Last week, two major pieces of news broke about Canada's efforts to mend some frayed international relationships.
First, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was announced as a guest at the upcoming G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. This is a fairly big deal because in 2023, the government of India was credibly accused 鈥� by then PM Justin Trudeau, no less 鈥� of having orchestrated the assassination of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
You might remember that Nijjar, an advocate and activist for the creation of a Sikh homeland being carved out of India, was gunned down in Surrey in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
Canada and India then abruptly expelled or withdrew various diplomats from one another's territories.
But now, Canadian cabinet ministers are talking seriously about mending fences.
Second, Canada has opened high-level talks with China about resolving the tit-for-tat trade disputes and grievances that go back to 2018, when Canada arrested and held Huawei executive Meng Wanzhao, for possible extradition to the U.S.
In retaliation, China grabbed two Canadian nationals 鈥� Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor 鈥� to jail on trumped up charges, until Canada's courts independently decided that Meng's extradition was not warranted.
Things got frostier when Canada joined the U.S. in slapping 100-per-cent tariffs on the new, cheap Chinese EVs, with China retaliating with tariffs on our fish and agricultural products, hitting Western Canadian provinces hard.
Why are we reaching out to these countries now?
China remains a repressive dictatorship. India is a democracy, but Modi's government has fanned the flames of discrimination against its Muslim population, not to mention the fact that there's been no resolution to the Nijjar assassination.
Neither India nor China is Canada's friend. But countries don't have friends, do they?
We were told for years that there was an unbreakable friendship between Canada and the United States. It took President Donald Trump just weeks to shatter that illusion. We're told that European nations are our friends, too, but their leaders hemmed and hawed and stared at their feet while the Americans threatened our sovereignty.
Countries don't have friends. They have alliances, and treaties, and trade relationships. They can be dependent on one another for mutual defence or commerce. Ultimately, diplomacy is not about friendship. In extreme cases, it may be about justice 鈥� but far more often, it's about pragmatism.
Our largest trading partner and critical ally has elected an erratic narcissist who is hostile to the idea of Canada as an independent nation. Canada needs allies, and India and China, the countries with the biggest and second-biggest populations in the world, look pretty good right now.
Frankly, in New Delhi and Beijing, diplomats are also worried about trade with the U.S. Rebuilding relationships with a middle-power like Canada won't fill that hole, but it's not nothing.
Canadian diplomacy has been framed in terms of what's right for a long time. Support for human rights, democracy, peacekeeping, and refugee programs were our lodestars.
They still should be. But in a period of uncertainty, it's no surprise that pragmatism is going to take centre stage in diplomacy.
