Who's Christopher Cooter, Canada's New High Commissioner To India?

Veteran diplomat Christopher Cooter has been named Canada's next high commissioner to India. The move is being viewed as a step towards mending strained relations between the two countries.

The appointment, announced on Aug. 28, coincided with India confirming Dinesh K Patnaik as its new envoy to Canada.

Christopher Cooter brings more than three decades of experience in diplomacy. Most recently, he was Canada’s Charge d’affaires to Israel, and before that, he held the position of High Commissioner in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and Madagascar. Between 1998 and 2000, he worked as First Secretary at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, covering India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Cooter’s academic background includes a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto (1981), an MA in Political Science from Columbia University (1982) and degrees in both common and civil law (BCL, LLB) from McGill University (1986). He was called to the British Columbia bar that same year and briefly practised law at Campney and Murphy before entering public service.

In 1989, he joined the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development as acting manager of lands for British Columbia. A year later, he moved to External Affairs and International Trade Canada, where he served in several roles in Ottawa. These included the director of the Southeast Europe Division, the director of the Policy Planning Division, the director general for executive management and assignments and the director general overseeing the merger of the Canadian International Development Agency with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

His overseas assignments have been equally varied. He served in Kenya and India as a political officer, as Charge d’affaires in Cambodia, deputy permanent representative to NATO, and later as High Commissioner to Nigeria and Canada’s permanent observer to ECOWAS. He also represented Canada as Ambassador to Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and acted as Charge d’affaires to the European Union.

The appointment comes at a delicate juncture in the India-Canada relationship, strained since former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia. The allegation set off a diplomatic row, leading to expulsions on both sides and a sharp downturn in ties in October 2024.

Less than a year ago, India withdrew its high commissioner from Ottawa, citing threats to its diplomats amid the escalating tensions. Around the same time, Canada had named Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Saxena and other officials as “persons of interest” in its probe into Nijjar’s killing.

India responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats, including Acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler and Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert. New Delhi said Ottawa’s stance had fostered “an atmosphere of extremism and violence” that endangered its diplomatic staff.