A coalition of B.C.-based faith groups and community members are calling on the province to build a large memorial and education centre to honour the victims of the 1985 Air India bombing, considered the worst terrorist attack in Canada’s history.
The campaign, launched ahead of the June 23 anniversary, is urging Premier David Eby to commit to a space that would recognize the tragedy and help future generations understand its impact.
Majar Sidhu, who lost his sister, a nephew and a niece in the terrorist attack, says he worries the history is being forgotten.
“People like me in our 50s and 60s know,” he said in a Punjabi-language interview. “But people under 40 don’t.”
Sidhu, a Vancouver resident, says the bombing is often perceived as a tragedy affecting the Indian community, even though the majority of people on board the flight were Canadians.
“To this day it’s known as Air India tragedy — but it’s part of Canadian history,” Sidhu said.
On June 23, 1985, a bomb exploded in the hold of Air India Flight 182, killing 329 people. Among the dead were 280 Canadians and 86 children, with the flight en route to India after stops in Toronto and Montreal.
For Sidhu, a provincial learning centre would be a meaningful start and a step toward national recognition that will create more empathy and understanding for Canadians.
“For my kids, who are growing up and going to school here in B.C., they have not heard about this,” said Surrey resident Vijoy Chakraborty. “They need to know.”
Chakraborty, an occupational therapist who immigrated from India, says his own understanding of the tragedy began during a visit to the Air India memorial near Cork, Ireland, nearly two decades ago.
That’s where the wreckage of Flight 182 fell into the Atlantic Ocean after the bomb exploded on board.
“I was absolutely spellbound when I reached there,” Chakraborty said of the memorial in Cork. “The local people had kept that memorial in such a pristine way, with warmth and respect.”
Chakraborty says B.C. has a responsibility to maintain a large memorial of its own, given the province’s deep ties to the bombing.
Investigations found that the bomb that brought down the flight was made in the province, and the only person ever convicted in the case, Inderjit Singh Reyat, lived in Duncan, B.C.
“There is a lot of onus on B.C. to create something that will educate people, our kids, our future generations,” he said.
Other organizations, including local Hindu and Sikh groups, are supporting the campaign. The Khalsa Diwan Society has written to the premier calling for the creation of a provincial learning centre.
“We feel that they are next generation has and should have an information centre where they can learn about the the tragedy,” said Jagdeep Sanghera, secretary of the Sikh charitable society.
Yogesh Bhatia, a volunteer with Vedic Sevaks, echoed that sentiment.
“Those who were killed, their families still deserve something,” he said. “That’s why we are asking [for this] so that our future generations know that violence of any type can create a massive ripple effect in the society.”
Two suitcases: Anatomy of the Air India bombing | FULL DOCUMENTARY
In a statement to CBC News, the province said it would work with communities and organizations impacted by this tragedy “to better understand how we can continue to work to educate future generations.”
“It is important to acknowledge this tragic part of our history and learn from it so tragedies like this are never repeated,” the statement reads.
A new poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that 17 per cent of Canadians identify the Air India bombing as the worst terror attack in the country’s history. Just one in 10 said they know a lot about it, while one-third had never even heard of it. More than half said Canada has never truly treated the tragedy as a national one.
According to the survey, 66 per cent of Canadians support adding the Air India tragedy to school curricula, and 71 per cent would support an exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History.
Only one person was convicted in the bombing case: B.C. man Reyat, who served a total of 30 years in prison for a combination of manslaughter, perjury and his role in constructing the bombs, before his release in January 2016.
Two others, Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik, were acquitted of murder and conspiracy charges.
A Canadian inquiry commission identified Talwinder Singh Parmar, a B.C. man linked to the Sikh separatist Khalistan movement, as the mastermind behind the attack. Parmar was killed, allegedly in a gunfight, by Indian police in 1992. Malik was shot dead in Surrey, B.C., in July 2022.
RCMP continue to investigate the bombings, according to Sgt. Vanessa Munn.
“Should new information or different information, that we have not received in 40 years emerge, we will investigate it to uncover the truth,” she said.
