Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed optimism about a new opportunity to engage with India on "some very serious" national security issues following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's re-election for a third consecutive term.

In an interview with CBC News, coinciding with the anniversary of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's assassination, Trudeau remarked, "Now that he's through his election, I think there is an opportunity for us to engage, including on some very serious issues around national security and keeping Canadians safe and the rule of law."

Trudeau's comments come after his meeting with Prime Minister Modi in Italy during the G7 Summit, where India participated as an Outreach country. PM Modi had shared a photograph of their handshake on Twitter.

Following this meeting, Trudeau informed the Canada-based media channel, Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), that there are "important but sensitive" issues requiring collaboration between the two nations, though he refrained from detailing their discussions.

In his CBC News interview, Trudeau emphasized the value of summits for direct engagement with various leaders on different issues. He noted, "I think one of the really good things about summits is you get an opportunity to engage directly with a huge range of different leaders with whom there are various issues." He added, "And certainly with India, there are massive people-to-people ties, there are really important economic ties, there's alignment on a number of big issues that we need to work on as democracies, as a global community."

Relations between Canada and India had soured after Trudeau addressed the House of Commons last year, citing "credible allegations" of a possible link between Indian agents and Nijjar's murder in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023. India dismissed these allegations as "absurd" and "motivated."

Nijjar, who was labeled a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a Gurdwara in Surrey last June. The first anniversary of his death is observed on Tuesday. A video of the incident reportedly surfaced in March this year, showing Nijjar being shot by armed men.

The last in-person meeting between Trudeau and PM Modi took place at the G20 leaders' summit in New Delhi in September last year.