Monday marks 40 years since the worst terrorist attack in Canada’s history, but a new poll shows many Canadians don’t know anything about the bombing of Air India 182.
The flight boarded and took off from eastern Canada on June 22, 1985, destined for Delhi and Mumbai via London.
Early the next morning, about 200 kilometres off the Irish coast, a bomb exploded, sending the Boeing 747 plunging 31,000 feet into the ocean and killing all 329 passengers and crew. The majority were Canadians.
The poll from the Angus Reid Institute, published Monday, shows a third of Canadians say they’ve never heard of the attack.
When asked to name the worst case of mass murder in our country’s history, only 17 per cent correctly named the bombing.
Institute President Shachi Kurl says it isn’t a matter of poor memory for most respondents.
“For many Canadians, they just never learned about it. They didn’t learn about it in public school… They’ve done ‘Heritage Minutes’ on the building of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, a hockey arena, but there’s never been a Heritage Minute about the Air India bombings. There is no permanent exhibit. There is no exhibit whatsoever,” said Kurl.
She says many polled indicated they do want a learning centre and increased education around the attack.
“If one is looking for some signs of hope, the fact that 71 per cent of Canadians say they support an exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History explaining and talking and educating Canadians, particularly young Canadians, about what happened, and that two thirds say that this is something that should be consistently taught in Canadian schools,” said Kurl.
She says many families of the victims feel the attack was never treated as a Canadian tragedy.
In fact, then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney called Indian officials to express his condolences — even though most of the victims were Canadian.
The attack tore apart generations of families. Dozens of children were on board the flight, in some cases leaving behind grieving parents or siblings.
Krishna Bhat lost his nine-year-old son, Deepak and his wife, Muktha.
Bhat asked the federal inquiry commission, “Alas, what a twist of irony. Are we not Canadians? Were not those talented children, including a dear Deepak, the future of Canada?”
Kurl says the families of victims are still fighting to be seen as Canadians.
“There have only ever been two prime ministers in 40 years who have attended a [Air India 182 Attack] memorial: Paul Martin and Stephen Harper. And no sitting Canadian prime minister has attended a memorial since 2010.”
—With files from The Canadian Press
