Twenty five years after Air India Flight 182 was blown apart by terrorists, Canada may finally offer a formal apology for ignoring warnings about a likely terror strike on the aircraft and lapses in subsequent investigations.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may offer a formal apology to families of victims of the Kanishka air crash tragedy at the memorial at Humber Park in Toronto on June 23, the 25th anniversary of the disaster.
The Air India Flight 182 had crashed into the Atlantic, killing all 329 people on board, on June 23, 1985.
In a front page report on Tuesday morning, The Globe and Mail has quoted Treasury Board Chair Stockwell Day as saying that Harper will make "a very significant announcement that will definitely add a whole new dimension to the memorial this year".
On June 17, the final report into the Kanishka bombing was released by Justice John Major. He recommended ex-gratia payment to the families of the victims, mostly of Indian origin, and blamed the Canadian government for its failure to prevent the country's worst terrorist attack.
Harper was present with half a dozen members of the victims' families when Justice Major released his report. They had been invited to the prime minister's office at the House of Commons Building.
Besides Harper, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Toronto Mayor David Miller and senior officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will be present at the memorial service in Toronto.
Day was quoted as saying that Harper "will make some statement expressing his feelings on the report and on this terrible tragedy and that will serve to highlight the ceremonies this year."
Once a public apology is offered for law enforcement agencies bungling the investigations into the bombing of the Air India Flight 182, Harper will simultaneously be able to announce compensation for the families.
In the opening paragraphs of his report, Justice Major stated, "This is a Canadian atrocity. For too long, the greatest loss of Canadian lives at the hands of terrorists has been somehow relegated outside the Canadian consciousness."
Within minutes of the release of the report on June 17 in Ottawa, Harper met the victims' families and called the findings in the report a 'damning indictment' of the federal government. He also told the families he would be apologising for the earlier lapses and oversight of the government.
Some gurdwaras in Toronto and Surrey have already started prayer vigils which will culminate in a call for justice for the victims.
Only one accused -- Inderjit Singh Reyat -- has so far been convicted on manslaughter charges in connection to the terror strike. Two other accused -- Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik -- who were charged with first degree murder in the Air India tragedy, were acquitted of all charges in 2005.
Image: The memorial for the victims of the air crash at Humber Park in Toronto
