Canada welcomes India's decision to resume visa services

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 26

Canada has welcomed India’s decision to resume four types of visa services in the country from Thursday, but a senior minister in the Justin Trudeau Cabinet said it did not mean “Ottawa would let New Delhi off the hook on the Harpreet Nijjar murder issue”.

“It’s good to see that they have resumed that. It would have been nice (if) they didn’t take it in the first place,” said Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjeet Sajjan while talking to the media. The resumption would enable Indians and Canadians to travel for family events like weddings and funerals, he added, while declining to dwell on the message India is trying to send.

At the same time, he said Canada is still seeking India’s help as police investigate the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June. Visa services that will resume relate to entry, business, medical and conferences. Emergency situations will also be dealt with by the High Commission and consulates.

Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the resumption is a “good sign” and said, “Our feeling is that a suspension should never have happened in the first place”. He said the “really concerning diplomatic situation with India has created a lot of fear in a lot of communities”.

India announced on Wednesday the resumption of processing some types of visa applications for Canadians. The decision came a month after New Delhi suspended the services in Canada in the wake of a diplomatic spat over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of the potential involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia. India has rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.

The Canada-India Business Council also said the resumption was “a promising development” for trade relations and felt “it was also a positive sign that both governments had expressed their support for bilateral business and investments amidst these unusual events”.

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