Air India tragedy remains unhealed wound for many

Victims deserve better from Canada, writes Meera Nair.

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that a National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Air Disasters will become an annual event on Jan. 8. The date marks the anniversary of the downing of Ukrainian Airlines 752 by Iranian forces, killing all on board, many of whom were Canadian or had close ties to Canada. The prime minister also spoke of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines 302 two years ago, and the lives lost because of Boeing's 737 Max fiasco. Yet he neglected to mention Air India 182 in his spoken remarks, despite the fact that the official announcement includes such a reference, albeit without a date or any explanation of its significance.

Canada's continuing lack of acknowledgment that the bombing of Air India 182 on June 23, 1985, was a Canadian tragedy remains an unhealed wound for those who still carry memories of the victims and of events connected to their brutal murder. All 329 people aboard perished. Their deaths were the outcome of a terrorist plot conceived and executed in Canada. It remains the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. Prior to 9/11, it was the worst instance of aviation terrorism the world had ever seen.

For over 35 years, noted journalists — Kim Bolan, Terry Glavin and Terry Milewski, just to name a few — painstakingly investigated and documented this tragedy. Yet in official circles, the subject seems taboo. It took 20 years for a Canadian government to concede that a public inquiry was necessary. The details revealed through the labour of then-retired Supreme Court Justice John Major and his team were heartbreaking. That the bombing could have been prevented was clear. Evidence that grieving families were treated with disdain and neglect by successive Canadian governments was in such abundance as to earn this rebuke from Major: “For all too long the government of Canada treated the families of the victims of the terrorist attack on Flight 182 as adversaries.” While those families may no longer be

Leadership across the political spectrum could yet jointly rise to this occasion.

considered adversarial, for decades, Canadian governments have preferred not to consider them at all.

It is very easy to claim the righteous high road when the enemy is a foreign state or a negligent foreign corporation. To confront the ugliness of domestic terrorism and to address an ongoing deficit of compassion is much more difficult. But leadership across the political spectrum could yet jointly rise to this occasion.

A prior Canadian government deemed that beginning in 2006, June 23 was to be a National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism. The date was chosen explicitly because of the bombing of Air India 182. However, each year June 23 passes without meaningful recognition in Parliament, as the same date serves as the start of the summer recess. That members of parliament deserve time to return to their home ridings, to be with family and friends is not decried, but it would be appropriate to show some awareness of those who boarded Air India 182 with the same intent. As the bombers knew, with school ending, June 23 was a good day to start a holiday. The plane was full of families — 137 passengers were under the age of 18.

The victims of the bombing of Air India 182 deserve better than to be forgotten. To that end, on whichever day the House rises before the summer recess, all members of parliament ought to observe a moment of silence in explicit recognition of the bombing of Air India 182 and the Canadian lives lost that fateful day.