cut back spending on their civil service.
A wider group of signatories, which includes Australia, India and South Korea, committed to work together to invest in responsible critical minerals projects.
Australia, India, Mexico, South Korea and South Africa also signed on with the G7 to a wildfire charter that calls for co-operation to prevent, fight and recover from devastating fires.
On Monday evening, G7 leaders released a statement calling for a de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East in response to continued fighting between Israel and Iran.
That came shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump announced he planned to leave the summit a day early to deal with the ongoing crisis. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained in Kananaskis on Tuesday as the American delegation's lead.
— With files from Emilie Bergeron in Kananaskis and Sarah Ritchie and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
